In the book “Warriors of Japan as Portrayed in the War Tales”, as the title suggests, author Paul Varley studies numerous war tales from hundreds of years of Japanese history, throughout the rise of the samurai warrior culture and the societal change that went along with it. From ancient war tales like the Shōmonki to tales firmly in the medieval times like the Taiheiki, the changes in battlefield customs and warrior society are presented and studied as they change and evolve. Despite all the social changes occurring in these time periods, a certain element stays the same throughout all these tales, the warriors themselves.…
He takes a look at the idea that the Japanese were always viewed as less than human and so often depicted as apes or monkeys. The belittling of the Japanese is seen clearly in the titles used in this section. Apes and others, (77) Lesser and Superman, (94) Primitives, Children, Madmen (118). Dower uses cartoons and illustrations in military publications and well-known magazines to further describe these actions. In this chapter Dower begins his examination as the Japanese went from being referred to as “the one time “little man” into a Goliath… Super-human, tough, disciplined and well equipped.”(113) Also Ambassador Joseph Grew, described on his return from Japan, that the Japanese were; “sturdy,” “Spartan,” “clever and dangerous,” and that “his will to conquer was “utterly ruthless, utterly cruel and utterly blind to the values that make up our civilization….”” (113) In this chapter Dower also examines how some Americans and British described the Japanese “National Character,” their tactics in war, and behavior during the war from Freudian psychiatry as well as Anthropology and other social and behavioral sciences. Dower cites many experts of the time and their understandings of the Japanese national character, although “itself questionable,” (124) the fact is that the implementation of these philosophies is what had a major…
In Giles Milton’s novel, Samurai William, the reader is taken to the other side of the globe to experience the history of old world Japan. Though out the book, Milton provides reason for complex historical events and actions, while still communicating the subtleties and mysterious customs of the Japanese. The novel also closely examines the wide range of relationships between different groups of Europeans and Asians, predominantly revolving around the protagonist, William Adams. The book documents the successes and failures that occur between the two civilizations, then links them back to either the positive or negative relationship they have. As the book goes on, the correlation is obvious. Milton shows us the extreme role that religion, etiquette and trade played in establishing positive relations between visiting Europeans and the Asian civilizations.…
In this literacy narrative, Blogs Are Not Pseudo-Diaries by Stacy Yi, Stacy talks about her experiences writing about her time spent in the Dominican Republic the summer after she graduated high school. The thesis statement of this narrative is “Far more interesting, though, was my hands-on education in the possibilities of travel journalism, and the freedom that comes with disregarding expectations.” Stacy talks about how there were lots of people who wanted to be kept up to date with her experiences while she was in the Dominican so she set up a blog where she could easily do so. At first she wrote mainly about how she was enjoying her time, posted some pictures, and wrote about missing home, the things she thought she should be writing about. Things she thought people wanted to read about. Stacy began to grow bored with what she was writing and the views on her posts were dwindling, she could tell her readers were becoming bored as well. Soon she stopped posting all together, she thought it was pointless. One day, she had a conversation with the oldest daughter of her host family and she knew she wanted to write about her and Stacy decided to post it. She started posting about local soccer games, restaurant reviews, disagreements she had with members of the family, things she really liked to write about. She felt better about the things she was writing, she felt satisfied. Stacy felt that writing day to day posts would provide a lot of information but not capture the feel of her trip to the Dominican. She felt that to make a good record of her trip she needed to write about things were relevant to her trip and in ways that fir the experiences she had.…
The varying social interactions between status groups in Katsu Kokichi’s autobiography, Musui’s Story, convey a shift from the hierarchically strict Heian/Kamakura epochs to the more socially open late Tokugawa period. Throughout the work, Katsu illustrates his various dealings and communications with peasants, merchants, artisans and fellow samurai. While in theory a social hierarchy still presided, Musui’s Story dismisses the notion that social groups remained isolated from each other, as in previous Japanese eras, and instead reveals that people of Japan in the late-Tokugawa-era mingled with one another during their lives, regardless of their social status. Considering the demise of the aristocracy that inhibited so much of Heian Japan, the late Tokugawa era fostered the idea that no matter your status or class it remained possible to interact with anyone outside the imperial family. Musui’s Story served as an indicator of transition from status groups that people attain through birth, to class groups that anyone can achieve no matter their ranking upon birth. While better-positioned social groups in society still garnered additional respect, it did not mean that their position in society remained fixed and could not move up or down the social hierarchy due to their actions. Katsu’s work personifies a prime source for understanding that while status group ideals still endured, a clear rift continued forming between the ideals and the reality of Japan at the time when it came to social interactions.…
Musui 's Story is a samurai 's autobiography that portrays the Tokugawa society as it was lived during Katsu Kokichi 's life (1802 - 1850). Katsu Kokichi (or Musui) was a man born into a family with hereditary privilege of audience with the shogun, yet he lived a life unworthy of a samurai 's way, running protection racket, cheating, stealing, and lying. Before we discuss how Musui 's lifestyle was against the codes that regulated the behavior of the samurai, it is essential that the role of the samurai in Japanese society be understood.…
The purpose of this novel is to give an accurate retelling of the original 47 ronin from 1701 in Japan. John Allyn Jr. is incredibly qualified to retell this story. He attended the Army Specialized Training Program at Stanford University in 1944, where he majored in Japanese language. He later attended the Army Intensive Japanese Language School at the University of Michigan in 1945. He worked as Pictorial Censor of the Civil Censorship Detachment of G2, SCAP, in Osaka and Tokyo during the first four years of the U.S. occupation of Japan. He returned to America and attended UCLA where he received his master's degree in Theater Arts in 1951.…
He states that the Japanese are cocky, proud, sensitive, and intolerant of criticism or opposition because of the “inbred and firmly establish belief in their superiority” which has been “passed down through generations, grounded into them in their schools, and a part of their religion”. McClatchy is clearly unconformable with the superiority of Japanese as it conflicts with his worldview of Americans as superior and Japanese as inferior peoples who may be exploited for economic purposes. Here lies the crux of the assumptions for Japanese exclusion for McClatchy – he is fundamentally unaccepting of the national pride of the Japanese and wishes to exclude them on that basis. However, McClatchy misinterprets a reasonable amount of national pride and the desire to preserve Japanese culture as a show of superiority, allowing for more rational authors like Kanzaki to refute his…
In the chapter titled “Hiding in plain sight”, the author, Kyle Cleveland addresses minority issues in Japan. The title to this chapter descriptive of the racial and class discrimination that the minorities in Japan undergone as a result of being marginalized by the system. Cleveland points out the racial problem that has been going on within the country for about one hundred years and counting as he views it from a political point of view; the public perception in regards to partisan politics; as well as from the point of view of the minorities’. As Cleveland points out, the political class is actively spearheading the discrimination of minorities. The author is of the view that the Japanese political ideology still has conservatives assuming…
The United States’ declaration of war on Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor on the date that lives in infamy, December 7,1941, was an inevitable decision manifested from Japan’s occupation of Southeast Asia. The two countries’ worsened tension is delineated through the men in Judith L. Pearson’s novel about a corpsman’s service during the war and of his journey aboard Japan’s notorious hellships. Pearson, inspired by powerful stories on real life heroes, took upon herself to create a complex novel about the strength it took for men like Estel Myers to endure the adverse conditions that were thrust upon them. Through extensive research and the insight of Estel’s brother Ken, Belly of the Beast provides a valuable insight to a rarely recorded…
This review analyzes Stan Yogi’s “’You Had to Be One or the Other’: Oppositions and Reconciliation in John Okada’s No-No Boy,” agreeing with the main points and proposing additional suggestions to the argument’s claim. Yogi centers his analysis on Ichiro Yamada, a twenty-five-year-old Nisei who struggles to accept his wartime actions (63). Yogi strongly argues that John Okada eradicates the term “model minority”, or the overcoming of racial and cultural barriers that defines the Japanese-American community, by exemplifying the internal conflicts behind this praise. Moreover, Yogi analyzes the visible opposition to a “Japanese-American” identity and the embracement of “mutually exclusive” Japanese and American identities that John Okada presents (63-64). Conversely, according to Yogi, Okada explores the polarizing hostility between individuals and the community. Yogi concludes that healing is possible within both the Nikkei community and America (74). While the article provides a partially…
McCullough, Helen, trans. Genji and Heike: The Tale of Genji and The Tale of the Heike. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994.…
“As we got off the bus, we found ourselves in a large area amidst a sea of friendly Japanese faces, “, stated by a once twelve-year old Nisei Florence Miho Nakamura in her account of her internment camp experience (Tong, 3). This initial experience was common among many Japanese, as they were uprooted from their homes and relocated to government land. Although, they had been asked to leave their homes and American way of life, many had no idea of what was to greet them on the other side. As a result of the unknown, many Japanese had no time to prepare themselves for the harshness and scrutiny they faced in the internment camps. Interment camps not only took a toll on the Japanese physically, but also emotionally; thus, resulting in a shift in their overall lives. The novel When the Emperor was Divine explores the loss of self, physical, and cultural/social identity among the Japanese during World War II.…
Gender is a particularly relevant subject in today’s culture, and Japan is undoubtedly part of the conversation. During the 1980s, Japan had a wave of economic boom and developments that still continue now. With it came the shifting mindsets and societal beliefs. Kitchen is a novella that brings great focus onto this progression in history through the lens of gender fluidity. Yoshimoto uses her characters as a way to express the emotions of the people who lived through the postmodern era.…
In My Year of Meats, Ruth Ozeki portrays Jane Takagi Little as an unwavering light which reveals the veracity of the many intertwined and diverse people in the world. Jane’s crusade as a bona fide documentarian for an American meat show, My American Wife!, uncovers the many hidden implications of the American culture that affect the views of Japanese culture. In a small, yet significant flashback, Jane evokes a memory from her life as a young twelve-year-old at the Quam Public Library in which she reads a section from Frye’s Grammar School Geography, an old and outdated geography book, titled, “The Races of Men”. By tactfully employing stylistic devices such as including a diction that differentiates Jane’s thoughts regarding her ideals of…