FASHIONING JAPAN

Fall 2006 : August 23 - December 5, 2006
Final exam: Friday, Dec. 8, 12:00 - 2:00pm

Class meets Tues & Thurs, 3:30 - 4:45pm
Location:  Hanes Art 117

3 credit hours Japanese
Fourth -Year Japanese Language Course
Prerequisite: JAPN 306 (formerly 106) or the equivalent

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Professor Jan Bardsley

Department of Asian Studies
305 New West

Office hours: W 1-3pm & by appt

Office Tel: 919-962-1534
Fax: 919-843-7817;   bardsley@email.unc.edu

What is this course about?

This course views Japanese history through the language of fashion.  How are national identity, class, gender, and global citizenship established through clothing? What do contemporary consumption habits tell us about Japanese society today?  As we shall see by looking at changes in dress, hair, shopping, and etiquette, the changes signalled by fashion have never been innocent nor have they gone unnoticed. In fact, new fashions often lead to debate, new codes of dress and conduct, and stir up fears of a change and desires for fun.

Since this is a 4th year Japanese language course, our main project is learning how to read, discuss, and translate Japanese documents.  This course will introduce students to a variety of sources (fiction, essays, historical writing, advertisements, and magazine articles) written between 1947 in occupied Japan and the present. We will also see and discuss some excerpts from recent Japanese films related to fashion culture. The class will be taught in Japanese, although there will be time at the end of some sessions for q&a in English.  Also, students will have two tutorials in English, meeting in my office with two classmates to discuss a novel and an anthropology text relevant to our study.  The tutorials allow us to speak easily about the various issues evident in our readings, and allows us to keep our classes in Japanese.

Connect with Japan:  On the course homepage, you'll notice a link to Connections.  This takes you to Japanese newspapers (English and Japanese) and to lists of Japanese movies in the library.  Keeping up with the Japanese news enriches your study of Japan and also gives you specific ideas to pursue in your term projects for this class.

What projects do the students do?

The class meets twice a week and requires a good deal of reading and translation homework from students. It's homework intensive.  This emphasis on reading homework reflects your stage of Japanese language study.  We are going to concentrate on reading which means you will be doing lots of reading on your own in preparation for class discussions.  You might find it helpful to do this reading with a classmate to make your homework easier and more fun. Do save about eight hours of homework time per week to devote to this class.

Your main intellectual projects for the semester will be: 1) two short analytical essays in English; 2) an oral presentation to the class in Japanese; 3) translation of an essay or story from Japanese into English, with a short analytical essay in English, too.  This work complements your reading and speaking of Japanese in class and prepares you well for graduate or other kinds of independent, sophisticated work in Japanese, where you combine research in Japanese and English sources.

Sound daunting?  Remember that you will be doing all this over the course of three months and that you will have lots of help along the way.  Students often find this material pretty difficult in the first month of class but find that the reading goes much faster after that.  Students in the past felt genuinely proud of all they had accomplished by the end of the course!
 

Who is the instructor?

Jan Bardsley:
I am a graduate of UC Davis (Dramatic Art) and UCLA (East Asian Languages and Cultures) and have been a Tar Heel since 1994, teaching in the Department of Asian Studies.  I use lots of visual images in my Japanese women's studies and literature courses and I have done research on women's magazines, beauty contests, and brand shopping in Japan so this interest in the politics of changing fashions fits with my writing, too.  Currently, I am finishing a book on women and media in Japan in the 1950s and finding that fashion plays a big part in the idea of a new, democratic postwar Japan.

Most days you can find me in my office on the 3rd floor of New West. You are welcome to drop in anytime I'm free though it is best to make an appointment for longer consultations. I also will be in the classroon after the  seminar and would enjoy talking with you then, too.

How could this course be useful for me?

  • You will also gain experience in reading diverse sources in Japanese and in using dictionaries to help you do this.
  • This course offers an excellent introduction to college-level research skills using Japanese.
  • You will begin to develop your own philosophy about how to translate Japanese into English. 
  • You will begin to learn how to talk about visual culture, literature, and history in Japanese through our class discussions.
  • You will learn about modern and contemporary Japanese history and culture.
  • You will continue to expand the number of kanji you can write and recognize.

What books should I buy?

Both of the required readings are available now in the textbook section of the UNC-CH bookstore under JAPN490.   You need to have your own copy of each of these books in these editions.  These complement our readings in Japanese of shorter documents.

Beauty Up: Exploring Japanese Contemporary Body Aesthetics, by anthropologist  Laura Miller (University of California Press, 2006).

Snakes and Earrings, a novel by Kanehara Hitomi, trans. David James Karashima ( A Plume Book, Penguin Books, 2005).

Recommended Books: Sei'ichi Makino and Michio Tsutsui's A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar and A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar.  I assume you all have copies of The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary: Based on the Classic Edition by Andrew N. Nelson.  I recommend you use Kenkyūsha's New Japanese-English Dictionary for translating; several copies are in the library. Also, it's good  to have a copy of  kana & Kanji: A Handbook and Dictionary of the Japanese Writing System by Wolfgang Hadamitzky and Mark Spahn (Tuttle, 1981);this is a very useful book for learning kanji stroke order and also has a handy guide at the end where you can look up kanji by total stroke order (great when you can't figure out the radical).

What else do I need to read?

  •  All readings--what and when to read--are posted on the course schedule.  Japanese readings with vocabulary notes and reading questions are posted on the Blackboard site.

    • Classroom Etiquette

    • Our classroom is a "Japanese speaking zone."  If you need to use English at all, do so outside the classroom or at points in the class session designated as "English q & a."
    • Be on time for class.  If there is any reason you need to leave the class early, inform the instructor beforehand.
    • Turn off cell phones before you enter the classroom.
    • Japanese essays should be word-processed in Japanese.  All English written work must be typed.  All work must be handed in at the beginning of class on the due date. Printing glitches, computer crashes occur--save time for the unexpected. 
    • No work should be turned in via email unless the instructor requests you to do so.
    • When sending e-mail to the instructor, put your name in the subject line.  This helps ensure that your message will be read and answered promptly, and not confused with spam.
    • Doing your homework together with a classmate or two is an efficient,fun, and effective way to study for this class. 

    How do I contribute to this class and how will I be graded?

     Participation
     5%    		 You have a vital role to play in determining the success of this course. Be prompt. Come prepared with day's assignment. Be ready to work. 
    • Everyone is allowed one absence.  This covers illness, family emergency, and any other event that might unexpectedly come up, and any other personal time you need to take.  Please notify the instructor by phone or email if you cannot attend class. Unless there is a medical emergency, two or more absences will count against your grade.
    • To get attendance credit, you must be present during the entire class meeting. 
    • Three consecutive unexcused absences constitutes an automatic F in the course and would disqualify the student from further seminar attendance. Please let the instructor know if anything comes up in your personal life that makes your college work overwhelming.  There are lots of sources of help at UNC-CH and I can aid you in finding them.
    • Please let the instructor know if you have any special needs such as a learning disability or physical need that affects your participation in this class. It's best if we can work out early on how to accommodate this.
    • Everybody gets one "pass"--one time you can turn in homework late, but only one.  Other than that no late homework is accepted.
    Kanji quizzes
    5%
    • Short,weekly kanji quizzes will push you to retain many of the new kanji you are reading.  At the end of each class session, you will learn which kanji you need to memorize for the following week's quiz.  Kanji quizzes are always cumulative, however, so make sure to review all your kanji flash cards every week. Kanji quizzes are given in the first five minutes of each class on Thursday.
    Tutorials 
     2 x 10%
    • The tutorial is a 60-minute session with two or three of your classmates and the instructor.  You prepare a short essay in English on the reading and hand it in at the tutorial.
    • The tutorial is designed to give you a chance to discuss our English-language readings in a comfortable,small group setting. We discuss how they relate to the Japanese texts we're reading and also talk about ideas for analyzing the images we're seeing in class and those discussed in these English-language texts.
    • Your tutorials will be graded upon your active participation in the discussion and on the short English essay (3 pages) you write for the tutorial.
    • Students generally like the tutorial format. Speaking English in the tutorials allows us to talk in depth about Japanese literature and culture.  This provides an important context for our work in Japanese. 
    • This part of the class also draws on skills in reading and talking about books that you have developed in many of your other college classes.  Although much of the work in Japanese might be new to you, this activity should be pretty familiar.
    • First tutorial:  Read Snakes & Earrings;  Arrange tutorials for  the week of September 11-15.
      • After reading this novel in English, write a short essay on how body modification  (tattoos, piercing) tell us about the main character, her attitude toward her body and her outlook on life.  Use quotes from the book to support your points. (I will also give you one chapter in the Japanese original so you can get an idea of the translator's work).
    • Second Tutorial:  Read Beauty Up;   Arrange tutorials for the week of October 16-20.
      • After reading the whole book, choose one chapter to describe in detail in your tutorial essay, explaining how you can use the ideas in this chapter in thinking about your own research fashion project for this class.

    Midterm Exams
    2 x 10%
    • Exams serve a useful purpose in pushing us to organize material. In the process of doing this, we develop new ideas about the topic and refresh our memories on kanji, grammar, ideas.
    • First Midterm: Scheduled for  Tuesday, October  3
    • Second Midterm:  Scheduled for Thursday, November 16
    Oral Presentation
    (10 minutes)
    15%
    • You will present your own fashion show via Powerpoint, narrating it in Japanese.  You have a wide range of choice in  topics: salaryman fashions; Gothic Lolita; uniforms; top designers; Kabuki costume---whatever captures your imagination.
    • Presentations need to be well-organized, show a good use of time, be visually interesting, and employ PowerPoint slides--one-line of kanji only--focus on the visual.  Rehearse!
    • You will be graded on the creativity of your presentation and on how effectively you use Japanese
    • You need to turn in--the day before your presentation-- a copy of your Japanese script for each person in the class. Highlight vocabulary you think we might need to know in advance, and provide notes for words that are likely to be new to us.
    • You will have help in choosing your topic, finding the sources, and revising the Japanese script.
    • Choose your topic by October 12th. (Hand in a short paragraph in English about your topic)
    • Presentations will take place in the last four class periods:
    • Nov. 21: Adamson, Battle,  Taylor, Moore& Smith,
    • Nov. 28: Closner, Northup, Foote-Hudson, Good
    • Nov. 30: Beaman, Fu, Mayer, Nunnelley
    • Dec. 5:  Peavey, Peterson, Suess, Wilson
    Translation Project
    15%
    • You will select a short essay or short story in Japanese to translate into English by mid- October; this essay or story should be related to the topic of your oral presentation.  If your presentation is on kimono, for example, you might choose to translate a selection from a kimono guidebook or a story that focuses on kimono or an old historical record about kimono.  Find something you're really excited about translating.
    • You will also write a two-page analysis of this translation in English,pointing out its major themes and your observations about the way language is used in the essay/story. 
    • Examples of such readings and ways to analyze these will be discussed in class.  You will do two drafts of this translation:
      • the first, with typed  kanji notes, will be given to a classmate (November 2), Give a copy of the Japanese original and notes to the instructor as well.
      •  classmate will read draft and Japanese original, write notes, and discuss ideas for your analysis and translation with you (November 7);
      •  the second draft will be the polished draft to hand in, with kanji notes, for final grading (November 21). 
      • You will receive the graded paper back on Tuesday, November 21.  You may consult the instructor on this assignment anytime before Nov. 14. 
    • Note: Prepare the kanji notes as if you were preparing this essay or story as a reading assignment for 4th year students.
    Final Examination
    20%
    • The final exam will consist of kanji recognition; translation from Japanese to English; reading comprehension questions in Japanese; and questions calling for some short answers in Japanese.
    • You will receive study guidelines for this exam at the last class session. If you attend all the classes and keep up with the class assignments, the final exam should take about 90 minutes.  
    • The final exam is scheduled for FRIDAY, Dec. 8, 12:00-2:00pm
    It is understood that all members of this class pledge to uphold the honor code of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in all work completed for this course.

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