Course Description
This experiential learning study abroad course is designed to complement--and complete--the spring seminar on Western and Asian humanities. This course has a different focus and challenge from the more traditional scholastic learning of the preparatory course: Whereas the prerequisite emphasized the study of a variety of primary and secondary texts in world humanities, this course will emphasize our three week study tour of Japan¡ªthe sites we visit, the culture and people we encounter, the traveling itself¡ªas a primary TEXT to read, discuss, analyze, and interpret. For example, by actively experiencing traditional as well as modern Japan, in both urban and natural setttings, we will have a genuine active learning opportunity to deconstruct the stereotypes and examine the complexities of this fascinating culture.
Again, whereas the spring seminar focused the academic skills of assimilating information, through readings, notes, and lectures, this course will require you to analyze, synthesize and evaluate your EXPERIENCE in and of Japan through mostly reflective, creative and participatory educational methods. Thus, reflective journaling and constructive discussions as well as the NCHC ¡°place as text¡± pedagogy will be used daily during the study abroad. After the trip we will continue this active reflective learning by creating a class portfolio of our travel experience; then we will feed all of this back into our initial academic work by producing a final Japan-based research symposium.
TEXTS:
History of Japan
How to Look at Japanese Art
The Book of Five Rings
One Hundred Japanese Poems
Memoirs of a Geisha
Speed Tribes
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
A Japan Guidebook
Japanese Culture Papers Portfolio
COURSE OUTLINE:
May 10 Travel Preparation Meeting
May 12--31 Travel in Japan June 7 Post-trip Reflections and Creative Portfolio
June 14 Symposium Preparation City as Text group reports due
June 21 Research Symposium and Research Papers due
EXPECTATIONS AND CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION:
Attendance:
Your commitment to take this course is your commitment to attend (to) it. Attendance is essential to any form of active learning, especially a study abroad. This includes all organized discussions on the trip and the three post-trip class meetings.
Reflective Journal:
A reflective journal question or prompt will be assigned daily; each entry should contain at least 250 words. These reflections will be shared or cited during our daily discussions. Of course, you are strongly encouraged also to use your journal to write about your personal experiences. (Journals make excellent travel companions, and their value increases with time!) The journal assignments will not be formally graded; full credit will be awarded simply for the discipline of doing the writing.
Creative Portfolio Pages
After we return from Japan the class will produce a portfolio documenting our travels and learnings. Each student will submit a creative writing “mythos/logos/ethos” page and a visual artifact page. This is a creative assignment of reflection and self expression; full credit will be given for the submission of both pages.
Participating in Constructive Discussion:
While in Japan, there will be an organized morning (around 8:30) and evening (around 6:00) discussion almost every day. These will last for about an hour to an hour and a half. It is not enough just to prepare for these reflective discussions, through the reading or journaling assignment, and to listen attentively with an open mind—you will be expected to participate too! Contributing your own words adds to the synergy, and learning, of the whole group; your voice is part of the symphony. Such participation could include asking a significant question, or citing a passage from the reading, or sharing something from your journal, or contributing an interpretation, observation or insight, or posing a Socratic rebuttal, etc.
City as Text Group Project:
In addition to the “cultural treasure hunts” and other experiential learning assignments, students will engage in a formal “Kyoto as Text” cooperative learning activity. Each group of students will choose some topic of basic ethnographic research and then spend a day gathering data through interviews, observations, field notes, local documents, drawings, photographs, etc. The groups then will give an informal presentation of their findings and interpretations on the second day of the assignment. After we return, each group will write up a brief summary of its work.
Japan-Based Research Paper:
The academic capstone, of both courses really, is the final research project which you initiated in the proposal and annotated bibliography submitted in the spring seminar. This is the primary scholastic work of the course, a minimum eight to ten page (2500 word) research paper on a topic relating to Japan. The paper should have at least four scholarly references, excluding texts we have studied in class and (nonacademic) websites. You may, however, include such texts as well as interviews, documents, or other field research gathered in Japan as additional references. This is a scholarly academic research paper. It will be evaluated on form as well as content.
Research Symposium:
Our final class will be a Japan research symposium. Each student will summarize and formally present—either through an oral presentation or poster session—his or her research findings. These presentations will be peer evaluated. Making evaluations is a high order thinking skill; in fact, it is ranked, above analysis and synthesis, as the top level in the so-called taxonomy of the cognitive domain. Peer evaluations also involve the intellectual risk of giving—and receiving—constructive feedback. Students will judge the quality and clarity of the research presentations and receive, as a formal evaluation, the median score of the total group assessment.
UNF HONORS STUDY ABROAD: JAPAN 2004
STUDENTS JAPANESE CULTURE PAPERS
TRADITIONAL ARTS:
CHA NO YU--NICOLE SMITH
IKEBANA--KRISTEN GILL
ORIGAMI--KYLE PETERSON
SWORD MAKING--ARISS FAJARDO
THE SHAMISEN--RACHEL WHITFORD
JAPANESE GARDENS--LIZ BLAZEK
KABUKI--LIZ BLAZEK
PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION:
SHINTO--MATTHEW GWIN
ZAZEN--MEGAN CAMPBELL
MARTIAL ARTS:
AIKIDO--MEREDITH ABEL
SUMO--DINO MEHMEDAGIC
KYUDO--LAUREN MOCK
HISTORY:
SENSO-JI TEMPLE--KELSEY LINDUFF
MATTHEW PERRY--CATHERINE MOORE
MATSUMOTO CASTLE--KYLA AYERS
ANTHROPOLOGY:
JAPANESE GAMES--KATHERINE BERRY
SUSHI--DEVON MORREALE
THE ZEN OF SURFING--CLAIRE JACKSON
REFLEXOLOGY--BECKY CAMPBELL
BOWING--CHRISTEN HAZLETT
JAPANESE POP CULTURE--MARIA RAMSEY
MODERN JAPAN--MEGAN CAMPBELL
JAPAN AS TEXT RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM JUNE 21, 2004
10:00—11:00 PRESENTATIONS:
Rachel Whitford--Ukiyo-e: The Development of Japanese Woodblock Prints
Claire Jackson--Shunga: Japanese Erotic Art
Devon Morreale--Western Influences on Japanese Art
11:00—12:00 POSTER SESSION:
Katherine Berry--Gender Roles in Modern Japan
Liz Blazek--Crime in Japan
Nicole Smith--Japanese Mythology
Dino Mehmedagic--Martial Arts in Japanese Culture
Kyle Peterson--The Robotic World of Japan
Kristin Gill--The Art of the Brush: Japanese Calligraphy
Kyla Ayers--Catholicism in Japan
1:00—2:00 PRESENTATIONS:
Ariss Fajardo--Soul of the Samurai: Japanese Swords
Megan Campbell--Zen and Psychotherapy
Lauren Mock--Bamboo and Paper: Japanese Kites
2:00—3:00 POSTER SESSION:
Meredith Abel--Feminism in Japan
Becky Campbell--Japanese Healing Arts
Kelsey Linduff--Japanese Festivals
Matthew Gwinn--Modern Samurai
Christen Hazlett--Earthquakes in Japan
Catherine Moore--What Defines a Woman in Japan?
Maria Ramsey--Japanese Woodblock Prints
ITINERARY
May 12 SETTING OUT
Depart Jacksonville--9:26 am United Airlines to Chicago arr. 11:10 am
Depart Chicago--12:10 pm United Airlines to Tokyo arr. 3:05 pm
May 13 Tokyo
Transfer via Keisei Skyliner to Keisei Ueno
Check in: Kinuyu Hotel 2-14-28 Ueno Taitoku, Tokyo phone: (03) 3833-1911 (-5)fax: 03-3833-1915 info@kinuyahotel.jp
Walking tour of Ueno-koen Park and Ameyayokocho Arcade
Evening discussion
May 14
Morning discussion and CAT assignment
Subway tour to Asakusa and Senso-ji temple
Tokyo CITY AS TEXT small group exploration¡ªcutural site visits
Evening discussion
May 15
Morning discussion and CAT assignment
Tokyo CITY AS TEXT small group exploration¡ªcutural site visits
Guest Speaker
Sumo tournament
May 16 TAKAYAMA
Tsukiji Fish Market (optional)
Depart Tokyo: 9:00 am---Bus from Shinjuku to Takayama ---arr. 2:30 pm
Check in: Rickshaw Inn 54 Suehiro-cho Takayama Gifu Japan 506-0016
phone: 0577-32-2890 Fax: 0577-32-2469
rickshwaw@gix.or.jp www.Rickshawinn.com
Walking tour of Takayama, including Sanmachi Suji¡ªthe old merchant quarters
Evening discussion
May 17
Takayama morning market
Morning discussion and CAT assignment
Takayama CITY AS TEXT small group exploration---cutural site visits
including Hida-no-sato outdoor mountain village museum
and Higashiyama Teramachi temple walk
Evening discussion
May 18
Morning discussion and CAT assignment
Takayama CITY AS TEXT small group exploration¡ªcutural site visits
Evening discussion
May 19
Free Day
May 20
Morning discussion
Gifu PLACE AS TEXT group exploration¡ªbus to Matsumoto castle and surrounding onsen
Evening discussion
May 21 KYOTO
Depart 9:42 am---Shinkansen Train via Nagoya to Kyoto---arr. 1:20 pm
Tour Kyoto Station area; Walking tour to Higashi Hongan-ji Temple
take bus # 26 Check in: Utano Youth Hostel 29 Nakayama-cho,Uzumasa, Ukyo-ku,Kyoto,Japan 616-8191 TEL 075(462)2288¡¡¡¡FAX 075(462)2289 http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/org/utano-yh/
Walking tour of Utano neighborhood
Evening discussion
May 22
Morning discussion and CAT assignment
Guest Speaker and guided tour of Fushimi Inari
Evening discussion
May 23
Morning discussion
Kyoto CITY AS TEXT group exploration¡ª
Walking tours with Kyoto University students
Evening discussion
May 24
Morning discussion and CAT assignment
Kyoto CITY AS TEXT Group Research Project¡ªdata gathering
Evening : group presentation preparation
May 25
Zen Meditation at Daitoku-ji
KYOTO CITY AS TEXT GROUP PROJECT PRESENTATIONS
May 26 SHIRAHAMA BEACH
Depart Kyoto:10:37am---Train via Atami to Shimoda----arr. 2:46 pm
Walking tour of Shimoda
local bus transfer to Shirahama Beach
Check in: Pension Sakuraya phone: 0558-23-4470 Fax: 0558-27-2130
pension@izu-sakuraya.jp www.izu-sakuraya.jp
Afternoon swim
Evening discussion
May 27
Morning discussion and CAT assignment
Shimoda CITY AS TEXT small group exploration¡ªcutural site visits
Evening discussion
May 28
Morning discussion
NATURE AS TEXT (e.g. hiking, onsen, surfing, marine exploration, etc.)
Beach Bonfire and fireworks
May 29 TOKYO
Morning discussion
Depart Shimoda: 12:27 pm---Train to Tokyo---arr. 3:06 pm
transfer via subway Check in: Kinuyu Hotel (see above for hotel info.)
Guest Speaker on Japanese economy
May 30
Morning discussion
Day trip with Junko to Kamakura or
Pilgrimage site visits
Evening discussion
May 31 THE RETURN
Depart Ueno: 11:20 am Keisei Skyliner to Narita Airport arr. 12:20 pm
Depart Tokyo: 2:10 pm United Airlines to Chicago arr. 11:45 am
Depart Chicago1:30 pm United Airlines to Jacksonville arr. 5:00 pm
Again, whereas the spring seminar focused the academic skills of assimilating information, through readings, notes, and lectures, this course will require you to analyze, synthesize and evaluate your EXPERIENCE in and of Japan through mostly reflective, creative and participatory educational methods. Thus, reflective journaling and constructive discussions as well as the NCHC ¡°place as text¡± pedagogy will be used daily during the study abroad. After the trip we will continue this active reflective learning by creating a class portfolio of our travel experience; then we will feed all of this back into our initial academic work by producing a final Japan-based research symposium.
TEXTS:
History of Japan
How to Look at Japanese Art
The Book of Five Rings
One Hundred Japanese Poems
Memoirs of a Geisha
Speed Tribes
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
A Japan Guidebook
Japanese Culture Papers Portfolio
COURSE OUTLINE:
May 10 Travel Preparation Meeting
May 12--31 Travel in Japan June 7 Post-trip Reflections and Creative Portfolio
June 14 Symposium Preparation City as Text group reports due
June 21 Research Symposium and Research Papers due
EXPECTATIONS AND CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION:
Attendance:
Your commitment to take this course is your commitment to attend (to) it. Attendance is essential to any form of active learning, especially a study abroad. This includes all organized discussions on the trip and the three post-trip class meetings.
Reflective Journal:
A reflective journal question or prompt will be assigned daily; each entry should contain at least 250 words. These reflections will be shared or cited during our daily discussions. Of course, you are strongly encouraged also to use your journal to write about your personal experiences. (Journals make excellent travel companions, and their value increases with time!) The journal assignments will not be formally graded; full credit will be awarded simply for the discipline of doing the writing.
Creative Portfolio Pages
After we return from Japan the class will produce a portfolio documenting our travels and learnings. Each student will submit a creative writing “mythos/logos/ethos” page and a visual artifact page. This is a creative assignment of reflection and self expression; full credit will be given for the submission of both pages.
Participating in Constructive Discussion:
While in Japan, there will be an organized morning (around 8:30) and evening (around 6:00) discussion almost every day. These will last for about an hour to an hour and a half. It is not enough just to prepare for these reflective discussions, through the reading or journaling assignment, and to listen attentively with an open mind—you will be expected to participate too! Contributing your own words adds to the synergy, and learning, of the whole group; your voice is part of the symphony. Such participation could include asking a significant question, or citing a passage from the reading, or sharing something from your journal, or contributing an interpretation, observation or insight, or posing a Socratic rebuttal, etc.
City as Text Group Project:
In addition to the “cultural treasure hunts” and other experiential learning assignments, students will engage in a formal “Kyoto as Text” cooperative learning activity. Each group of students will choose some topic of basic ethnographic research and then spend a day gathering data through interviews, observations, field notes, local documents, drawings, photographs, etc. The groups then will give an informal presentation of their findings and interpretations on the second day of the assignment. After we return, each group will write up a brief summary of its work.
Japan-Based Research Paper:
The academic capstone, of both courses really, is the final research project which you initiated in the proposal and annotated bibliography submitted in the spring seminar. This is the primary scholastic work of the course, a minimum eight to ten page (2500 word) research paper on a topic relating to Japan. The paper should have at least four scholarly references, excluding texts we have studied in class and (nonacademic) websites. You may, however, include such texts as well as interviews, documents, or other field research gathered in Japan as additional references. This is a scholarly academic research paper. It will be evaluated on form as well as content.
Research Symposium:
Our final class will be a Japan research symposium. Each student will summarize and formally present—either through an oral presentation or poster session—his or her research findings. These presentations will be peer evaluated. Making evaluations is a high order thinking skill; in fact, it is ranked, above analysis and synthesis, as the top level in the so-called taxonomy of the cognitive domain. Peer evaluations also involve the intellectual risk of giving—and receiving—constructive feedback. Students will judge the quality and clarity of the research presentations and receive, as a formal evaluation, the median score of the total group assessment.
UNF HONORS STUDY ABROAD: JAPAN 2004
STUDENTS JAPANESE CULTURE PAPERS
TRADITIONAL ARTS:
CHA NO YU--NICOLE SMITH
IKEBANA--KRISTEN GILL
ORIGAMI--KYLE PETERSON
SWORD MAKING--ARISS FAJARDO
THE SHAMISEN--RACHEL WHITFORD
JAPANESE GARDENS--LIZ BLAZEK
KABUKI--LIZ BLAZEK
PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION:
SHINTO--MATTHEW GWIN
ZAZEN--MEGAN CAMPBELL
MARTIAL ARTS:
AIKIDO--MEREDITH ABEL
SUMO--DINO MEHMEDAGIC
KYUDO--LAUREN MOCK
HISTORY:
SENSO-JI TEMPLE--KELSEY LINDUFF
MATTHEW PERRY--CATHERINE MOORE
MATSUMOTO CASTLE--KYLA AYERS
ANTHROPOLOGY:
JAPANESE GAMES--KATHERINE BERRY
SUSHI--DEVON MORREALE
THE ZEN OF SURFING--CLAIRE JACKSON
REFLEXOLOGY--BECKY CAMPBELL
BOWING--CHRISTEN HAZLETT
JAPANESE POP CULTURE--MARIA RAMSEY
MODERN JAPAN--MEGAN CAMPBELL
JAPAN AS TEXT RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM JUNE 21, 2004
10:00—11:00 PRESENTATIONS:
Rachel Whitford--Ukiyo-e: The Development of Japanese Woodblock Prints
Claire Jackson--Shunga: Japanese Erotic Art
Devon Morreale--Western Influences on Japanese Art
11:00—12:00 POSTER SESSION:
Katherine Berry--Gender Roles in Modern Japan
Liz Blazek--Crime in Japan
Nicole Smith--Japanese Mythology
Dino Mehmedagic--Martial Arts in Japanese Culture
Kyle Peterson--The Robotic World of Japan
Kristin Gill--The Art of the Brush: Japanese Calligraphy
Kyla Ayers--Catholicism in Japan
1:00—2:00 PRESENTATIONS:
Ariss Fajardo--Soul of the Samurai: Japanese Swords
Megan Campbell--Zen and Psychotherapy
Lauren Mock--Bamboo and Paper: Japanese Kites
2:00—3:00 POSTER SESSION:
Meredith Abel--Feminism in Japan
Becky Campbell--Japanese Healing Arts
Kelsey Linduff--Japanese Festivals
Matthew Gwinn--Modern Samurai
Christen Hazlett--Earthquakes in Japan
Catherine Moore--What Defines a Woman in Japan?
Maria Ramsey--Japanese Woodblock Prints
ITINERARY
May 12 SETTING OUT
Depart Jacksonville--9:26 am United Airlines to Chicago arr. 11:10 am
Depart Chicago--12:10 pm United Airlines to Tokyo arr. 3:05 pm
May 13 Tokyo
Transfer via Keisei Skyliner to Keisei Ueno
Check in: Kinuyu Hotel 2-14-28 Ueno Taitoku, Tokyo phone: (03) 3833-1911 (-5)fax: 03-3833-1915 info@kinuyahotel.jp
Walking tour of Ueno-koen Park and Ameyayokocho Arcade
Evening discussion
May 14
Morning discussion and CAT assignment
Subway tour to Asakusa and Senso-ji temple
Tokyo CITY AS TEXT small group exploration¡ªcutural site visits
Evening discussion
May 15
Morning discussion and CAT assignment
Tokyo CITY AS TEXT small group exploration¡ªcutural site visits
Guest Speaker
Sumo tournament
May 16 TAKAYAMA
Tsukiji Fish Market (optional)
Depart Tokyo: 9:00 am---Bus from Shinjuku to Takayama ---arr. 2:30 pm
Check in: Rickshaw Inn 54 Suehiro-cho Takayama Gifu Japan 506-0016
phone: 0577-32-2890 Fax: 0577-32-2469
rickshwaw@gix.or.jp www.Rickshawinn.com
Walking tour of Takayama, including Sanmachi Suji¡ªthe old merchant quarters
Evening discussion
May 17
Takayama morning market
Morning discussion and CAT assignment
Takayama CITY AS TEXT small group exploration---cutural site visits
including Hida-no-sato outdoor mountain village museum
and Higashiyama Teramachi temple walk
Evening discussion
May 18
Morning discussion and CAT assignment
Takayama CITY AS TEXT small group exploration¡ªcutural site visits
Evening discussion
May 19
Free Day
May 20
Morning discussion
Gifu PLACE AS TEXT group exploration¡ªbus to Matsumoto castle and surrounding onsen
Evening discussion
May 21 KYOTO
Depart 9:42 am---Shinkansen Train via Nagoya to Kyoto---arr. 1:20 pm
Tour Kyoto Station area; Walking tour to Higashi Hongan-ji Temple
take bus # 26 Check in: Utano Youth Hostel 29 Nakayama-cho,Uzumasa, Ukyo-ku,Kyoto,Japan 616-8191 TEL 075(462)2288¡¡¡¡FAX 075(462)2289 http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/org/utano-yh/
Walking tour of Utano neighborhood
Evening discussion
May 22
Morning discussion and CAT assignment
Guest Speaker and guided tour of Fushimi Inari
Evening discussion
May 23
Morning discussion
Kyoto CITY AS TEXT group exploration¡ª
Walking tours with Kyoto University students
Evening discussion
May 24
Morning discussion and CAT assignment
Kyoto CITY AS TEXT Group Research Project¡ªdata gathering
Evening : group presentation preparation
May 25
Zen Meditation at Daitoku-ji
KYOTO CITY AS TEXT GROUP PROJECT PRESENTATIONS
May 26 SHIRAHAMA BEACH
Depart Kyoto:10:37am---Train via Atami to Shimoda----arr. 2:46 pm
Walking tour of Shimoda
local bus transfer to Shirahama Beach
Check in: Pension Sakuraya phone: 0558-23-4470 Fax: 0558-27-2130
pension@izu-sakuraya.jp www.izu-sakuraya.jp
Afternoon swim
Evening discussion
May 27
Morning discussion and CAT assignment
Shimoda CITY AS TEXT small group exploration¡ªcutural site visits
Evening discussion
May 28
Morning discussion
NATURE AS TEXT (e.g. hiking, onsen, surfing, marine exploration, etc.)
Beach Bonfire and fireworks
May 29 TOKYO
Morning discussion
Depart Shimoda: 12:27 pm---Train to Tokyo---arr. 3:06 pm
transfer via subway Check in: Kinuyu Hotel (see above for hotel info.)
Guest Speaker on Japanese economy
May 30
Morning discussion
Day trip with Junko to Kamakura or
Pilgrimage site visits
Evening discussion
May 31 THE RETURN
Depart Ueno: 11:20 am Keisei Skyliner to Narita Airport arr. 12:20 pm
Depart Tokyo: 2:10 pm United Airlines to Chicago arr. 11:45 am
Depart Chicago1:30 pm United Airlines to Jacksonville arr. 5:00 pm
