Japan
Writing Your Midterm Essay-2011 Version
I’ll try to make this as quick and painless as possible. Please note that this is not the only way to write a history essay, but it’s a fairly standard format. I used real 5-page essays that I wrote in the past as examples so you can see how I’ve More >
Hideki Irabu: Remembering and Reflecting
Hideki Irabu died this week from a probable suicide. He was a Japanese-born baseball pitcher of mixed race that spent the later part of his career in America, from 1997-2001. Many fans and sports commentators considered his time in Major League Baseball to be a failure for a number of More >
In Brief: Nuclear Disaster and The Women’s World Cup
There are some moments when sporting events symbolize something greater than the sum of their scores and transcend the playing field, an example being Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympics. Here, race and politics came into direct competition on and off the playing field. Hitler’s claims of More >
Writing About Japan: Removing the “Orient”
In my experience grading student essays at the university level, I often notice modern students using very antiquated or inaccurate terms when writing about Japan or Asia in general. Today I want to focus on the word “Orient” and its brethren (“oriental,” “orientals,” and so on).
Writing About Japan: Groupthink, Conformity, and Teamwork
One of the strongest conceptions surrounding the literature of Japanese culture, politics, and history is the insistence by Western writers–and increasingly by the Japanese themselves–that groupthink and conformity practically dominate the lives of Japanese. Writers then often apply these concepts to the actions of teamwork: people who like to think More >