Jan Bardsley:  I am 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.  The highlight of my last trip to Japan was being backstage at the spring dance performances of Kyoto geisha.  I have just finished a book on the Japanese New Woman--literary feminists of the 1910s-- and am now working on icons of postwar femininity such as beauty queens, princesses, and geisha.  I confess to a weakness for TV, chocolate anything, and our two cats, Snickers and Truffles.  I love to travel (except for the long plane flights) and find reading accounts of travel to Japan in the last centuries especially interesting.  My experiences in Japan--the "Japanese life of an American woman"-- and my  interactions with Japanese friends in the U.S. are the encounters that prompted me to develop this class.

Most days you can find me in my office on the 3rd floor of New West (across from Memorial Hall). You are welcome to drop in anytime I'm free though it is best to make an appointment for longer consultations.

• This course offers an excellent introduction to college-level research skills: designing, writing, and presenting original research. 
• You will also gain experience in using diverse sources in order to explore a single topic from many perspectives. 
• You will have fun while you study and learn.  Reading new books, field trips, informal chats before class and lively class discussions are all part of what makes research invigorating. There's a Chinese saying, "Only study that arrives at pleasure can truly be called study."
• No background knowledge of Japan or literary studies is required.

• Be on time for class.  If there is any reason you need to leave the class early, inform the instructor at the beginning of class.
• Turn off cell phones and laptops before class starts.
  
• All written work must be typed and handed in during 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 email to the instructor, put your name in the subject line, ex: June Tanaka: Question Re: Test.  This helps ensure that your message will be read and answered.

• 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. 
• Every student must attend two campus events this semester related to Asian Studies and/or Women's Studies.  These can include lectures, performances, and films. Announcements about upcoming events will be made in class. Check fliers on campus, too. A one-page, typed summary of the event and reaction to it should be handed in at the midterm (9/20) and in class on (10/30).
• Four 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.  Sometimes even a short conversation about class or your life at UNC-CH can reduce major worries to small, manageable actions that can get you back on track.

• The tutorial is a 60-minute session with two or three of your classmates and the instructor. Students prepare a short writing assignment (3 double-spaced pages) for the tutorial.
• The tutorial is designed to give you a chance to discuss your readings and research project with a small group. This also gives us time to go into more depth in discussion that we can in the classroom.
• Your tutorials will be graded upon your knowledge of the readings and on your ability to go further with the issues raised in class in both your discussion and your writing. 
• Students generally like the tutorial format.  It gives you some chance to talk at length, to ask questions, and to enjoy the quick give-and-take of the small group dynamic.

• Two short (two-page, double-spaced) "op-ed" essays are due in the second half of the semester. These call for your response to our last texts and are written in the form of a short editorial essay such as you see in newspapers. 
  

• Exams serve a useful purpose in pushing us to organize material, commit it to memory, and to synthesize what we have learned. In the process of doing this, we develop new ideas about the topic.  The in-class midterm will occur midway through the course on Sept. 20.  You will be given short study guidelines one week before the exam. Hand in the first event report at this time, too.

• Your research paper analyzes one volume of writing about travel to Japan.  We will talk at length in class about what kinds of issues are most intriguing and relevant for this kind of research.  You will want to make your own decisions in this area depending on your interests and on the book you choose, and class discussion will give you much food for thought.  For example, let's say you choose a woman's diary from the late 1800s. You could ask, Who was this woman? Why did she go to Japan and how does she present the country to her readers?  How does she present herself?  What is important to know about the times in which she wrote? Are there illustrations?
  
• You will produce a double-spaced paper of about eight pages with an additional page of bibliography and perhaps copies of illustrations in the book.
• You are encouraged to consult the instructor about the your choice of book and the progress of your paper.
  

• For this assignment, you get together with four others in the class who are doing research on travel literature published in the same era.  For example, you're all working on occupation-era writing. Although you each give an individual ten-minute presentation to the class, you organize your presentations so that together, they give an idea of the era itself.  Your group can embellish the individual presentations with a timeline of key events and pictures that set the stage.
  
• Working together with your group members to plan this presentation will push you to think about the broad themes and the details that link your readings together.  
• Your group will have an entire class period to give your presentation; all members should play an equal part in the project.  You will have some time in class throughout the semester to get together but plan to spend time outside of class rehearsing.
• Presentations need to be well-organized, show a good use of time, and be visually interesting. While your group can work in PowerPoint slides and film clips, make sure that these are used to support your presentations rather than overshadow what you have to say about your research.
• Presentations are graded on organization, use of time, and the clarity and creativity of your analysis.
  

• The final tutorial calls for you to synthesize what you have learned over the entire course.  Major questions will be posted on the course website by the last class.  You are encouraged to review for the oral exam by studying in small groups.  We will schedule the final tutorials shortly after Fall Break so that you can plan for your finals and winter break well in advance.