1. Course Outline
This course is an introduction to gender as it is portrayed in popular culture in Japan. A sociological perspective is used to examine the influences of popular culture on the gender identity of Japanese youth. Theoretical background to gender will be introduced early in the course. Topics such as manga (comics), anime (animated movies and TV serials), magazines, performance shows and contemporary dance will be used as a lens to view the portrayal of male and female roles and images. Attention will be given to an analysis of Japanese society and the changing boundaries of Japanese culture and identity. Students will be expected to read articles that analyze gender through these various domains of popular culture. Discussions will compare students' experiences with Japanese popular culture, or analysis of their own society to develop a global perspective. Some suggestions for student field-work are scouting materials at local bookstores, watching TV serials and animated cartoons and other student-suggested activities.

2. Course Objectives
At the end of the course students will have an understanding of how the gender identity of Japanese youth has been influenced by popular culture. Students will be able to synthesize concepts of the impact of globalism and consumerism through popular culture mediums in relation to gender identity in Japanese society in a final essay or oral presentation. The synthesis should include personal and home-culture and society comparisons.

3. There is no textbook. A packet of readings will be provided. Visual materials will supplement readings and discussions.

4. Course Assessment (2 credits)

1) Readings, Class Discussion, Attendance 50%

2) Final Presentation & Outline 50%

5. Attendance and Other Requirements
Students with more than three absences without official permission will be dropped from the class.

6. Final Oral Presentation & Short Paper
I have listed the following points as a 'guide' to help in thinking about how to synthesize (pull together ideas from various parts of your learning: your observations of Japanese society, your learning in this class, your experience in your own culture) your ideas.

1. What was your impression (stereotype?) of Japanese as a gendered society before you came to Japan?
2. Did your impression change in any way during your first 4 months here? If so, in what way did it change?
3. Do you think there are shifting/bending gender-identities for women/girls and for men/boys in Japan? How is this concept reflected in the popular culture material studied in this class?

How do these ideas (1, 2, 3) compare with your own society/culture? The focus of your presentation should be on #4 & 5. Use any medium of popular culture that interests you to examine these questions. Some suggestions for student field-work are scouting materials at local bookstores, watching TV serials and animated cartoons and movies, and any creative ideas students generate. After your presentation, incorporate feedback from other students' questions, and synthesize your presentation into a 3-6 page paper.

Week 1: Course Overview

1. Nature of the course: Based on feminist organizing principles

Values:
cooperation (not competition)
the personal has political causes and solutions
personal choice and action is political and affects solutions (or lack of same acceptance of different ways of being, thinking, knowing, acting

Methods/Approaches:
Emphasis on process as part of the product
Using consciousness raising, that is, becoming aware of feelings of self and others through our study
Emphasis on collaboration and cooperation: there are many definitions of the problem and that the definition of the problem changes the solution.

2. Explanation of coursework:

Weekly writing homework:
Every week by Thursday at 5 p.m. each student will submit written homework by email to the professor. The homework will be one or two paragraphs on each reading (if there are three readings, then three to 6 paragraphs) Outline reading into main points. Add questions which come up for you. Questions create better questions which lead to flexible, creative, open-minded thinking inclusive of others' perspectives instead of looking for definitive answers.

3. Self-introduction: your experiences with Japanese popular culture (anime/manga in particular); what does the word 'gender' mean to you?

4. "Some Thoughts on Japanese Popular Culture" Hidetoshi Kato (pp. xvii-xviii) (In the Handbook of Japanese Popular Culture)

5. Overview of syllabus

6. What is gender: historical development of the word and some definitions. (Some ways to think about how to use theory)

Reading Assignments:
"Gender, Shifting Boundaries and Global Cultures" D. P. Martinez (pp. 1-18)

Week 2 & 3 Hayao Miyazaki: Mononoke Hime, Nausicaa, Spirited Away

Viewing material: all three movies

Readings:

1. Miyazaki Hayao's Three Stages (Unpublished manuscript)

2. "Vampires, Psychic Girls, Flying Women and Sailor Scouts: Four Faces of the Young Female in Japanese Popular Culture" Susan Napier (pp.91-109)
(In "The Worlds of Popular Culture" by D. P. Martinez) (Mononoke Hime & Nausicaa)

3. Do Anime suggest the liberated female characters in Nausicaa and Mononokehime? (Unpublished manuscript)

4. Lost and Found in a Dream: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi. The Japan Times: July 25, 2001.

Supplemental reading for Weeks 2 ­ 6

"Gender Roles and Girls' Comics in Japan" Maia Tsurumi (pp. 171-105)
"Flowers and Dreams" (pp. 88-105) in "Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics by Frederik Schodt"

"The Economic Animal at Work and Play" (pp. 106-119) in "Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics by Frederik Schodt"

Week 4 Sailor Moon

Viewing material: Sailor Moon TV serials

Readings:

"Vampires, Psychic Girls, Flying Women and Sailor Scouts: Four Faces of the Young Female in Japanese Popular Culture" Susan Napier (pp.91-109)
(In "The Worlds of Popular Culture" by D. P. Martinez)

Utena

Viewing material: Utena

Readings:

"Utena: Adolescence Mokushiroku" by Sabdha Charlton (pp. 1-5)
(http://wwwsshe.murdoch.edu.au/intersections/issue5/charlton_review.html)

Week 6 The Animation of Japanese Reality, & Ranma 1/2

Viewing material: Ranma 1/2

Readings:

"More Animated Than Life" Sato Kenji (pp. 1-8)
(http://www.udel.edu/History/figal/Hist372/Materials/animatedlife.pdf)

"Akira and Ranma _: The Monstrous Adolescent" Susan Napier (pp. 37-83)
(In "Akira: From Akira to Princess Mononoke by Susan Napier

Week 7 Takarazuka Revue

Viewing material: The Rose of Versailles (performance video)

Readings:

Jennifer Robertson's Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan (review by L. Stickland)

Week 8 "Boys' Love" Comics for Girls

McLelland, Mark. Why are Japanese girls' comics full of boys bonking? Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media. http://www.cult-media.com/issue1/contents.htm

Chiyoko Murakami's case study: "I have my own reasons for reading 'Boys' Love'.

Week 9 Women's Magazines

Readings:

Tanaka, Keiko. (1999). Japanese women's magazines and the language of aspiration. In D. P. Martinez (Ed.) The Worlds of Japanese Popular Culture, pp. 110-132. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Inoue, Teruko. Women's magazines and images of women in Japan. (article - references not available)

Week 10 Butoh Contemporary Japanese Dance

Viewing material: video clips of Butoh

Readings:

Collected Butoh magazine and newspaper reviews

Colebrook, C. (2000). Incorporeality: The ghostly body of metaphysics. Body and Society, 6(2), 25-44.

Week 11 Butoh Seiryukai Dance Workshop 7-10:00 p.m.

The Body and Identity: Exploring gender through contemporary Butoh dance workshop.

Readings:

Nakamura, T. (2003). How Does Butoh Become Meaningful to Seiryukai
Dancers: Self Perception, Social Relations, and Community. Dance Therapy Association of Australia Quarterly, 2(2),

Week 12 Japanese Animation and the West

Readings:

"The Fifth Look: Western Audiences and Japanese Animation" by Susan Napier (pp. 239-256) (In Anime: From Akira to Princess Mononoke)

Week 13

Oral Presentations and Discussion

Week 14

Oral Presentations and Discussion

Week 15

Oral Presentations and Discussion

Websites:

http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki
http://www.ntv.co.jp/ghibli
http://looney.physcis.sunysb.edu/^daffy/conan.html
http://www.geocitites.com/Tokyo/Fuji/9270/chara/html

Contact Info: tamah@gol.com

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