Thoughts about 4th session

[Anonymous]

The discussion how conservative the Japanese are made me wonder how this has manifested itself in current day Japan. How has this custom of suppressing ones thoughts and feelings affect modern culture?

[Anonymous]

I found the diffusion of Chinese culture interesting. I especially enjoyed the evolution of different languages, and learning about the Mandarin characters.

[Anonymous]

The information about the palace at Nara was helpful to me. As I have taught world history in the past, it was great to kind of have it all fit together into a pattern. Before when I would teach it, it seemed all so disjointed. I too was fascinated on the origins of the Japanese, and how they did not want people to know that some of their imperial leaders even had Korean blood.

[Anonymous]

Calligraphy has had different destiny in the history of civilizations , but have you thought of its "digital" future?

[Anonymous]

The lecture from Professor Yamashita was extremely interesting. I now have great interest in Japonese culture. This class to me was great as I am building prior knowledge. I am more interested in learning about the imperial Tomds and history. The next day I went to rent the movie the last emperator of China. Now I have more questions. Is the information on that movie reliable?

[Anonymous]

Thank you Professor Yamashita for your insights to the origins of Japan! I had no idea that a lot of Japanese culture came from China. From the lecture, I learned about similarities and differences of the Asian cultures. Prior, I had no idea the Chinese had influenced both Japanese and Koreans. Classical Chinese was the language of the noble and upper class. It was a class distinction. I have always found the Japanese to be very proud people. Their beliefs and importance of discipiine and meditation are standard values. Yet, their history tells the opposite.
I too have always been fascinated by calligraphy. The markings were a mystery to me too. I now have a beter understanding of its importance in history. A good friend takes classes on calligraphyand has become quite good at it. After the lecture, I asked myself; "What is original to Japan?"

[Anonymous]

I read the excerpts of the Pillow Book in the reader. I am amazed by the number of things the author disliked. I have to agree with a lot of those things. I could really relate to the hateful thing "a man with whom is having an affair keeps singing the praises of some woman he used to know." & "I cannot stand people who leave without closing the panel behind them." I guess some things don't change.

[Anonymous]

A major theme emphasized in my textbook is how the Japanese stole a lot of cultural identities from the Japanese so this lecture was really interesting to me. I also look forward to using the calligraphy information in my classroom.

[Anonymous]

Calligraphy as a digital future- so interesting! Do you mean is there any importance to calligraphy now? Or how the digital world of putting messages into under 140 characters? Can you elaborate?

[Anonymous]

I really found the lecture on the origins of Japanese people interesting. Especially the fact of two main finger print shapes based on the southern and northern region and the blood type, as well as facial characteristics.

[Anonymous]

I found the practice of Japanese people changing their last name interesting and wished he would have elaborated, since my perception was that they uphold family honor. Maybe the last name is not as important than the occupation/trade they have which defines the class they are in as oppose to the name?

[Anonymous]

Mr. Yamashita explained that Japanese language was more difficult to master than Chinese. I am wondering if it's due to the fact that they borrowed from Chinese characters and Korean aswell. I always thought Chinese would be more difficult to learn because of the pronounciation factor.

[Anonymous]

interestingly enough, a common theme that I have found myself responding to and getting frustrated with in many of the threads is asceticism in Asian cultures.
If anybody knows of any aspect of any Asian culture that is perhaps more Dionysian, I'd love to hear about it. I can appreciate the morality behind a lot of the asceticism, however, I don't believe that's the right path for everybody and would love to see how people within those cultures found an alternative. It's hard to believe that most people accepted the self denial so comfortable.

bmiramontes wrote:

The discussion how conservative the Japanese are made me wonder how this has manifested itself in current day Japan. How has this custom of suppressing ones thoughts and feelings affect modern culture?

[Anonymous]

Tracing the origins of today's Japanese through blood type and linking it to regions of the country proved to be the most interesting information of the day. The descriptions of ethnographic connections via blood type seemed logical and accurate to a degree as well. The fact that Japanese history did not entirely evolve from China was not surprising to me either. Within its own right Japanese history and culture built upon a foundation of social norms and practices within their aforementioned regions.

[Anonymous]

The evolution of the dynasties within Japan was somewhat confusing at certain points during this lecture. I was somewhat confused about the influence of the Fujiwara families in regards to the crown prince and the monarchy. But after further explanations from Prof. Yamashita, I realized that the marriages and descendants of the Fujiwara were very gradually absorbed and overtook the ruling monarchy at the same time.

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