Taken in AY 18/19 Semester 1
- 1.5 hours lecture (webcasted)
- 45 minutes tutorial
Assessment:
- Attendance and Participation 15%
- Group Research Project 35%
- Finals 50%
Took this module to clear my Asian Studies basket (requirement for FASS students). This seems like a rather interesting module to take as opposed to other modules in the same basket which include South Asian studies and South East Asian studies. Furthermore, if you like anime or Japanese culture, this is definitely a module that you should take.
For this module, you will be covering topics on Japanese history, culture and society. The readings for this module can be considered heavy for some people (about 50 pages a week) but some of the readings are rather interesting so it isn’t that bad though you will have to spend a few hours to read them. I think it is really important to make weekly summaries on what you have learnt so that you can refer to them before the finals( something that i didn’t bother doing but I think it saves you the effort of reading through all the notes again which was very painful considering the number of readings you have at the end of the semester).
For the weekly tutorials, you will have to attempt some questions and discuss them in groups during tutorials. The teacher won’t check your work but it is important for you to put some effort into attempting these questions if you want to provide some insightful comments during class so as to get the participation marks. Most people don’t put much effort into answering these questions or merely provide comments which aren’t really helpful but the teacher will acknowledge your participation anyway so just try to say something constructive even if you have no idea how to answer the questions. The median for this component is 9/15 ( 5 marks should be attendance) but if you are getting 9, it means you have not contributed at all to the class discussion (very lenient marking for the participation).
The group project is a 3500 word report on a particular aspect (anything ranging from food,culture to gender issues) of Japan. You are also required to find academic sources to back up your research which can be a pain ( finding relevant sources to your research topic) so it is important to divide the work properly so that you won’t spend too much time on this assignment. It is also important to decide on your area of focus at the start and start working on this project as early as possible, especially if you don’t want to rush it at the end of the semester when you need to revise for your other modules. In the end, I got a B+ for this project which was a little disappointing considering the effort that my team put in for this project.
Finals
- 25 MCQs (1 mark each)
- 1 definition question ( choose 1 out of 3 terms) 5 marks
- 1 essay question (broad question) 20 marks
The MCQs should be relatively straightforward if you have done your readings/ focused during the lectures. However, there are some questions which are rather tricky or rather minor details that you may not have taken notice of.
For the definition question, you are given three options (mine was otaku, hafu and cram school) to choose from. This should be terms that you are familiar with ( if you are not, the English definitions are even given to you). You are required to define the term and explain the significance of the term to Japan. This question was rather easy to score ( I think) as you are just required to link to Japanese society. Anyway it’s just 5 marks so don’t spend too much time on it because the essay is gonna take up a lot of your time.
Prior to the finals, the lecturers have always given hints related to the essay question, asking us to focus on the diversity of Japan. Well, the question was really about the diversity of Japan. You are required to discuss two forms of diversity in Japan and how it supports or subverts norms in Japan. So to do well for this question, you really need to have an abundance of examples to support your essay or rather a few detailed examples at the back of your head so maybe it would be good to focus on several of the main topics like popular culture or demographic issues.
Overall, I didn’t regret taking this module. Though tutorials were dreadful (just listening to people talking and waiting for time to pass) and I spent a lot of time doing readings ( I’m a slow reader), I felt that I have indeed learnt many things about Japan, things that I would never have known if I did not take this module. And for those who are interested in Japanese culture, I am sure they enjoyed this module a lot more than I did.
Expected Grade: B+
Actual Grade: B+
Life 