[Rick Steil]

What was the quality of the movie making? I'm curious if the lighting, cinematography, editting and sound were the type of quality we would see in America. Do they show graphic seual scenes? What type of rating would you give this movie? R, PG,G or what. When was the movie made and what time period ws it set in? I have not yet chosen my movie and I'm curious how it compare to American made movies in terms of quality filmaking.

 

[Rick Steil]

In the readings for the Session 7 lecture I was chosen as a rebel and was interested in Yatsen Sun who is considered the father of the Republic of China. I had no idea that many Chinese went to Hawaii and attended school there and saw a different way of life and attempted to return to China to make their mark by implementing Western ideals. Sun championed revolution to get things done but Sun never accomplished what he set out to do. He stepped down to avoid civil war and made a decision for the good of the country instead of his political gain. This is a great lesson to teach our students.

[Rick Steil]

The most interesting fact about the session 6 lecture by Professor Kurashige was how Rowell started out being a racist and wanting to eliminate the Japanese immigrants from American society but then later changes his rhetoric and becomes an advocate for the Japanese being in the United States. What a great way to teach students that because you have a perspective or opinion on a specific topic you need to stay open to hearing the other side of the debate and that we should be flexible enough to change our minds and opinions and be big enough to admit we were wrong. Not everyone can do this and this is a good example to show our students that we need to stay open to both sides of controversial events and policies.

[Rick Steil]

Session 5 was my favorite session so far because we saw more current affairs being covered and more media driven content that I can use in my photography classes. I really like the part where Professor Jung Kim showed images from fashion magazines that showed Russian models taking the place of Korean models to advertise to Koreans. I was in the fashion industry for 25 years and was always shocked that Asian countries would use western models to see their products. I did not know that the Russian models had a presence in Korea but it makes sense because of their relationship between the 2 countries. I can use this in my classes as we look at world fashions and the fashion industry.

[Rick Steil]

Session 5 was great for me personally because Professor Jung Kim showed some photographs taken during the protests in Korea. They looked very similar to those of the demonstrations in the 60’s in America. This could lead to a comparison of photographers and photographs taken In Korea and America during the 60’s.This could lead to a conversation about photography and the similarities between photographers from these 2 different lands.

[Rick Steil]

Professor Jung Kim talked about how Korea became divided. It was really amazing that Korea was to be one country after World War II but were unable to come to an agreement so they country was split. How different would today’s problem with North Korea be if they would have united under one government. It is these little facts that end up creating such impacts in the future and effect the entire world.

[Rick Steil]

Ten things about Korea was an eye-opening article. The size and population of Korea were two facts that amazed me in this article. That the size of Korea was similar to that of Utah but has a population of 68 million people  makes me feel claustrophobic. Utah has only 3 million people and is one of our wide open western states. This information gives us an insight into how it must feel with so many people in the cities and how you need to fight every day to survive in this dense society. I believe I can used this information to show how photography is effected by people living in such dense areas. The need to show open spaces helped to create some relief in their society.

[Rick Steil]

I thought I would show to my AP Photo class photographers of post war Japan, the images they were creating during this time and compare and contrast them with photographers from America, France and England. I'm sure we will see a differnt view and prespective from the winning side of WWII and that of Japan as they try to regain their fractured society.

[Rick Steil]

Professor Yamashita hit it out of the park with his information of what it was like during the occupation. It was thoroughly thought out how to occupy Japan and what punishments were to be imposed on Japan. New elections were held and women were allowed to vote for the first time. I had no idea that the communists being held were allowed to go free and there were over 100 soldiers executed for war crimes committed. I find it interesting that because of the Nuremberg trials we see the tribunal set up for top level war crimes committed by officers and others. In America we don’t show this side of the war as much as we should.

[Rick Steil]

Really an amazing lecture tonight. I found the material awesome and presented by Professor Yamashita in an incredible way. I was not aware of the horrors in Japan during and after the war.  The crimes committed by the Japanese in China were matched by the bombing by the Americans. Civilians and the entire society of Japan were not spared. I cannot believe that Japan held out as long as they did and subjected their people to endure the harsh living conditions and war on their soil.

The last thought is that of the children being spared by the surrender of Japan because of their loyalty to Japan.

[Rick Steil]

Japan in the 1950’s promoted expansion and looked the other way when it can to polluting their natural resources. I did not know that they would become the most polluted nation on Earth. But I was impressed that they realized early through protests that they needed to enact laws and change their attitude to pollution.

By the late 70’s they were able to reduce a large amount of pollution that the generated and would become a much cleaner nation. I was impressed on how fast they were able to turn around their bad policies and become a much cleaner nation. It is not to late to work together to contain climate control.

[Rick Steil]

It was really fascinating to read about how the Japanese Imperialism movement was heavily influenced by the Western collapse of the stock market in 1929. Japan believed that they could overcome the dysfunctional west and become a leader for the Eastern Bloc to assume a prominent place on the world theatre. Japan then made a major mistake in siding with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, which led to their defeat in WWII and years of economic despair. It is interesting on how the failure of ones enemy can lead to mistakes, attempting to benefit from these failures. Human nature leads us to try to take advantage of the failures of others. 

[Rick Steil]

After reading about the atrocities committed by the Japanese to the civilians at Nanjing, China. I could not believe that they murdered thousands of Chinese civilians and then were not satisfied with their victory so the Japanese officers encouraged their soldiers to rape the women from China.  Then when they feared their reputation would be tarnished if this continued. They enslaved women from their colonies to act as sex slaves. No wonder Japan did not want to admit to these claims for so many years

[Rick Steil]

I was blown away when reading about despair of the soldiers and people of Japan after the war. I did not think about all the soldiers stranded all over the world. Some people were sent to camps in Russia where they were raped and killed. The damage did not stop when the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. The people scarred from the bombing were considered pariahs. The economy was at a standstill and supplies short. This article really opened my eyes to the devastation that occurs to the losing side in modern warfare.

[Rick Steil]

I was amazed how similar the Ainu (formerly indigenous people} people of Japan and the Native American people were treated by their governments. Both attempted to assimilate their indigenous people into their societies by forcing them to give up their land and to be forced into different labor markets. Both cultures had to deal with high rate of alcoholism and poverty that was the result of the actions carried out by Japan and America. I find it interesting how different cultures have to deal with similar results of programs they attempt to enforce.

[Author]

Posts