Middlebury

JALA 8345

Japan's SoftPower/YouthCulture

Japan’s Soft Power and Youth Culture

This course aims to deepen understanding of Japanese society and culture and develop Japanese communication skills at the same time. The overall theme of the course is Japan’s Soft Power. We will explore some of the current soft power that Japan could use and discuss the potential as a means to increase its international presence. As a source of the soft power, we will look into the Japanese cultural products that are popular among youth, such as anime, manga, computer games, and pop music to discuss their characteristics, uniqueness, and reasons of popularity. Students will read articles from various sources and discuss the current trend of these cultural products and their influence on youth, domestic and beyond, analyzing their roles as Japan’s soft power. Study of intermediate and advanced grammar and expressions will be integrated into the course work.

Subject:
Japanese
Department:
Language & Intercultural Study
Division:
Transltn, Interpret & Lang Edu
Requirements Fulfilled:

Sections in Fall 2021 - MIIS, MIIS Waiver "Courses"

Fall 2021 - MIIS

JALA8345A-F21 Lecture (Matsuda)