A Brief History of Japanese Culture

Prof. Ian CondryLecture 2: February 10, 2003

1

“The” Japanese

2

Analyzing Popular Culture• formal• aesthetic• quantitative• sociological• political

Ganguro fashion, late 1990s(source: New York Times)

Lawrence Grossberg (1989)3

"Japan"• What is culture?

– Humanist• Arts and letters

– Anthropological• Meanings and lifeways

– Historical• Traditions, institutions

Bunraku puppet theater

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Goals of the Class

• Analyze Japanese popular culture

• Locate popular culture in social context

• Understand its power and politics

TEZUKA Osamu (1949) Metropolis

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Course Dynamics

• Lecture• Presentations• Discussion• Media• Outside events

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Reading• Three texts + articles

– Treat, Contemporary Japan and Pop Culture

– Craig, Japan Pop!– Kinsella, Adult Manga

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Why take this course?• Japan

– 2nd largest economy– Asian modernity

• Popular culture– information economies– media power – fan cultures– new millennium politics

8

A Brief History of Japan

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Japan: Traditional and Modern“Although time may pass, the important things never change. Trust. Proven results. Nichie.”

-- Nichie Bank (TV commercial)

10

Geisha

see also Golden Memoirs of a Geisha

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Map of the world with Europe at

the center.

Map of the world with the Pacific Rim as the center

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Locating Japan in Asia

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Japan Geography

• Four main islands– Hokkaidô (north)– Honshû (main)– Shikoku (small)– Kyûshû (southern)

– also, Okinawa (small islands like Hawaii)

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Pre-historic Japan (1)

• first humans over 30,000 yrs ago• 10,000 - 7,000 yrs ago from Korea• Jomon up to 300 BC (pottery with

cord markings, figurines)

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Pre-historic Japan (1)

• Yayoi after site in SW Japan by 100 AD replace Jomon

• 500s AD fighting men on horses, armor, swords, bows (from Korea)

• Yamato clan, Shintô, Buddhism

16

Classical age (6th-12th c.)

• 710 - 794 Nara capital• Heian court in Kyoto 794 -1185• Literacy (kanji, kana) • dueling aesthetics

see also Totman (1981) Japan Before Perry 17

Warring states period (1192 - 1600)• local warlords (daimyô)• samurai (historical change)• shifting centers of power

– Kamakura 1192 - 1333– late 1200s Mongols invade (fail)– Muromachi 1334 - 1573 etc.

• Religion moves to the masses

Yukio MISHIMA, 20th c. novelist,

posing as a samurai18

Tokugawa Period (1600 - 1868)• Shogun rule Edo (Tokyo)

– TOKUGAWA Ieyasu• samurai bureaucrats• rigid class structure

– samurai, farmers, artisans, merchants

• but power shifts to merchants– rise of mercantile culture

Himeji Castle near Osaka19

Meiji Restoration 1868

• 1853 Commodore Perry “Black Ships” • Reformers “restore” Meiji Emperor• Modernization following Western

models• Imperial aggression begins in 20th

century

Izumo Shrine, the Emperor as living god of Shintô religion

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Reading Discussion

21

Homework

• Reading for Wednesday– from Craig, Japan Pop!

• Atkins, Can Japanese Sing the Blues

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21G.039 / 21G.037 Japanese Popular CultureSpring 2003

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