[Gerlinde Goschi]

Prof. Yasar suggested the following questions to discuss with our students after watching some scenes of the film The Late Spring: 

Questions for Students:

• How do gender roles differ in Noriko and Ayako’s generation compared to that of their parents?  How do they differ from gender roles today in the U.S.? 

• What does the film tell you about recent history (relative to when it came out) in Japan? What doe it leave out?

• Where is the camera positioned throughout much of the film?  How much does it move, and in what ways?

I would incorporate these as either another lesson or as a follow up one.  Students would discuss these questions in small groups and would analyze them.  They would come up with a presentation for the class and be ready to defend their analysis.

 

[Gerlinde Goschi]

In the article Vanished Men, Complex Women: Gender, Remembrance, and Reform in Ozu’s Postwar Films by Mauricio F. Castro, the author speaks of the stories in the postwar films and how they “reflect changes in Japanese family law, the effects of war remembrance on family life, the meeting of cultures in the occupation, and the complex codes of masculinity and femininity.”  The film The Late Spring by Yasujiro Ozu explores all these elements with his own style as Prof. Yasar pointed out today.  It is important to talk about these themes in social studies classes. Every family goes through a similar situation at one point or another in their lives.  A family goes through changes throughout its existence. As an International Baccalaureate School, I feel it is extremely important that I present some of these elements not only in relation to China but as a comparison of the postwar era in the U.S. as well as Japan.  How is their postwar history different and why?

Who writes history?  The victors. Where are the victors of war in this movie?  It would be very interesting to have a class discussion or debate revolving around this topic in my classroom. Students would take notes during a few scenes I would show in class and have a group discussion about what they saw and what is significant about the postwar era in Japan.  As another lesson they would work in another group to compare what they know about the Japanese population in the U.S. in the postwar era. Finally, with the help of a graphic organizer, students would compare the postwar Japanese people in Japan and in the U.S. and their experience.

 

[Gerlinde Goschi]

A similar question went through my mind during the presentation this afternoon.  K-pop draws international attention.  Students I know from the U.S.  as well as from Europe are huge fans.  Your question is a very good one.  It would be interesting to find out if the films aimed at a male audience have celebrities with more traditional masculine looks.  It would also be interesting to find out what the plot of those films would be?  (Would it be action and adventure filled like we are used to here in the U.S. or completely different?)

[Gerlinde Goschi]

I had a South Korean student a few years ago when I taught fourth grade who did an early study abroad in the United States.  Her parents stayed in Seoul while she attended school in the Los Angeles area and lived with a goose family.  At the time I was somewhat appalled as I have children of my own and it would never occur to me to send them to study in a foreign country at the tender age of 10.  I became close to this student and I admired her devotion to the study of the English language, her courage, tenacity, and maturity.  I met both her mom and dad when they visited her (dad came only once because he was a busy doctor in Seoul who owned two clinics).  Prof. Jung explained in our session today that this is not that uncommon in South Korea.  I am still in touch with my student who now moved back to Seoul.  She is now in high school and plans to attend an American university soon.

[Gerlinde Goschi]

Thank you for sharing this story, Joy.  I have a lot of students from East Asia and I only recently understood how important image and appearances are.  I feel this is not so different here in the U.S. in certain areas.  Prof. Jung-Kim explained it so well today with many examples.  Plastic surgery has been associated with privilege and status in so many societies.  It is surprising to find out that South Korea is the world's leading country with the most amount of plastic surgeries.  I wonder if it is related with the South Korean economical  wealth as well?

[Gerlinde Goschi]

Hello everyone!

I enjoyed reading about all of you and what a wonderful group of colleagues I'll have the privilege to learn from and with this week! 

My name is Gerlinde O'Neill and I am very grateful and excited to be back at the USC US-China Institute for another seminar.  I recognize many of my classmates from previous seminars and I am eager to reconnect with you and to make new friends as well!

I am a first grade teacher at a German Immersion and an International Baccalaureate school within the LAUSD named Goethe International Charter School.  Once a week I also teach an alumni German language course in the afternoon to grades 7-10.  Recently I became a German language teacher at the Goethe Institute of Los Angeles where I'll be teaching adult classes on the weekends.  I love keeping busy and learning. I am very much looking forward to this seminar and to the great sessions Catherine and Dr. Dube have planned for us!  

[Gerlinde Goschi]

Thank you for posting these articles.  The history of the Ainu People is fascinating and eye opening for me.  I enjoyed reading the article and to learn that the Japanese government is ready to make ammends.  Many governments today are not ready to make ammends with the past and it was refreshing to read that Japan is not one of them in this case.  I was reminded of the disappearance of the Manchu language when I read that only 13,118 identify as Ainu on the island of Hokkaido, but only a handful speak language.  This was also eye-opening.

[Gerlinde Goschi]

I enjoyed Prof. Hirano's lecture.  The most eye opening for me was the treatment of Natives as mentioned by my peers above.  However, a quote in one of the slides shown by the professor intrigued me.  It was the following:

"Law is always present from the beginning in the social order:it is to put order into a pre-exising state of nature.  For as the codification of both prohibitions and positive injunctions, the law is a constitutive element of the politico-social field." These words are from a Greek political sociologist and philosopher, Nicos Poulantzas, who offered Marxist contributions to the analysis of fascism, social class and the collapse of dictatorship in Southern Europe in the 1970s.(source: https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/nicos-poulantzas-philosopher-of-democratic-socialism)

 

 

[Gerlinde Goschi]

Linda, thank you for sharing the Stanford HIstory Education Group website.  It is an incredible resource and you are right.  It offers fresh perspectives for students to learn from.  I also liked the assessments offered. My favorite part was the critical reasoning part as it a helpful tool for today's student to use to gain "the ability to judge the credibility of digital information about social and political issues." I think this is a vital and extremely important too to learn for the 21st century.  Students have to be able to understand the validity of information available to them. 

 

 

[Gerlinde Goschi]

I like this idea about religions role in formation of a country/civilization.  I would probably additionally like to explore the role of women in it.  I learned something interesting about Japan and Buddhism.  Prof. Meeks mentioned in her lecture womens' role in Japanese Buddhism, stating that in the very beginning females were monastic figures in Japan.  I learned that Japan's first monastics were nuns.  The nuns were teachers and ritualists.  I would love to tie in these two lectures and create a lesson with your idea and bringing in women's role in Buddhism.  

[Gerlinde Goschi]

Thank you for posting the video.  I will show it to my class during our "Sharing the Planet" unit.  Challenging lessons about environmental issues are one of my students' favorite topics.  This video summarizes the ideas really well.  I agree, China is at the forefront of saving the planet and the innovative solutions it is implementing mentioned by Barbara Finamore are impressive. As mentioned in class renewable energy is growing faster in China than anywhere else with China leading the way.  China has most investments for solar power installing more solar capacity in 2017 than any other countries. China's goal to get the world's energy to 85% renewable by 2050  demonstrates its commitment and leadership in making the planet greener and saving. 

 

[Gerlinde Goschi]

In her book, Barbara Finamore describes how she witnessed "China's emergence on the internaional climate stage in June 1991."  China's economy has been built on coal leading to a sharp increase in China's CO2 emissions starting 1991 (about 2.23 metric tons) continuing through to 2010's (about 7.54 metric tons). These emissions went down from 2013 to 2017. Barbara Finamore asks these important questions in her book: How did China evolve from being a "climate change resister to being a forceful advocate of global climate governance"?  I would love to pose these questions to my class and give them guidelines on the research the students could do.  Then, we would have a class discussion or group presentation about their findings.  A very helpful website mentioned in class is https://www.chinadialogue.net/

[Gerlinde Goschi]

Hi Amy.  I have also been thinking about comparisons between other religions and Buddhism for a lesson.  After group research with help of a graphic oranizer, students would lead a class discussion about the comparisons of Buddhism to Christianity.  They would ask each other questions, keeping in mind some of the following big questions:

How do you achieve nirvana in Buddhism? How would you compare this to Christianity?  What belief does it compare to?

Mindulness is a widely popular practice in today's world.  How does it compare to the early mindfulness and meditation practices?

[Gerlinde Goschi]

Prof. Meeks’ session about Buddhism was particularly interesting as it clarified many concepts for me about the history of religion and its intertwining history with China.   Prof.Meeks clarified the story of Gautama Siddhartha (ca. 484-404 BCE), referred to as historical Buddha, and how he came to realize

The Four Noble Truths

 

• Life is suffering

• The arising of suffering is thirst

• The ceasing of suffering can be achieved through nirvana

• The path leading to nirvana is the Noble Eightfold Path.

 

Life is suffering was explained as cyclical, continuous suffering connected with “samsara” and “karma,” meaning that one may be reborn in the world realm or another realm.  This idea applies beyond this life. This concept would make an energetic discussion in my classroom. I would love to pose these questions to my students:

• What does this mean to you?

• How would you apply these truths to your own life

• What other religions compare to these ideas?

[Gerlinde Goschi]

I spent a couple of hours on a Saturday at the Japanese American of Los Angeles.  My last visit was in Nov. 2017 and I vowed I will be back to study in the research room as it was closed during that time. I missed the exhibit by photographer Paul Kitagaki Jr. as well as the Kaiju vs. Heroes, Mark Nagata’s collection of Japanese toys by a few days.  As I walked through the museum, I carefully studied the sections I missed last time. One interesting display told the story of the Japanese community in America. Several quotes stood out: one in particular by Davis Mao Masumoto - “Culture binds us, gives us meaning and provides us with foundation … it surrounds, entangles and supports our daily life, a matter of learning ‘what it is we have to know’ to belong within a family and community.”  In the research center, I came across the book by George Goldberg, East meets West - The Story of the Chinese and Japanese in California.  The first chapter discusses the end of the Qing Dynasty as we discussed in our last class with Dr. Dube.  According to the author “ Commissioner Chin’s destruction of British merchants’ opium chests led to the Opium War.”  It explains that many Chinese were ready to leave their country after this war as their lives were in danger either at the hands of British soldiers or Chinese rebels.  So, the Opium War not only caused the fall of the legendary Qing Dynasty but also the exodus of many Chinese to America. I also had a conversation with a museum docent regarding survivors of the internment camps for the Japanese in America.  He mentioned that most of them are no longer living. He directed me to a website that contains many testimonials of these survivors. It is http://densho.org/  and is a “grassroots organization dedicated to preserving, educating, and sharing the story of World War II-era incarceration of Japanese Americans in order to deepen understandings of American history and inspire action for equity.”  In conclusion, I would like to share a quote that also stood out. It is a diary entry of Yuri Nakahara Kochiyama dated May 3, 1942: “Courage is something strong within you that brings out the best in a person. Perhaps no one else may know or see, but it’s those hidden things unknown to others, that reveals a person to God and self.”

 

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