...the reading of Junichirō Tanizaki’s ‘Some Prefer Nettles’. The tale itself, highly symbolic and tinged with an unmistakable pathos, ultimately led me to select as a focus for my major work the Taisho period of Japan, a period of social, political and literary fermentation. The Taisho period was a time of literary reflection on the changes the Meiji period had brought about, it was a period where a great many authors turned their minds towards locating an authentic cultural identity distinct from Western influence. Decidedly thus influenced by this topic, my critical response was to have the purpose of illustrating the tensions that exist between modernity and traditional culture, additionally dealing with the...
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...arguable that monsters have become a “fad” of the modern era, and many are created to represent the culture of their origin. Thus, the question is why yokai are seen as a key component of contemporary Japanese identity, and what was the reason that lead to an increased interest in yokai and their appearance in popular culture? Folktales in The Legends of Tono were originally created, as argued, to protect the local society and identities of Tono. However, the recording of these folktales and their appearance in modern society can be attributed to the crisis of identity and modernity that Japan faced from the nineteenth century onwards. The Meiji Restoration focused on a fusion of antiquity and modernity in creating an identity that defined the nation-state, while the post-WWII era re-evaluated the importance of the individual identity. Undeniably, part of this identity resides in the yokai that descended from the kami in The Legends of Tono, where even today, they are something that is often associated with Japanese culture. The kappa and tengu contain local identities since the kappa in Tono are known to be red-faced, while the tengu are said reside in the mountains surrounding the region. On the other hand, they are often the first that come to mind when talking about Japanese “monsters.”...
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...separation of the man from the means of killing is a by-the-book vision of true modernity, but the destruction is the hypocrisy of the matter. World War 1 was also centered largely on race, but not as much white or non-white, but a differing view known as nationalism. Men went to the front lines and placed themselves at risk for the ingrained belief of nationalism, that their country was automatically right, and better than the others. Towards the end however, public debate began, and it was realized that maybe there was no right or wrong, and that the young men on the front were dying for no reason, on both sides. For example, in All Quiet on the Western Front, they said, “While they taught that duty to one’s country is the greatest thing, we already knew that death-throes are stronger.” This alone is an example of the hypocrisy through progress, governments preached nationality and race, and people started to realize that this was a strategy to achieve personal gains. Furthermore, progress and modernity was represented more in World War 1 with the use of mass mobilization. Everything industrialized in the countries involved was shifted to war manufacturing, and the first time in history that all aspects of the countries were mobilized, not just the soldiers. In World War 1 overall, scientific progression, mass mobilization, and the public debate within the masses exemplifies the progression of modernity, while the destruction and ruined lives of so many represent the hypocrisy...
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...HL309 Comparative Literature August 2011 semester Description The module will examine the binary categories ‘modern’/‘traditional’ (and/or the ‘primitive’) as they appear in modernising societies. First, we look at representative literature from (what was until recently known as) Great Britain. The question is: why did the world’s homeland of the Industrial Revolution have a fascination with adventure, feats of derring-do and the primitive? We look at a young reader’s Victorian adventure novel, the long-enduring The Coral Island, and the later short stories of Rudyard Kipling (the ‘Bard’ of Empire), and examine the (contradictory?) lure of the primitive, even as British modernity is taken for granted. Second, the module will proceed to examine some major Chinese and Japanese writers and intellectuals (and an Indian poet and critics, the Nobel Prize-winning Rabindranath Tagore) and see how northeast Asian culture was broadly affected by their sense of Western modern superiority in technology, political organisation and literary (and other forms of creative) culture. Both China and Japan, the major countries in East-Southeast Asia, were never colonised, but they were intimidated by the presence of the Great Western Powers (and their colonies) in the region. Japan after the Meiji Restoration (1868) became the first modern Asian nation-state, and their attempts at intensive (and disruptive) modernisation of their culture had a profound impact on the whole region – and this desire...
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...Japan’s influences greatly impacted Korea, information on birth control slowly became recognizable, letting women have several alternatives. The realization of birth control was evidently useful, however the actions behind several aspects of this matter was not fully understood. Birth control became a leading factor to abortion, causing additional problems regarding hygiene, correct surgical methods, and ethical issues. It brought both positive and negative effects to the society, leading to new issues that were unheard of before birth control set foot into Korea. As women were described as “tools for reproduction,” they were commonly characterized as weak and unhealthy. Most women in the colonial period were used to having multiple children, leading them to have continuous deliveries with short recovery periods. Even with poor circumstances, children were still born into poverty, many families not being able to support their own...
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...Introduction Within a traditional patriarchal society women are normally valued far less than that of a man. They are usually subjugated and oppressed in various ways both directly and indirectly within their given society and culture. The country of Japan is no different with its long history dating back centuries of female subjugation. However, recent generations of both men and women have been working to try and change that and director/producer/writer Hayao Miyazaki is one of these people. Within this paper it will be argued that Hayao Miyazaki is a cultural feminist and that he uses several of his animated films to de-popularize the cultural acceptance of oppressing and subjugating women, while simultaneously promoting new cultural views and the independence of Japanese women. Miyazaki has used such films as a dog of...
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...during and after World War II (1900-1960). The three generations represented by Hana who is seen as the apple of Toyono Kimoto’s eye (her grandmother) is raised and bred as a traditional Japanese woman, is married and gives birth to Fumio. Fumio is the next generation who despite Hana's efforts and wishes, rebels against the traditional arts and culture of her upbringing and ultimately her own daughter wants to learn more about the traditional, conservative lifestyle of a Japanese woman. In the novel, Ariyoshi establishes a strong link between women and the natural world in the context of a family. Each woman's life, (which is seen as a representation of a family generation) contrasts the others as the intense social and technological changes of the period affect their initially rural Wakayama Prefecture of Southern Japan. Changes Found in Family Hana is a girl about to enter an arraigned marriage to an ambitious man of a lesser family. The story begins with her very traditional, arranged marriage to a first born son in a town located down stream on the River Ki. Hana, the main protagonist, held tradition and superstition very dearly representing the initial Kimoto family’s attributes. She is an intelligent and strong woman, but one who believes that she should live the life of a traditional Japanese housewife. She and her daughter Fumio are opposites. Fumio represents the transition from the old traditional ways of the Kimoto family to the new modern way. An instance where this...
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...Long-Term Suffering in Hiroshima United States President Herbert Hoover voiced “the use of the atomic bomb, with its indiscriminate killing of women and children, revolts [his] soul,” accurately depicting the sentiment of countless Japanese civilians “at exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning, on August 6, 1945, Japanese time, at the movement when the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima” (Hersey 1). Hiroshima, by John Hersey, recounts the tales of six individuals who survived from history’s first atomic bombing. Hersey vividly, and even graphically, illustrates the magnitude of a nuclear attack’s impact not only as massive physical and structural destructions, but also as severe emotional and psychological devastations, too. There are two primary ways in which he depicts the peoples’ sufferings: short-term and long-term effects....
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...deaths at the end of the story invokes the image of Kawabata’s soundless childhood home. “Love Suicides” is perhaps a cry for help of sorts, as it was part of the last collection of stories Kawabata published before he committed suicide in 1972 (Lebowitz 779). Similarly, Snow Country, laced with the themes of coldness, the incapacity to love, and loneliness, invokes the distance Kawabata felt from others in his childhood. The male lead, who serves as a surrogate for Kawabata, departs from the so-called “snow country” unscathed and unchanged, as though he was unable to love from the outset (Seidensticker 5). The women in the story are left unfulfilled in their love and unable to reach happiness, abandoned and possibly dead (Seidensticker 8). The similarities between the characters’ conflicts and Kawabata’s misfortunes overlap too much for them to be coincidental; the women are abandoned just as Kawabata was, and the deaths draw from the losses Kawabata endured in his childhood. Correspondingly, House of the Sleeping Beauties draws from Kawabata’s childhood, adulthood, and old age. House of the Sleeping Beauties possesses themes of inevitable death, senility versus youth, and nostalgic love. These themes are relevant to Kawabata, who was growing old, experienced heartbreak, and had seen all of his close family die when he was young. Kawabata formulated the plot for House of the Sleeping Beauties by drawing from his personal experience of having withdrawals from sleep medication...
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...Ali Tashpulatov East Asian Studies Professor Tom Havens 3/5/2015 Which character in Tanizaki’s Naomi (1924), the husband Joji or the wife Naomi, seems more considerate of the other’s feelings? Tanizaki’s Naomi describes in intricate detail the relationship between man and wife in early 20th century Japan, but the relationship described is far from the conventional ideas of the time. Although it the novel might be perceived as a story of gender empowerment, in reality it is more of a description of a post-marriage gender role reversal. Moreover, the novel documents the paradigm shift from a relationship of a father and child to the relationship of husband and wife, and although peculiar this relationship is an ubiquitous phenomenon. The novel is comparable not only to the somewhat analogical story of Lolita, but also to many other works such as Pygmalion or even The Great Gatsby. Naomi follows the progression of Joji and Naomi’s relationship, narrated entirely by Joji; Although Joji remains the narrator, he eventually loses the role of the protagonist to his spouse. Throughout the novel, Joji’s feelings and consideration of Naomi’s feelings have no limit, but Naomi never shows or speaks of her care towards Joji’s feelings or even well being. The first example of such inequality is the housing arrangement that the two adopt. Having moved into their first “ever so Western” (Tanizaki 1924: 9-10) home the two reside in separate rooms, and when Naomi’s bedding...
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...FA ND OM UNB OUND —-1 —0 —+1 561-47344_ch00_1P.indd i 7/27/11 6:21 PM -1— 0— +1— 561-47344_ch00_1P.indd ii 7/27/11 6:21 PM FAN DO M U N BOUND Otaku Culture in a Connected World Edited by MIZUKO ITO DAISUKE OKABE IZUMI TSUJI —-1 —0 —+1 New Haven & London 561-47344_ch00_1P.indd iii 7/27/11 6:21 PM Published with assistance from Copyright © 2012 by Yale University. All rights reserved. Subject to the exception immediately following, this book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. The author has made an online version of this work available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License. It can be accessed through the author’s Web site at http:www.itofisher.com/mito. Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educational, business, or promotional use. For information, please e-mail sales.press @ yale.edu (U.S. office) or sales @ yaleup.co.uk (U.K. office). Designed by James J. Johnson Set in Janson Roman and Helvetica type by Westchester Book Group, Danbury, CT Printed in the United States of America [[CIP info to come]] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence...
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...researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Sage Publications, Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Contemporary History. http://www.jstor.org Journalof Contemporary London,Thousand Oaks, CA and HistoryCopyright? 2004 SAGEPublications, New Delhi, Vol 39(3), 373-401. ISSN0022-0094. DOI: 10.1177/0022009404044446 Trentmann Frank Beyond Consumerism: New Historical Perspectives on Consumption If there is one agreement between theorists of modernity and those of...
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...daring to envisage the existence of one without the presence of another. Following on this strand, his 1928 serialised novel Tade kū mushi (‘Some Prefer Nettles’) tells the tale of the ennui in a marriage caught between the final throes of a dying Edo culture and an increasingly ever-present modernity. In the novel, protagonist Kaname is faced with the decision as...
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...[pic] Author: Gail Jones Title: Dreams of Speaking Publisher: Vintage, 2007, Surrey (Great Britain) Gail Jones is an Australian writer and academic. She was born in 1955 in Harvey, Australia. She is currently a professor at the University of Western Sydney. Alice could be seen scribbling away, a cup of coffee before her , trying to render the world in prose, trying to unlock with words the complicated inside of things..." (Jones, 2007, 47) This quote is perfect to explain and even help picture what was going through Alice's mind. Poetry behind machines, technology and modernity in general. I decided to begin with it because this simple mix of words was what made me continue to read the book and it sums it up pretty well. The first few chapters focus on Alice's childhood, her family and her love story with Stephen. Obviously, this was useful to give some insight about the main character's personality and background. In the middle of the text there are some parts where the story stops momentarily and some remarks are made by Mr. Sakamoto, Alice or the author herself. This happens throughout the book and it can help or difficult the task of reading it depending on the perspective. I found it interesting and annoying at the same time. Further ahead, she meets Mr. Sakamoto. An elderly man from Nagasaki. Now this is when the book really begins for me. He was writing a biography about Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the phone. They got along really...
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...Thailand (Katazyna’s article) * Mae Nak’s duality of loving and obedient wife/unclean and evil monster: common perception of woman and shows male insecurity about women * Any attempts to introduce non-supernatural plots to Thai horror so far met with strong resistance. People believe there is a reason to kill, cause and effect. The only way to show killing outside this cause and effect pattern is to involve black magic (Khmer black magic, known as long khong in Thai) * Conventional Thai ghost: Appear to audience as indistinguishable from living characteristics until it chooses to reveal its identity * Phil Tai Hong conventions: 1. Materialise in the vicinity of their death site. 2. Linked to specific humans who they use as channels of communication with the world * Contemporary Thai horror: Ghosts rely on technology as their site of manifestation and channel of communication (Natre in Shutter crawls out of photograph). 2. Ghosts can transform themselves into digital image radio waves. 3. Metaphorization of ghosts to bring out certain concepts (use of cinematic metaphors) * Director Arayangkoon in The Victim & The House * Director Paween Puri in The Body #19 (Mary Ainslie’s article) * Director Pakpoom Wongpoom and Banjong Pisan (Phenomena Motion Pics): Shutter; 2004 (highest grossing Thai movie for 2004, 4th overall) * New Thai Cinema started with the Thai sakon nostalgia element, which is a blend of Thainess and selected international...
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