Week 1
Due: 5pm, Friday, August 26, by email
I imagine that students who take this course have varied widely in their previous experience with Japan, ranging from those with little or no exposure at all and those who have interests in something Japanese (e.g., anime, martial arts) to those who have studied Japanese or lived in Japan. In this first assignment, I would like to get a sense of the range of motivations, experiences, and expectations that you are bringing to the course. Please write a brief statement of your own previous encounters with Japan or topics relevant to a study of Japan and reflect on images of the society that you may have developed through this. We are talking in these first weeks about the pervasiveness of "national character" stereotyping of Japan, so try to analyze the extent to which your images of Japan may have been shaped by common stereotypes of the society and the people.