Session 59: Poster Sessions

Organizer: Paula Richman, Oberlin College

The Gordon W. Prange Children’s Book Collection: An Examination of Japanese Children’s Literature from the Early Postwar Period, 1945–49

Amy Wasserstrom, University of Maryland

The Gordon W. Prange Collection is the most comprehensive collection in the world of Japanese publications issued during the first four years of the Occupation of Japan, 1945–49. The contents of the Prange Collection once constituted the files of the Civil Censorship Detachment (CCD), an operating unit of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP) Press, Pictorial and Broadcast Division. Between 1945 and 1949, the CCD was responsible for reviewing all Japanese publications to identify violations of the Code for the Japanese Press. When violations were identified by CCD examiners, censorship action was taken.

The 9,000 children’s books in this collection include picture books, comic books, folk tales, translations into Japanese of children’s books in foreign languages, and books of fiction and non-fiction for older children. These materials are a rich source for social and cultural history, for the study of popular literature, and for an understanding of Japanese concerns for their children during the postwar period. Because the censors treated children’s publications with a relatively light hand, this is a freer literature than most of what was produced for adults during the same years.

This poster will survey the Prange children’s book collection, with a special emphasis on the censored children’s books.

Global Performing Arts Resource Centers: A Digital Opening to Performing Arts across Cultures and Histories

Joshua Young, Cornell University

This poster session looks in two directions: reporting on the history of our project to construct GloPAD, a multilingual, online database for performing arts materials from around the world, and introducing ways that viewers may use the resources of GloPAD in the classroom.

One part of the presentation will use pasted images and short, one-paragraph captions to give viewers an overview of the main intellectual labor of our project: to construct a metadata scheme that accommodates materials on performing arts from various cultures, languages, and histories. The other part will suggest ways that the database can be used now as a resource for students at various levels to work with cultural artifacts, performing practices, and structural terminology. The conceptual conclusion of the report side of the poster will be that the construction of this database shows how structures of understanding such as genre or artistic and professional functions are negotiated concepts that must be constantly translated.

GloPAD is the central project of the Global Performing Arts Consortium (GloPAC), a consortium of libraries, museums, and individual scholars dedicated to making accessible to the online public artifacts of performance events from traditions across the globe and across the ages. The key elements of the online database are that it is multilingual both in its input system and in its end-user display (currently English, Japanese, Russian, Mandarin, and German), and that it brings together performing arts specialists working in a variety of traditions and locations across the globe.

Thirty Years of April 30th: The Politics of Time and Liberation in Ho Chi Minh City

Erik Harms, Cornell University

On April 30th, 2005, "Giai Phong" turns thirty. For most Ho Chi Minh City residents the term Giai Phong (liberation) serves as a temporal marker that orders social time into neat categories of "before Giai Phong" and "after." Once a charged symbol of an epochal shift and a change of regimes, the passage of time itself has softened the implicit politics behind the word "liberation". To say now "I was born six years after liberation," or, "I moved here before liberation," doesn’t always imply a set political meaning. In many cases, it simply marks the passage of time. This interactive poster provides a forum to discuss how "liberation" is both a marker of time and something marked by time itself.

How has the symbolic value of April 30th changed over the course of thirty years? How does April 30th itself seek to manage the experience of history and time? How is the act of commemoration itself marked by contemporary time-relations? Using contemporary photographs and historical newspaper clippings as visual guides, I draw on recent fieldwork experience in Ho Chi Minh City to situate the historical changes in April 30th commemorations within the developing forms of time discipline in Vietnam’s "open door" economy. To understand where April 30th stands in a politics of time, we have to understand how April 30th affects the temporal orientations of people observing it. But we must also debate how the new temporalities of "market-oriented socialism" themselves affect the meanings people give to April 30th today.

The Process of Passing Laws in Thailand’s Parliament, 1979–2002

Aaron Stern, University of Michigan

Thailand’s national parliament sits at the center of a political system which has recently experienced some significant changes, particularly with the passage of the current constitution in 1997. Laws have grown more important in forming government policies and in the daily lives of Thai citizens. Promoting the "rule of law" has become a major focus within the scholarship on democratization and the efforts of international bodies like the World Bank and the United Nations. Yet the Thai parliament, along with most other legislatures in Southeast Asia, has received little attention from scholars and practitioners until very recently.

My poster will outline the key elements of the legislative process, illustrate what has changed (or remained static) in the legislative process during the period 1979–2002, and offer explanations for what has driven these changes.

I will base the poster on data from fieldwork in Thailand during 2001–2002: a combination of participant observation, interviews, primary source documents, and secondary materials. The poster reflects a chapter of my dissertation on the evolution of the Thai parliament during 1979–2002.

The Making of an Atlas of the Himalaya

David Zurick, Eastern Kentucky University

A variety of spatial data sources and cartographic techniques were used to create a comprehensive atlas of the Himalaya. This poster examines some of the conceptual, methodological, and technical processes encountered in the making of the atlas. The conceptual problems of atlas production examined in the poster include the sources and reliability of geographic information for the region, the nature of geopolitical alignments and contentions represented in the international boundaries, and critical visual representation issues. Methodological problems include spatial data acquisition and integration in a digital format for use in a geographic information system. Technical aspects of the cartographic process are examined and illustrated by way of explanatory stages in the production of representative maps. The atlas project engaged a constituency from throughout the Himalaya, organized by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, and thus reflects an effort toward building a consensus regarding the spatial representation of the Himalaya region. The purpose of this presentation is to examine the research processes that lie behind the creation of the atlas, especially insofar as they tackle more generalized problems of remote-area spatial data acquisition and use, as well as the cartographic representation of this geographic region, and to visually present these processes through an illustrative poster.

Instructors in Technology and Skill Transfer Knowledge: Expatriate Employees in a Japanese Automobile Corporation

Asahi Fujiwara, Aichi Gakuin University

In response to the wave of globalization in business, the Japanese automobile industry has enhanced its operating infrastructure all over the world. Consequently there have been increasing opportunities for Japanese workers to interact with foreign workers. Since skill-based technology is recognized as one of the competitive advantages of Japanese manufacturing industry, successful transfer of skill has a decisive impact on productivity. In this sense, interaction between Japanese workers and foreign workers is worth attention. This paper seeks to illustrate the process of skill transfer in cross-cultural setting, especially on the shop floor level. Much attention has been paid to skill transfer from the management point of view, but this study also attempts to explore from standpoint of intercultural communication. There are multiple aspects that make the cross-cultural skill transfer unique, including (1) limited verbal communication due to their different native languages, and (2) attributes of skill that are not transferable by verbal communication. In this unique context, the role and effectiveness of verbal and non-verbal communication are considered.

The study produces data on over 240 technology transfer instructors employed by the Toyota Motor Corporation. The data findings cover a great deal of descriptive information, such as their employment experience, demographic characteristics and the kinds of work they have been selected to undertake in overseas transplants. In a more analytic mode, the research provides insights into how these workers prepare for their assignments, the methods they use to instruct and the kinds of problems they experience in communicating with foreign workers.

Developing a Multimedia Application to Prepare for the Grammar Section in the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test, Level 2

Shohei Koike, Setsunan University

The purpose of this presentation is to show how a multimedia application will help students of Japanese, especially in English-speaking countries, to improve their reading and speaking abilities, as well as to learn kinougo, or Japanese function words, and to prepare for the grammar section in the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test, Level 2.

Most Japanese programs at U.S. universities do not seem to offer an advanced class that systematically introduces the Level 1 or 2 grammatical items listed in Japanese-Language Proficiency Test: Test Content Specifications. Most self-study books, on the other hand, are written in Japanese, too difficult for the relatively low kanji proficiency levels of American students.

The multimedia application I am developing will have twenty lessons, with 203 grammatical items. Each entry presents a brief grammatical explanation, with five exemplary sentences. A mouse-click will enable users to listen to each sentence read aloud, and to see its English translation. The application also pronounces kanji, displaying their phonetic transcriptions in romaji or hiragana characters, as well as their meanings.

Learners generally need to listen to a recording many times before complex grammatical structures begin to sink in. Unlike analog media, this digital tool will enable users to easily find and repeat the portions of a recording they want to work on. The application will run on English-language versions of Windows 95 or above, without requiring any special device, program, or Japanese language kit.

Cultural Components of Housing Preference: "New Towns," New Houses, and Old Houses in Northern Japan

John A. Mock, Akita International University

In spite of a peaking population and an extremely low birth rate, Japanese preferences for types of houses show clear cultural components. "New Towns," tightly-packed clusters of new houses, sometimes by the same manufacturer, are continuing to be created in Akita City as well as other parts of Japan. In addition, sometimes individual new housing is also being built. At the same time, older structures which would be far larger, allowing much more room per person, are often being allowed to deteriorate completely. This shift is so marked that structures of markedly different types are often found adjacent to each other.

This poster session presents some visual examples of preferred housing and seeks to explain the cultural components of housing preferences. Of special interest are concepts of "convenience," "cleanliness," and "safety" as applied to the Japanese housing market in a middle-sized regional capital. Also included is an examination of the value—or lack of value—of space, relative privacy and historical preservation.

Although the focus of this paper is on single-family housing, multiple-unit housing is also examined because it is the obvious comparison in a country where multiple units, in the form of apartment houses, are the dominant form in the great urban centers and compete strongly with single-family units even in a regional center such as Akita City.

The Japanese Government’s Dilemma: The Declining Birth Rate

Noriko Tada, Nagoya Women’s Studies Group

Japanese government forecasted a labor shortage in 1989 when the national average birth rate per woman dropped to 1.56. The government made guidelines named the "Angel Plan" in 1992 and "New Angel Plan" in 1999 to deal with the declining birth rate. It could not stop the tendency, though.

This paper will examine the government’s policies in mainly the New Angel Plan and identify a clear divergence of views between the government and society. This gap left its policies stillborn. In the guidelines, the government emphasized the reconciliation of work and family in order to encourage young people, especially women, to marry, trying to eliminate their sense of child-rearing being a burden and the gender division of labor in a family and a workplace. However, young people did not give marriage and having children priority over their careers or pleasure. For working mothers, the government revised the Child-Care Leave Law in order to allow more part-time workers to take leave, and increased the number of legitimate nursery schools. However, the policies indicated that the responsibility of child-care was left to women only. A great many married couples complained that the economic burden of raising children was too heavy to have more than one child, according to a result of a questionnaire survey on marriage and having children conducted by the Asahi Sinbun newspaper in 2004. Marriage was no longer a solution to the problem in modern Japanese society. The government will probably fail to avert a further decline in the birth rate unless it takes the trend of public opinion into consideration.

Restrictive Factors on the Use of "Wa" in Spoken Japanese Narrative Discourse

Fumio Watanabe, Yamagata University

Building on Givón’s (1984, 1990) research on topic continuity, and Clancy and Downing’s (1987) research on "wa" as a cohesion marker, I analyze: (1) differences in the use of "wa" in spoken and written Japanese narrative discourse; and (2) factors that restrict the use of "wa" in spoken narrative discourse.

The data for this study were spoken anal written narratives elicited using a 5-minute animated film (Chafe 1980; Fuller and Gundel 1987). The spoken data were collected from 15 informants who viewed the film and then told the story to a friend in Japanese, and written data from the narrators and hearers of the spoken data who wrote down the story after the telling. In contrast to many preceding analyses of the use of "wa" in spoken or written discourse, I analyzed the use of "wa" in written and spoken narrative discourse about the same story.

I demonstrate that: (1) informants used "wa" in the written data twice as much as in the spoken data; (2) the proportion of the use of "wa" for the protagonist was the same in both the spoken and written data; and (3) fewer inanimate referents were marked by "wa" in the spoken data than in the written data.

I conclude that factors for low frequency of "wa" in spoken discourse related to differences in topic continuity and clause combination in the spoken and written data. The use of "wa" in Japanese discourse relates to functional-syntactic factors as well as stylistic factors.

The "Myth of the Three-Year-Old Child"

Keiko Watanabe, Nagoya Women’s Studies Group

The "myth of the three-year-old child," that is, that a mother must take exclusive care of her child until s/he turns three, is a prevalent one in Japan. Its wide acceptance is a latent hindrance which can crush the aspirations of young mothers to work. The paper will analyze the source and mechanism of this myth and how it has been implanted in women’s minds unconsciously and manipulates their social and family lives.

The "myth of the three-year-old" is not a longstanding traditional belief. In fact, it was originally propagated by the Japanese government in the 1920s as part of developing an ideology of the ‘modern family’ and sustaining a capitalist system. The myth also supported the concept of a gender division of labor. That is, it was used as a very convenient myth to force women to devote themselves to domestic duties and child rearing and to force men to work outside the home.

Japan is now moving rapidly towards becoming an aging society with a decreasing number of children. In 2001 the Koizumi administration formulated a policy under the slogan of a ‘two-income family’ and began to tackle structural reforms in the social security programs to prepare for an aging society with fewer children. The government ultimately proclaimed that there was no scientific evidence to verify the ‘myth of the three-year-old.’ It intended to shift its emphasis from ‘motherhood’ to ‘working mothers’ in order to bring more women into the labor force.

Ommyōdō Cosmology in Shintō Ritual at the Hakozaki Hachiman Shrine

E. Leslie Williams, Clemson University

Despite the omnipresent influence of Shintō in present-day Japan, and the undeniable role that this belief system has played for centuries in Japan’s society and culture, for academics it still largely remains a mystery. Even so, there are very definite, socially-perceived and transmitted ideas that serve to constitute Shintō worldviews. By considering the annual round of shrine rituals at the Hakozaki Hachiman Shrine in Hakata, a specific Shintō cosmology emerges. Founded in 921 A.D., the Hakozaki Hachiman Shrine has endured for more than a millennium. As a center of ritual practice, it has enjoyed periods of prosperity and decline, rebounded from the shocks of two attempted thirteenth-century Mongol invasions, and weathered the Second World War.

Śākyamuni is supposed to have been born with the mahāpurusa laksanas (characteristics of the Great Person). The usnīsa, "the protrusion on top of the head," is one of his characteristics. In standard Buddhist iconography, the usnīsa is an attribute almost exclusive to the Buddha image. However, some monk images in very limited areas, mostly caves from the Kizil and Bezeklik regions in Central Asia and Ajantā caves in India, are clearly shown with this cranial protuberance. The purpose of this paper is to examine this unusual iconography and study the significance of endowing the usnīsa on the non-Buddha figures in Buddhist theory and practice. An attempt will be made to search the possible connection among the areas where this iconography appeared, and how this may be related to Sarvāstivāda, a Hīnayāna school which is believed to have dominated Kizil and also to have existed at the sites of Bezeklik and Ajantā. Since the Kizil caves yield the most intensive depiction of such images and the images at Bezeklik bear inscriptions that are crucial for interpreting the meaning of the iconography, I will focus on the images from these two regions, which have not been extensively studied.