Course Description
This course introduces various aspects of Japanese culture, including history, geography, religion, government, politics, customs and traditions. After a broad historical overview beginning in prehistory, this course focuses on the Tokugawa period as the bedrock for understanding modern Japanese society as a mass society.
This course introduces various aspects of Japanese culture, including history, geography, religion, government, politics, customs and traditions. After a broad historical overview beginning in prehistory, this course focuses on the Tokugawa period as the bedrock for understanding modern Japanese society as a mass society.
Reflective Narrative
In this course, we explored Japan's culture through history, religion, geography, and traditions. In order to cover all of this material we read several articles and 2 books that covered most of this information. Along with the readings, we also watched several documentaries that covered these materials to reinforce the information learned. We began exploring Japan through geography and learned about the prefectures and main islands of this country. Next, we learned about the different imperial periods in Japan, one of my favorites was the Edo period. During this period, Japan's most iconic character emerged; samurai warriors. Next we learned about religion, although Japan's religion is a combination of Buddhism and traditional indigenous beliefs, it has made Japanese people a very disciplined and respectful culture.
Throughout the semester we were assigned to write three essays in order to showcase our knowledge in the topics; literature during the edo period, samurai in Japanese culture and religion in japan. These essays allowed me to demonstrate what I had learned about these specific topics. For our final projects, we had to create an itinerary for a group of 5 tourist who were going to travel to Japan for the first time. I worked in a group and I was assigned the city of Kyoto; where I was responsible to chose historical monuments, cultural attractions, and most importantly local traditional food. The other project consisted in writing a 10 page essay in which we explained what we leared about Japanese culture in general. Through this paper, I was able to demonstrate what I had learned about Japanese culture throughout the entire semester. Here on this page, you will find an example of the essay that I wrote on Japanese religion; a combination of Buddhism and Shinto elements.
In this course, we explored Japan's culture through history, religion, geography, and traditions. In order to cover all of this material we read several articles and 2 books that covered most of this information. Along with the readings, we also watched several documentaries that covered these materials to reinforce the information learned. We began exploring Japan through geography and learned about the prefectures and main islands of this country. Next, we learned about the different imperial periods in Japan, one of my favorites was the Edo period. During this period, Japan's most iconic character emerged; samurai warriors. Next we learned about religion, although Japan's religion is a combination of Buddhism and traditional indigenous beliefs, it has made Japanese people a very disciplined and respectful culture.
Throughout the semester we were assigned to write three essays in order to showcase our knowledge in the topics; literature during the edo period, samurai in Japanese culture and religion in japan. These essays allowed me to demonstrate what I had learned about these specific topics. For our final projects, we had to create an itinerary for a group of 5 tourist who were going to travel to Japan for the first time. I worked in a group and I was assigned the city of Kyoto; where I was responsible to chose historical monuments, cultural attractions, and most importantly local traditional food. The other project consisted in writing a 10 page essay in which we explained what we leared about Japanese culture in general. Through this paper, I was able to demonstrate what I had learned about Japanese culture throughout the entire semester. Here on this page, you will find an example of the essay that I wrote on Japanese religion; a combination of Buddhism and Shinto elements.