Thoughts on Class 5

I love the we are beginning to have enough background information that we are making connections. When we started I felt pretty clueless and now I notice I actually have a glimmer of "prior knowledge." I am also starting to use information and I am including more assignments on "East Asia." I now notice more and more articles in the newspaper. Of course they were always there but I didn't include it in my "how do I get this in my class" dialogue. I print off different articles and now have the students use the article as part of a prompt for writing. There was one on housewives in South Korea and I had the student read it and then interview either their mom or some female house hold adult and then compare and contrast. They actually like it!

Speaking of connections...
I can't believe how lucky in sequence I am along with this institute. On Tuesday we have class, and on Wednesday I am starting my super quick unit on WWII. Yeah, super quick since the CSTs cover civil rights...but I also found myself talking about Japan and how Japan made a serious effort in the 1870s to become a "modern" nation and that they obviously learned their lessons well, invading Manchuria. I found myself speaking about the Shogunate...about the emperor having no real political power, and about the constitution that allowed for the eventual imperialistic and expansionist tendencies they would adopt. So, I felt like I had a deeper understanding of the history of Japan and therefore felt more comfortable in this subject. I did manage to get to Hideki Tojo and bomb Pearl Harbor....Today we fought and won the war...I will be spending time looking at the consequences of the Atomic bomb, the decisions that went into it etc..
This whole series has been so beneficial for me and so immediately useful in my lessons....

I haven't used the information from this session with my students yet, but I have found myself talking to my family and several friends about Japan lately. I did not know much about pre WWII Japan until this session. It is really interesting to see how the structure of Japan's society developed under the Samurai.

I like what Dpaul mentioned about having some over due prior East Asia knowledge from which to draw from. I have been in a masters program for the last 3 years and it is so refreshing to finally get to look forward to just sitting and learning again. After only a month I feel like I have so much more knowledge to draw from and can confidentaly talk about it as if I know something. I have over booked myself, and have been leaving class early because I have been cast in a production of Julius Caesar in San Pedro, and have been having to leave early for rehearsals. I am genuinely bummed when I have to leave early, and I keep telling myself, "I can stay one more minute... just one more minute."

I was very surprised to learn that ninja were fictional characters as well. I always thought they were special agents for China in some kind of way. And I find it very interesting that Samarai's were the ruling class during the Tokugawa Period.
It is also interesting that in during the 1800's the peasants in China were at the bottom of the society chain but in Japan, the peasant came right under the Samarai. It would be a good idea to have students compare & contract the peasant who lived in China and Japan.
I am also glad we are learning about Japan now because I do have a little prior knowledge since my trip there this February.

Could anyone clarify the difference between shogun and emperor? I believe that shogun is the person is has the real power and emperor is the one who perform religious ceremony? I'm still confused with the two.

I hope this is an appropriate post because I am really interested to know how long you were in Japan and where you stayed. I made three trips to Osaka myself but we had to stay in an American style hotel and eat "American style," food!