Japan Outreach

Opportunity for US students in grade 11 or 12 who now study Japanese.
[forwarded from EASC at Indiana University]

JET Memorial Invitation Program (JET MIP) for High School Students

The JET MIP program provides 32 high school students with the opportunity to go to Japan for two weeks as a group to meet Japanese students, experience Japanese culture, and study the language. It was created in 2011 in memory of the two beloved American teachers of English who lost their lives in the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011: Taylor Anderson(Ishinomaki, Miyagi) and Montgomery Dickson (Rikuzen-Takata, Iwate). The program is open to 11^th and 12^th graders who are currently learning Japanese, and it seeks to honor the principles which Taylor and Monty valued during their lives. For more information, please visit http://www.jflalc.org/jle-12-jet-mip.html.

2011/11/08

sample news stories (English) from Asahi News - including the Fukushima disaster(s)

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/china/AJ2011110716782

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ2011103116205

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ2011102415638

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201108055290

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ2011102515713

2011/11/03

(colonial days) pre 1945 Korea photos at Library of Congress

View this rich collection of pre-1945 Korea photos now available at the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs room. The images seem to come from a Japanese photographer, judging by the hand writing on the back of the images. While the collection has been recently catalogued at http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010645655 the images have not been fully processed for routine viewing or online reference. So to seem them in person you must follow the special procedure there.

Those able to read the handwritten Japanese notes that appear on the back of many photos are particularly encouraged to give the meanings or reflect on the wider significance depicted.

There are three ways to engage these reference copy images:

A. Cursor rapidly through the 250 images (some duplicates; observe only; no Japanese) in this large file, http://bit.ly/loc-colonialkr-pdf [about 14mb, hosted on google docs]

B. View paired pages: obverse shows 4-6 pictures, reverse shows the Japanese writing penciled on
http://pre1945korea.blogspot.com (blog platform allows viewers to write identifying information)
Each entry gives the option to download the 2 page PDF set for easy printout, too.
[hosted on blogger.com]

C. Bundle of all 27 paired (obverse/reverse) PDF sets in one file
http://tinyurl.com/bundle27pre1945kr
[about 14mb, hosted on sites.google.com]

2011/09/23

resources September 2011

via U.Colorado-Boulder newsletter:

Blogger in Japan. National Geographic's Digital Nomad touched down in Japan. Andrew Evans, the National Geographic Traveler's Contributing Editor and blogger who covers every corner of the world, landed in Japan for his three-week travel through the country. To follow his travel blogs, tweets, and videos, visit http://japantravelinfo.com/andrew/index.html.

"Japan" – includes a Google Earth tour

2011/08/18

protest culture 2011 (movie set in the year 1963) 'Kokurikozaka kara'

cross-posting from H-JAPAN on August 17, 2011 by Peter Cave @manchester.ac.uk
Subject: The Supposedly Docile Japanese Public and 'Kokurikozaka kara'

As a coda to this interesting discussion on 'the supposedly docile Japanese public', last Saturday I went to see the latest Studio Ghibli film, 'Kokurikozaka kara'. An NHK Special programme about the making of this film a week or two ago described it as a story about first love. It is that, but it's a lot more. It's a fascinating tale about high school students at a private Yokohama high school in 1963, who engage in lively debates and engage in constructive opposition to plans to demolish a historical building where they hold their bungei-bu activities. The film portrays their behaviour in an entirely favourable way. I have no idea whether it bears any resemblance to the reality of high school students in the early 1960s, or whether it's more Miyazaki Hayao's ideal of what they should have been (or a mixture of the two) - this is the time between Anpo and the Gakusei Funso of the late 60s, of course, so perhaps 1963 allows Miyazaki to subtly associate the story with that period and yet not directly link it to its most controversial episodes. For me, the film had a strong resonance with the current protests and debate over nuclear power, the implicit messages being, 'Think for yourself!' 'Don't just accept what the authorities do!' and 'Take action!' ...

2011/08/15

elementary school photo essay; Earthquake lessons

[via U. Colorado Teaching East Asia newsletter]

The Japan Forum. Yuta and Minami is a new webpage from the Japan Forum. It includes 43 annotated photos of the home life of two Japanese elementary students, Yuta and Minami Tanaka. Through these photos, students can see and learn about contemporary Japanese children's daily lives including meals, school life, and hobbies. For more information, visit www.tjf.or.jp/shogakusei/yutaandminami/index_en.html.

Great East Japan Earthquake Link. Launched by The Japan Forum, this link features teacher resources for Japanese language as well as social studies teachers. In many Japanese classes at elementary, junior high, and senior high schools around the world, students are currently undertaking fundraising and other activities to help victims of the quake and tsunami. In this blog, The Japan Forum shares messages and ideas received from teachers participating in such projects with their students. To view, click http://ameblo.jp/tjf2011/.

food in Japan - Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries

http://tachibanacenter.blogspot.com/2011/08/blog-post_14.html

a set of 28 minute-long videos (in English; a bit clunky but easy to understand)

2011/07/26

GIS?, The Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Archive on Google Earth

Even though this subject is a sad one, it can show how the many Internet services and sources can be creatively combined here.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
From: hidenori watanave <hwtnv ATsd.tmu.ac.jp>
The Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Archive on Google Earth

"Hiroshima Archive" that is a digital archive about the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb. http://hiroshima.mapping.jp/

"Hiroshima Archive" is a pluralistic digital archive using the digital
virtual globe "Google Earth" to display on it in a multilayered way
all the materials gained from such sources as the Hiroshima Peace
Memorial Museum, the Hiroshima Jogakuin Gaines Association, and the
Hachioji Hibakusha (A-bomb Survivors) Association. Beyond time and
space, the user can get a panoramic view over Hiroshima to browse
survivors' accounts, photos, maps, and other materials as of 1945,
together with aerial photos, 3D topographical data, and building
models as of 2010. The archive aims to promote multifaceted and
comprehensive understanding of the reality of atomic bombing.

- You can also view a capture movie on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-q00isamvs
- A description in English / Japanese, http://hiroshima.mapping.jp/concept.html
- Interface in English, http://hiroshima.mapping.jp/ge_en.html (About 50 victim's stories are translated）

See also our other archives.
- The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Archive, http://e.nagasaki.mapping.jp/
- The Japan Earthquake Archive, http://e.nagasaki.mapping.jp/p/japan-earthquake.html

Best regards, Hidenori Watanave
Supervisor of Photon,Inc. and Associate professor, Graduate School of System Design, Tokyo Metropolitan University

http://www.photon01.co.jp/ http://labo.wtnv.jp/ http://twitter.com/hwtnv

1-5-4-905 Daiba,Minato-ku,Tokyo,Japan +81-3-5531-2132 (TEL + FAX)

2011/07/18

video Japan appeal -A message from the residents of Fukushima

H-JAPAN (E) July 17, 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zYjYtVrOro&feature=youtu.be Here is a short YouTube appeal for help from a few of the residents about
the safety of their children, with English subtitles. They are not panicking or sentimental, but they are afraid. (Also, see the related videos on the same page.)

Through the summer heat, while some pundits debate the relative severity of the disaster and the politicos are still trying to make a plan, the residents of Fukushima are living with the threat of radiation that they do not understand any better than the rest of us. And like a whole line of other residents, from Mayor Sakurai of Minami-Souma in the weeks after 3.11 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a78lgT6qavY), they are frustrated at the lack of governmental support.

David H. Slater, Ph.D. Faculty of Liberal Arts Sophia University, Tokyo

2011/06/29

Univ. British Columbia, Canada: Tokugawa Maps digitized

H-JAPAN (E) June 29, 2011
....the entire "Japanese Maps of the Tokugawa Era" collection has now been digitized. All works are accessible via the database at
http://digitalcollections.library.ubc.ca/tokugawa/

.....the previously digitized flat maps in the collection. Books and atlases have now been added, as well as scrolls such as the following:
http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/zoomify/G_7962_S24_P5_1860z.htm

A recent article on the collection and the digitization efforts can also be
found in UBC Reports: http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2011/06/02/library-digitizes-rare-japanese-maps/

The Asian Library's Japanese language librarian Shirin Eshghi (shirin.eshghi@ubc.ca) and the Rare Books and Special Collections librarian
Katherine Kalsbeek (katherine.kalsbeek@ubc.ca) welcome comments or queries from those with interest in the collection.

2011/06/28

about the 3.11 Tohoku Disaster - Teaching Materials

http://teach311.wordpress.com/ (announced by) Yuki Ishimatsu, C. V. Starr East Asian Library, Univ. of California at Berkeley

2011/06/27

East Asia in the Middle School (lesson plans)

Teaching East Asian in the Middle School Web site at http://www.iu.edu/~easc/outreach/educators/teams/index.shtml .
These lesson plans were originally published in 1996-98, but most of them still have relevance today.

2011/06/23

old highways of Japan - passing through Shiga prefecture

Thoughtful write-up by Phil at www.photojpn.org

The Tokaido and Nakasendo Roads were the two main roads in Japan during the samurai/Tokugawa period up to 1868. They connected Tokyo (Edo) where the shogun lived and Kyoto where the Emperor lived. Both roads went through Shiga before reaching neighboring Kyoto.

Here's a good map of the coastal Tokaido Road between Tokyo (Edo) and Kyoto. Each lodging town was numbered. Ishibe in Konan was No. 52. So 52 on this map is Ishibe: http://www.hiroshige.org.uk/hiroshige/tokaido_hoeido/images/tokaido_map.GIF Lodging towns No. 50 (Tsuchiyama) to 54 (Otsu) are all in Shiga.

Here's an excellent Web site showing Hiroshige prints of the Tokaido Road: http://www.hiroshige.org.uk/hiroshige/tokaido_editions/tokaido_editions.htm
You can see that Ishibe in Konan was the 52nd lodging town on the Tokaido Road. And you can see various print editions of each town by Hiroshige. The most well-known edition is called Hoeido. Lodging towns No. 50 (Tsuchiyama) to 54 (Otsu) are all in Shiga.

More info about the Tokaido: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/53_Stations_of_the_Tokaido

The other major road that connected Tokyo with Kyoto in the old days was called the Nakasendo Road which went through the interior instead of the Pacific coast: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/69_Stations_of_the_Nakasendo

The Nakasendo (also called Kisokaido) also passed through Shiga on the way to Kyoto. The Tokaido and Nakasendo Roads intersected at Kusatsu and Otsu. There are woodblock prints for all the Nakasendo lodging towns as well.
http://www.hiroshige.org.uk/hiroshige/kisokaido/images/Kisokaido%20map.gif
http://www.hiroshige.org.uk/hiroshige/kisokaido/kisokaido07.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixty-Nine_Stations_of_the_Kiso_Kaido

2011/06/06

obtaining or viewing NHK documentaries

http://www.nhk.or.jp/archives/kawaguchi

2011/04/05

Disaster Details using panorama 360 photos

http://www.360cities.net/image/damage-in-rikuzen-takada-iwate-pref-17-japan?utm_campaign=clickback&utm_medium=embedded_hotspot#644.67,6.51,70.0

This website 360cities.net has many interesting images, including this one from the daily blog, www.boingboing.net
You can rotate to see all the destruction and follow arrow-links to additional panorama spots inside the image.

2010/11/25

visual culture - Japan (via MIT)

Commodore Perry and the Opening of Japan (1853-1854) by John W. Dower
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/black_ships_and_samurai/index.html

Black Ships &Samurai ll
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/black_ships_and_samurai_02/

Visual Narratives
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/black_ships_and_samurai_02/index.html

Yokohama Boomtown - Foreigners in Treaty-Port Japan (1859-1872) by John W. Dower
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/yokohama/index.html

Felice Beato's Japan: Places. An Album by the Pioneer Foreign Photographer in Yokohama. Essay by Allen Hockley
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/beato_places/index.html

Felice Beato's Japan: People. An Album by the Pioneer Foreign Photographer in Yokohama. Essay by Allen Hockley
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/beato_people/index.html

Globetrotters' Japan: Places. Foreigners on te Tourist Circuit in Meiji Japan. Essay by Allen Hockley
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/gt_japan_places/index.html

Globetrotters' Japan: People. Foreigners on te Tourist Circuit in Meiji Japan. Essay by Allen Hockley
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/gt_japan_people/index.html

Throwing Off Asia l. Woodblock Prints of Domestic “Westernization (1868-1912) by John W. Dower
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/throwing_off_asia_01/index.html

Throwing Off Asia ll. Woodblock Prints of the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) by John W. Dower
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/throwing_off_asia_02/index.html

Throwing Off Asia lll. Woodblock Prints of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) by John W. Dower
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/throwing_off_asia_03/index.html

Asia Rising. Japanese Postcards of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) by John W. Dower
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/asia_rising/index.html

Yellow Promise. Foreign Postcards of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) by John W. Dower
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/yellow_promise_yellow_peril/index.html

Selling Shiseido l. Cosmetics Advertising &Design in Early 20th-Century Japan. Essay by Gennifer Weisenfeld
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/shiseido_01/index.html

Selling Shiseido ll. Cosmetics Advertising &Design in Early 20th-Century Japan. Visual Narratives
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/shiseido_02/index.html

Selling Shiseido lll. Cosmetics Advertising &Design in Early 20th-Century Japan. Image Galleries
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/shiseido_03/index.html

Tokyo Modern l. Koizumi Kishio's 100 Views of the Imperial Capital (1928-1940). Essay by James T. Ulak
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/tokyo_modern_01/index.html

Tokyo Modern ll. Koizumi Kishio 100 Views. Annotations Gallery
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/tokyo_modern_02/index.html

Tokyo Modern lll. 100 Views by 8 Artists (1928-1932). Image Galleries
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/tokyo_modern_03/index.html

Ground Zero 1945. Pictures by Atomic Bomb Survivors. Essay by John W. Dower
Ground Zero 1945: A Schoolboy's Story

http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/groundzero1945/index.html

Testimony of Akihiro Takahashi. Illustrations by Goro Shikoku
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/groundzero1945_2/index.html

2010/11/21

all about Okinawan Studies

International Institute for Okinawan Studies (IIOS) at
University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa, Japan.

"A hub research institution in the Asia-Pacific region beyond boundaries: Looking at the global from Okinawa's local perspectives.
IIOS is an interdisciplinary institution that integrated research centers at UR, aiming to develop multifaceted and international research projects on Okinawa and related areas."

includes:
* Contemporary Okinawan Studies [incl. contents of the launched in 2010
Japanese language 'International Journal of Okinawan Studies' (IJOS)
http://www.iios.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/IJOS_pub/

*A bi-lingual (JP,EN) site. In Nov 2010 the English language section of the site was under construction
at http://www.iios.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/en/

2010/09/10

collection of images, mainly 1930s

Postcard Collection. The collection is part of our open-access digital archive called Lafayette College East Asia Image Collections. The Lin
Collection consists of 370 Japanese postcards, mostly depicting scenes from 1930s Japan and Taiwan, but with some images of from Korea and
China. http://digital.lafayette.edu/collections/eastasia

2010/08/23

the story of 'gunkan shima' (Nagasaki-ken)

Hashima Island (also known as 'battleship island' for it's size, shape and cement sea walls): From 1905 until the coal mining ended in 1974 it was a unique community; quoting http://www.jamaipanese.com/hashima-island-documentary/

Except for the former resident who guides the movie crew, most of the 15 minute documentary is narrated in perhaps Swedish (subtitles in English).

In 1916 the largest concrete structures in all of Japan were built on Hashima Island to help protect it's inhabitants from typhoons and at it's peak in 1959 the population was over 5000 or 1,391 people per 10,000 square metres the highest population density ever recorded in the world. Please take the time to have a look at an awesome documentary video I have embedded below that tells the history of Gunkanjima from someone who grew up there as a child.

[vimeo URL, http://vimeo.com/2044441]

A trip to this island would make an amazing out of the box location to visit if/when I eventually make it to Japan, I wonder if I'd survive the trip by boast to get there though. Would you want to visit Battleship Island?
Official Website (Japanese); Hashima Island on Wikipedia

2010/07/16

Japanese Garden Dictionary online

Japanese Garden Dictionary, http://www.nabunken.go.jp/database/jgd/
-- A Glossary for Japanese Gardens and Their History

...This online dictionary is based on the Bilingual [Japanese &
English] Dictionary of Japanese Garden Terms, published in 2001 ...
This online compilation, maintained by the Department of
Cultural Heritage of the Nara National Research Institute for
Cultural Properties, is intended to make the English language content
of the original dictionary more widely accessible.

Site contents, A to Z:
* English index (Over 600 entries organised alphabetically,
from abbot's quarters, aggregate lantern, aka well, Akisato Rito,
Amanohashidate, Amida hall, angler fish basin, arbor, arched bridge,
arched stone bridge, arching stone, armor pattern screen fence, and
artificial hill, [...]
through [...], milepost lantern, millstone, miniature landscape, mirror
stone, mist-shaped island, monkey pine, moon shadow stone, moss, moss
garden, mountain base stone, mountain island, mountain path stone,
mountain slope stone, and mountain-and-water landscape, [...] to
[...], waterfowl stone, waterside lantern, wave-receiving stone,
wayside stone, weathered beauty western style garden, who goes there?
lantern, wild wave stone, wing stone, wisteria yard, wooden bridge,
wooden conduit, wooden gate, wooden steps, worshiping stone, Yang
stone, yarai fence, yarimizu stream, Yin stone, Yin-Yang stones, yoko
ochi (cascade), Yosuien garden, Zen'ami, and zigzag bridge);

* Japanese index.

2010/07/10

copyright guidance

Details, as well as sample situations, for the legal use of images and other potentially copyrighted material is outlined at
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~ncc/imageuse/rightsholder.html

follow-up response on the H-Japan list, www.h-net.org for 13 July 2010
From my own experience as an author: I believe with the 1930 case, one would determine that permission is not needed since the organization is gone. (But if an artist is credited or the likeness of an individual appears in the illustration that would be a different matter.) For example, magazines I have worked with have said that it would be OK to republish advertisements from companies that are now out of business, and that their own (the magazine's) permission is not needed since it is over 50 years since publication, though I try to get it anyway if they can be contacted. I would guess that legally you need permission for the 1990s item, but perhaps there are fair use practices for such government documents? Of course, I am not a lawyer, but these are just my personal experiences with these sorts of materials.
[S. Frederick]

2010/07/03

summer lion dance, shishimai

Friends in Fukui-ken created a YouTube channel recently. They've started with two movies,
about 10 minutes each (YouTube limit on ordinary accounts):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTIFjCIAllc [troupe based in Mie, but traveling their annual circuit of blessing]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GikgN-nSus [lots of commentary in the ?Mie-ken dialect; juggling at 6'45"]

2010/06/29

new book, Women and Family in Contemporary Japan

author Susan Holloway, s_hollo@berkeley dotedu

Women and Family in Contemporary Japan, by Cambridge University Press.

Japanese women have often been singled out for their strong commitment to the role of housewife and mother. But they are now postponing marriage and bearing fewer children, and Japan has become one of the least fertile and fastest aging countries in the world. Why are so many Japanese women opting out of family life?

To answer this question, the author draws on in-depth interviews and extensive survey data to examine Japanese mothers'
perspectives and experiences of marriage, parenting, and family life. The goal is to understand how, as introspective, self-aware individuals, these women interpret and respond to the barriers and opportunities afforded within the structural and ideological contexts of contemporary Japan.

The findings suggest a need for changes in the structure of the workplace and the education system to provide women with the opportunity to find a fulfilling balance of work and family life.

http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521180375

2010/06/18

online Japanese language learning

via Senseionline 18 June 2010:

...for people who would like to learn Japanese and aren't conveniently located by an institution or
a friend that will teach it to them, this might be just the information they were looking for:

*UAB NihongoCast,* http://www.uab.edu/foreignlang/nihongocast/, the online version of Japanese
101 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a joint production of the UAB Departments of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Communication Studies, and Theatre, taught by Tim Cook of Georgia Public Broadcasting's *Irasshai.*

2010/04/30

images from colonial Taiwan and occupied Japan

Digital Collections at Lafayette College has developed a new digital repository titled "The East Asia Image Collection." In its current state, the collection consists primarily of images, many unpublished, of colonial Taiwan. It also contains 567 color slides from occupied Japan. We shall be adding unpublished images from 1930s Japan, North and NE China, and Indonesia in the coming months.

http://digital.lafayette.edu/collections/eastasia

2010/03/15

performing arts database/multimedia

www.glopad.org/jparc

JPARC is an online resource center for research on and the study of the performing arts of Japan. The site includes sections for the analysis of certain topics, multimedia articles, and reference materials such as glossaries, bibliographies, browsing indexes, and timelines. Modules are collections of Web pages devoted to a specific topic such as important theatrical figures or readings and productions of a single piece.For a tour see the video Welcome to JPARC!

2010/03/06

online magazine, The Netherlands-Japan Review

The Netherlands-Japan Review, http://magazine.sieboldhuis.org/

2010/02/27

online --Ainu Komonjo

=-=-= posted to EASIANTH email list Friday 26 Feb 2010:

The University of Wisconsin Digital Collection ...The UWDC has scanned [Pr. Emiko] Ohunki-Tierney's collection of books on the Ainu by the Japanese. The books focus on the Sakhalin Ainu... The books are extremely rare and are either hand-written, with illustrations hand-drawn, or are wood block prints. Many of these early documents were authored by explorers and scholars at the order of the Bakufu or the Matsumae clan. Since these authors were sent by the Japanese government which for the first time began to be concerned with territorial expansions and boundaries, these documents often include a number of detailed maps, including the topography and Ainu place names.

The Ainu Komonjo (18th & 19th century records) -- Ohnuki Collection can be freely viewed at:
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/EastAsian.JapanRice

2010/02/13

Valentine's Day in Japan 2010

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123635365
Chocolate-giving is a ritual among everyone in Japan from schoolchildren to senior citizens. But the country has developed its own way of celebrating the erstwhile day of romance, and the custom is still evolving.
[www.npr.org on Friday, Feb. 12, 2010]

2009/09/20

online sources - Japan images

as seen at the Image Use Protocol project "links" section,
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~ncc/imageuse/usefullinks.html

Find Images
The following organizations provide digital images of Japan with clear instructions for the use:

Image Archives
National Diet Library
Union catalog of the collections of the national art museums, Japan
Artize.net Provides digital images of collections from Kyoto National Museum, Nara National Museum, and cultural heritage institutions.
Historical Agro-Environment Browsing System Includes nearly 900 map sheets of rapid survey maps, covering the Kanto Region surrounding Tokyo. Provides detailed land use information in the areas during 1880s.
P&P online catalog - fine prints: Japanese, pre-1915 (Library of Congress)
The art of Asia (Minneapolis Institute of Arts)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
British Museum . Objects from Japan can be located through "Collection database search".
Victoria and Albert Museum

Ukiyo-e Images
- Takahashi Seiichiro Ukiyo-e Collection, Digital Gallery of Rare Books & Special Collections (Digital Gallery of Keio University Library)
- The Floating World of Ukiyo-e, Shadows, dreams, and substance (Library of Congress)
Historical Maps
- Historical Agro-Environment Browsing System (National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences) Covers most of the Kanto region. Provides detailed information on the land use of Japan in the 1880s.
- Japanese Historical Maps (East Asian Library, University of California , Berkley)

2009/07/18

RESOURCE e-Asia Digital Library

"e-Asia [est. 2001 - ed.] is a library of downloadable full text
(currently over 4000 items -- primarily books -- are available.) Focus
is on China, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea (South and North). While most
items are in Western languages, there are many items in Chinese,
Japanese, and Korean. e-Asia also offers audio, video, and special
collections.

The e-Asia project is funded by the University of Oregon Library
through the generosity of Nissho Iwai.

While the e-Asia project is based largely on resources held at the University of Oregon Library, its purpose is neither to duplicate nor displace printed traditonal materials. Rather, by providing searchable full text, the digitalization efforts
of e-Asia represent a new tool aimed at facilitating the information-gathering process.

2009/01/28

Ainu lore & readings

Chiri Yukie and Kyoko Selden, The Song the Owl God Himself Sang. An Ainu Tale
Anne-Elise Lewallen, Indigenous at last! Ainu Grassroots Organizing and the Indigenous Peoples Summit in Ainu Mosir
Chisato ("Kitty") O. Dubreuil, The Ainu and Their Culture: A Critical Twenty-First Century Assessment

http://japanfocus.org/_Katsuya_Hirano-The_Politics_of_Colonial_Translation__On_the_Narrative_of_the_Ainu_as_a_

2008/12/04

Ainu conference 2008

A. Lewallen [www.japanfocus.org Dec 4, 2008]

Indigenous at last! Ainu Grassroots Organizing and the
Indigenous Peoples Summit in Ainu Mosir

2008/11/11

"postcards from..." JAPAN (Time Magazine)

Tokyo - Pepsi Ice Cucumber, Anyone?
In Japan's snack and beverage market, the new, new thing is already so "last week"

Inbox
Jan. 3, 2008 ...often thought that my homeland, Japan, needs many more people from other countries to come here...475 words view cover

Japan's Booming Sex Niche: Elder Porn
Jul. 7, 2008 By Michiko Toyama...condom maker Durex, among others, Japan is repeatedly found to be...should respect them and learn from them." Tokuda, meanwhile, stresses the...706 words view cover

Postcard: Tokyo
Feb. 21, 2008 By Coco MastersSometimes a town moves only as fast as its escalators. From the subway station at Sugamo, a neighborhood in northwestern Tokyo's Toshima ward...718 words view cover

Postcard: Taiji
Oct. 15, 2007 By Hannah Beech...world opposes hunting dolphins and pilot whales. And in this part of Japan, the mercury content is off the charts. So why is deep-fried dolphin...

Japan Loves Nagoya
Mar. 28, 2005 By Jim Frederick...Nagoya in central Japan, on ground that...buses zip guests from one end of...rocket-ride pavilions on postcards as reminders of...991 words view cover

Postcards on the Edge
Nov. 10, 2003 By Liam Fitzpatrick...columns are entitled "Postcard from ... " Because unless...sent, while in Japan, there are plans...545 words view cover

Japan Thugs Beware
Mar. 14, 1988 By Howard G. Chua-Eoan...on forearms. In Japan, this is the...1,500 protest postcards to Tetsuya Aono...by 300 officers from other communities. Hamamatsu...517 words view cover

The Birdman Of Osaka
Sep. 16, 1974 ...a whisky distiller. But then, Keizo Saji, 54, chairman and president of Japan's Suntory Ltd., and coiner of the slogan, is a rather...218 words view cover

Build Small
Nov. 16, 1962 ...smaller than a postcard (4½ in..... Made by Japan's Sony...on the juice from an auto cigarette...494 words view cover

OUT OF THE FLOATING WORLD
Mar. 14, 1955 ...course. (The censure may stem from the fact that he spent...to hike up and down Japan sketching. He turned his sketches...507 words view cover

2008/10/24

visual approach to understanding life in Japan

http://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/

2008/09/18

video - Obon in Kyoto (1 minute 28 seconds)

via the LonelyPlanet travel guide (newsletter, "Comet")
http://enewsletters.lonelyplanet.com.au/ch/14dwhq0/532146/ce6d81755m.html

2008/09/03

flickr@ "social documentary" X "japan"

http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?q=japan&w=35468135891%40N01&m=pool

2008/08/12

Ainu recognition by central gov't

Japan Recognizes Indigenous Group
by Anthony Kuhn

All Things Considered, August 12, 2008 · The Ainu are an indigenous people who have recently been recognized by the Japanese government. The group has come a long way since the Japanese government tried to assimilate it by force. The Ainu are now seen as a model of man living in harmony with nature.

2008/08/06

Japanland - collected short video segments + studyguide online

Lots of ethnographic, everyday life segments, as well as the Traditional Arts segments, shot mainly in 2004-5, but vividly relevant well into the future. Here is the blurb at the newly added set of studyguides:

"JAPANLAND is an action-packed and entertaining journey into a side of Japan that few outsiders get to see. It explores many unique facets of Japanese society, such a sumo wrestlers, swordmakers, ancient festivals, mountain mystics, samurai mounted archers, geishas, Buddhist monks, and even its homeless population and urban youth.
JAPANLAND is a 4-hour American Public television series, available on DVD."

The study guide is at www.japanlandstudyguide.com

2008/01/09

images & articles (cabinet, JP)

http://www.gov-online.go.jp/eng/publicity/book/hlj/

2007/06/11

annual youth robot competition

spotted in recent TJF newsletter:

Since the beginning of the last century, Robots
have fascinated people all over the world.
In Takarabako No. 12, Japanese Culture Now shows
that the development of robots is having a very
positive effect on everyone's daily lives. From
robots built to aid manufacturing, to ones developed
for rescue work, and finally to ones built for
helping around the house; Robots seem to be
constantly improving the lives of people both in
Japan and the rest of the world.

http://www.tjf.or.jp/takarabako/PDF/TB12_JCN.pdf

In Meeting People, we'll meet a young team of robot
builders that enter their creations into Japan's
national robotics competition, Robocon. Toshihide,
Ryosuke, Hiroshi, and Yusuke attend the same technical
college, and they are all part of the same robot
building team. By working each year towards their goal
of winning the competition, they have forged strong
bonds with one another, and have learned to work well
as a team. Thus, as we listen to their story, we learn
not only just about Robocon, but also the people who
compete and the technology that they love.

http://www.tjf.or.jp/takarabako/PDF/TB12_MP.pdf

2007/05/31

Buddhist &related Art

Other World History Teaching and Learning Resources: "Huntington Archive of Buddhist and Related Art contains nearly 300,000 slides and photos of Asian art and architecture. Materials are predominantly Buddhist but include Hindu, Jain, Islamic, and other works (dating back to 2500... (Ohio State University, supported by National Endowment for the Humanities)"

2007/05/30

online encyclopedia of Shinto launched

http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/
Questions should be directed to Inoue Nobutaka, Kokugakuin University
Telephone: +81 (0)3-5466-0205, n-inoue@kt.rim.or[dot jp]

2007/05/25

sources of images

A couple of sources of pictures that come to mind are www.flickr.com (the ones in the public section are tagged with keywords like
temple, japan, chio-in, and so forth); many of these are labelled with the Creative Commons limited copyright conditions, such as
freely use with photographer attribution.

Association for Asian Studies, www.aasianst.org, is providing a place for sharing photos, too, although it is not fully functioning
yet.

Other places I've found rich viewing is the photogalleries at www.japansociety.org and www.tjf.or.jp/deai (as well as their photo essay
area, "photo cafe" I think they call it)

I have some very basic comparisions of Japan/Korea at www.umich.edu/~wittevee/korea/andjapan which can be used for educational
purposes, as well.

2007/05/22

chapters on foodways

FOOD AND FOODWAYS IN ASIA: RESOURCE, TRADITION AND COOKING. Edited by Sidney C.H. CHEUNG
and TAN Chee-Beng, published by Routledge in 2007.
[Japan chapters]
2. Namako and Iriko: Historical overview on holothurian (sea cucumber) exploitation, utilization and trade in Japan. Akamine Jun
9. Indigenous Food and Foodways: Mapping the production of Ainu food in Tokyo. Mark K. Watson
14. Asia' s Contributions to World Cuisine: a beginning inquiry. Sidney W. Mintz

2007/05/19

Japan schools to teach patriotism

Japan's lower house of parliament approves a new law requiring schools to
teach children to be patriotic.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/6669061.stm

2007/05/14

assessing Japan's shifting population pyramid

from www.japanfocus.org [using searchbox or topics list]
Vaclav Smil, The Unprecedented Shift in Japan's Population: Numbers, Age,
and Prospects

The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research latest
long-range forecast of the country's population showed, once again, a
faster decline than previously anticipated: the medium variant projects
the total population of only about 90 million (89.93) people by 2055, the
igure that both Asahi Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun found "shocking". This
was followed by a population projection to 2050 by the United Nations
Population Division and Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and
Communications latest nationwide estimate of Japan's population. Japan's
population (including foreign residents) peaked in December 2004 at
127,838,000 people and only a tunning, not just surprising, turn of
demographic fortunes can prevent the combination of relatively rapid
population decline and of unprecedented aging of the country's population.
This article assesses the projections.

2007/05/04

archive of 80 Japan photos 1945-1952 (occupation)

cross-posting from H-Japan (www.h-net.msu.edu)
The Center for Japanese Studies, the University of Hawaii at Mnoa, is
pleased to announce the Walter Pennino Photo Collection is available on
the Internet. The collection presents eighty photos during the occupation
of Japan. Many of them show every-day life of people in Japan at that time.

http://www.hawaii.edu/cjs/pennino_entrance.html

2007/04/26

Boys Day 5/5, also a music page

Boys Day (5/5), www.nihongomemo.com/nenchugyoji/tangonosekku.htm

BEAUTIFUL melodies (incl. Japanese melodies), http://mocascafe.la.coocan.jp/musicpage.htm

2007/04/12

yakitori in San Jose, audio slideshow

http://www.mercurynewsphoto.com/2007/04/sumiya/soundslider.swf

taiko at San Jose

http://www.mercurynewsphoto.com/2007/04/sjtaiko/soundslider.swf
[one minute audio slideshow, with captions available]

2007/03/30

70329 remaining

edt ms44@cornell >iff permission to distribute snippets?
EXCERPT-1 (all about the fire-bombing) =track103, 3' to track107, 1'
EXCERPT-2 (US policy change & today's mil) = track108,4' to tr109,1'

wkplan by 4/11; miwla done (cf. recommended Guidelines)
em pers-filtered; unread viewed; duds gone (incl. deleted; sent>pend v done)
if Hartland HS album/picasaweb v. Export.html
booklist all ordered & requested display copies

2007/03/27

cosplay [costume play in Japan]

http://visuaalinen.blogspot.com/ [K. N.]

2007/03/16

Japanese Movie Database

cf entries found on http://imdb.com

Japan Movie Database Description: Set your browser's encoding to Shift-JIS as the website has not set the encoding for the page

poorly translatable English to Japanese sensibilities

I'd love to see a collection of observations like these in order to
discern a pattern:

<for a colleague leaving her job> ...we'll miss you
-- in Japanese it is the one leaving that says, "...wasurenai de kudasai"
[please don't forget me]

<for yourself or others> ...he's happy
-- in Japanese one's happiness is instead, "...omoshiroi" or "ureshii"
but very seldom "shiawase"

<posing for camera> ... smile
-- in Japanese there is a word/phrase, but seldom is it used

<referring laughter> ...we laughed a lot
-- in Japanese there is a word, but seldom did I hear it used

<by way of greeting or as a show of interest/concern> ..ogenki desu ka
-- in English, "are you all right" implies a serious condition, not casual
remark; also "genki" is more than physical comfort and includes mental
condition

2007/03/13

article, homeless in Japan

Metropolis, 3/9/2007 No. 676
"The Big Issue Japan"
http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyo/recent/globalvillage.asp

movie, Letters from Iwo Jima

H-JAPAN [archived at www.h-net.msu.edu]
March 12, 2007

From: Janet R. Goodwin <jan@pollux.csustan Dot Ed>

I see no reason why Letters from Iwo Jima should be considered a whitewash
of Japanese military behavior. Eastwood, in the humanist mode
of, well, Akira Kurosawa, examined the diverse reactions of people in a
horrendous, and helpless, situation. He saw these people not as
"Japanese soldiers" but as soldiers who happened to be Japanese. That's
why it was a good film. To demand that all Japanese soldiers be
portrayed as brutal because there were those in the Japanese army who
committed brutal acts makes me, as an American in the days of Abu
Ghraib and Guantanamo, feel very uncomfortable indeed.

--Janet Goodwin, H-Japan co-editor

2007/02/12

mergers of towns - Shiga

Shiga map of the newly merged municipalities, http://photoguide.jp/txt/Shiga_Prefecture

video on Japan online

Web Japan videos is http://web-japan.org/jvt/index.html

2007/02/04

summer mtg JP anthro - June

JASCA Annual Meeting (at Nagoya U), June 2-3: http://www.jasca.org/meeting/41st/