mlo 2: Culture
Outcomes:
2.1 Students develop a comprehensive understanding, appreciation and knowledge of Japanese culture: perspectives (ideas, beliefs, attitudes, values, philosophies), practices (patterns of social interactions) and products (both tangible and intangible, for example, art, history, literature, music).
2.2 Students develop analytically and critical thinking in areas such as how Japan’s cultural background influences modern Japanese life, how to compare their own culture with the Japanese culture, and/or how Japanese culture relates to other world cultures in an age of global inter-relatedness.
Courses Taken:
JAPN 311: Social Issues in Japan
JAPN 314: Japanese Visual Culture and Media
People Crossing Borders and Japan
Intro to Modern Japanese Culture 1
Japan and Nature
Study of Japan
Japanese Cuisine and Culture
Reflective Narrative:
2.1 My initial idea of culture in Japan was a country of people who loved anime, manga, and gaming and had a love for nature. I was extremely narrow-minded of my perspective of Japan back then, and now am happy to say that I have a much more opened-minded view of the culture and people of Japan. Under MLO2: Culture it is required that you take four culture classes. The classes that are labeled JAPN are classes that I took at CSUMB while classes that do not have that label are classes that I took while I was studying abroad at Okayama University. The reason why I took seven MLO2: culture classes rather than the minimum of four classes was that transfer credits from Okayama university made it so that you need to take two classes to count as one full class at CSUMB. At first when I had realized this, I felt annoyed, because it didn't seem fair. Now that I have gone through with it and taken all of the classes, I am glad to have had the opportunity to learn from all of the seven different culture classes. It is true that the information in some of the classes overlapped with each other, but in the end I think because I took so many different culture classes my knowledge and understanding of Japan has increased more than if I had only taken four MLO2: culture classes. Some essays I wrote about for Japanese culture include one about furusato tourism (Sample 1) and another on the famous local shrine in Okayama, Kibitsu Shrine (sample 2). I was able to learn and appreciate a culture that is different from my own. I no longer feel that Japan is a foreign culture because of all that I have learned of their values, customs, social interactions, and philosophies.
2.2 It's not just enough to learn about the positives of another culture but the entirety of it, which also includes its negatives. One of the outcomes for MLO2.2 is "how to compare their own culture with the Japanese culture, and/or how Japanese culture relates to other world cultures in an age of global inter-relatedness". I feel I have achieved this through accepting and understanding the entire scope of Japanese culture through comparison and analysis. Instead of just listening and accepting what I heard at truth, I became able to analyze the material that was given to me, and understand what I was being taught. An example of this is my paper on life and death (sample 3) in Japan. I think the most influential Japanese culture class I took was JAPN 311: Social Issues in Japan. From this class I learned just how much I didn't know about Japan and I was able to learn about the practical and daily lives of the Japanese citizens and see how different it compares to my life here in California. I feel that paper on minorities in Japan and California (Sample 4) show progression and development of myself in the JAPN 311 class.
Sample Work:
2.1 Students develop a comprehensive understanding, appreciation and knowledge of Japanese culture: perspectives (ideas, beliefs, attitudes, values, philosophies), practices (patterns of social interactions) and products (both tangible and intangible, for example, art, history, literature, music).
2.2 Students develop analytically and critical thinking in areas such as how Japan’s cultural background influences modern Japanese life, how to compare their own culture with the Japanese culture, and/or how Japanese culture relates to other world cultures in an age of global inter-relatedness.
Courses Taken:
JAPN 311: Social Issues in Japan
JAPN 314: Japanese Visual Culture and Media
People Crossing Borders and Japan
Intro to Modern Japanese Culture 1
Japan and Nature
Study of Japan
Japanese Cuisine and Culture
Reflective Narrative:
2.1 My initial idea of culture in Japan was a country of people who loved anime, manga, and gaming and had a love for nature. I was extremely narrow-minded of my perspective of Japan back then, and now am happy to say that I have a much more opened-minded view of the culture and people of Japan. Under MLO2: Culture it is required that you take four culture classes. The classes that are labeled JAPN are classes that I took at CSUMB while classes that do not have that label are classes that I took while I was studying abroad at Okayama University. The reason why I took seven MLO2: culture classes rather than the minimum of four classes was that transfer credits from Okayama university made it so that you need to take two classes to count as one full class at CSUMB. At first when I had realized this, I felt annoyed, because it didn't seem fair. Now that I have gone through with it and taken all of the classes, I am glad to have had the opportunity to learn from all of the seven different culture classes. It is true that the information in some of the classes overlapped with each other, but in the end I think because I took so many different culture classes my knowledge and understanding of Japan has increased more than if I had only taken four MLO2: culture classes. Some essays I wrote about for Japanese culture include one about furusato tourism (Sample 1) and another on the famous local shrine in Okayama, Kibitsu Shrine (sample 2). I was able to learn and appreciate a culture that is different from my own. I no longer feel that Japan is a foreign culture because of all that I have learned of their values, customs, social interactions, and philosophies.
2.2 It's not just enough to learn about the positives of another culture but the entirety of it, which also includes its negatives. One of the outcomes for MLO2.2 is "how to compare their own culture with the Japanese culture, and/or how Japanese culture relates to other world cultures in an age of global inter-relatedness". I feel I have achieved this through accepting and understanding the entire scope of Japanese culture through comparison and analysis. Instead of just listening and accepting what I heard at truth, I became able to analyze the material that was given to me, and understand what I was being taught. An example of this is my paper on life and death (sample 3) in Japan. I think the most influential Japanese culture class I took was JAPN 311: Social Issues in Japan. From this class I learned just how much I didn't know about Japan and I was able to learn about the practical and daily lives of the Japanese citizens and see how different it compares to my life here in California. I feel that paper on minorities in Japan and California (Sample 4) show progression and development of myself in the JAPN 311 class.
Sample Work:
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