MLO 2: Japanese CultureMLO 2.1 Students develop a comprehensive understanding, appreciation, and knowledge of Japanese culture: perspectives (ideas, beliefs, attitudes, values, philosophies), practices (patterns of social interactions) and products (both tangible and intangible, for example, art, history, literature, music).
MLO 2.2 Students develop analytical and critical thinking in areas such as how Japan’s cultural background influences modern Japanese life, how to compare their own culture with the Japanese culture, or how Japanese culture relates to other world cultures in an age of global inter-relatedness. |
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MLO 2.1
In JAPN212: Samurai Spirit, I learned for the first time the concept of wabi-sabi and mujou. I learned that wabi-sabi is the art of finding beauty and awe in imperfection, while mujou is the idea of impermanence (ex. cherry blossoms). I didn't know that Japan had such philosophies prior to taking this course. The class I took in Japan called Chado: Mind and Practice directly went into these aesthetics. We also had a novel that listed the history of Japanese samurai and how Japan was as a society in that period of time. It was incredibly in-depth and all new to me, as I never learned that much culture while taking Japanese in high school. JAPN310: Japanese Cinema taught about Japanese culture through film, most notably from the famous works of Akira Kurosawa. Each movie that we watched in that class brought to me a new aspect of culture I had never known before, such as the difference in speech between seniors and juniors, and even how Japanese cinema was different from American cinema of the time. For each movie that we watch, we did a movie report on each talking about points like what differences in culture we noticed and what we learned from the movie (see Evidence 1). In a class called Japanese studies, which I took in Japan, we learned about something especially interesting: Rokuyo. Rokuyo are the days that are lucky and unlucky in the Japanese calendar, and if you ever pick up a Japanese planner or date book, they will all have days labeled lucky and unlucky. Learning about this practice was incredibly eye-opening. The one thing I want to continue to do is learn more about Japanese culture that isn't taught in textbooks.
MLO 2.2
Because I decided to take most of my culture courses in Japan, I was able to receive a wide variety of knowledge on top of what I learned in the culture courses I took at CSUMB. I believe the culture courses I took in Japan best cater to the fulfillment of MLO 2.2. I took a course called Transnational Mobility & Multiculturalism in Japan, which directly discussed how Japanese culture relates to other world cultures in an age of global inter-relatedness. We discussed how, although many people believe it is, Japan is no longer such a homogeneous society. There are many people who are being born from interracial relationships with people from all around the world. We also learned about sumo wrestling, and how many of the champions from Japan are not actually Japanese (they are Mongolian). Another topic taught includes Japanese immigrants in Hawaii and how there is still such a large Nikkei (second-generation) community there. Taking Samurai Spirit and Japanese Cinema here was my first encounter with comparing Japanese culture to my own. I've always been interested in Asian culture growing up, but didn't know the difference between Chinese, Korean, or Japanese culture. Taking the culture courses here with these specific outcomes helped me understand the depth of Japanese culture.
Evidence 1: On the right is my midterm essay for JAPN310, the class that helped me fulfill MLO 2.1.
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