Japanese Dinner and a Movie

Well, I've been promising for a while now to do a Japanese dinner and a movie night, and I think I've finally got the details set. Thursday in the early evening seemed like the best time for most of those who responded to me about availability, so I've set it for Thursday, Nov. 13th, from 6pm in Mackinac B-LL-126 (one of the big "case rooms" on the basement level). I figured we could start gathering at about 6pm, make the food, start eating, and then begin the movie at around 7. Unless there are strong objections to either, I thought the menu would be okonomiyaki and the movie would be Kamikaze Girls (Shimotsuma monogatari, 2004).

Okonomiyaki is sometimes called "Japanese pizza" but the name literally means "stuff you like, cooked" so how could we go wrong. It's cheap, easy, can be made with only a portable electric griddle, and the ingredients are flexible, so we can make veggie options if we need to. Depending on the number of people, I may ask for people to throw in a buck each for ingredients, but that should cover it. Also, I have an electric griddle, but if anyone else has one they can bring it would be great to get several going at once.

Shimotsuma monogatari was originally a novel... and then a movie... and later a manga, about a lolita-fashion-loving daughter of a low-level yakuza living in the boonies, who befriends a biker chick... and hilarity ensues. It stars Fukada Kyoko and Tsuchiya Anna. Other possibilities I had considered were The Taste of Tea (Cha no aji), if people were in the mood for something a bit odd or Densha Otoko if people wanted something a bit more mainstream. I like all three, so I'm certainly open to changing the film if there is a strong demand in any direction.

I would like to get a general sense of how many to expect, so if you are interested, please RSVP, either as a response to this post or via e-mail. See you all on the 13th!

Update: I talked to the department head, and she's willing to kick in the necessary funds, so you all won't need to. Free food! Pocky for everybody!

Welcome to GVSU JapanBlog!

When I was hired to take the helm of the Japanese program, one of the most important tasks I was given was expanding the program with an eye toward making possible a minor and, in the longer term, a major. As an outsider coming in, it looked to me like this move was long overdue. It seemed to me that the very high enrollments at the first-year level, combined with the level of excitement for further study among students at the second year level, would warrant an expansion of options for Japanese students to study both higher level language and Japanese culture/literature/civilization. However, for one reason and another, the process has been on hold since this need was recognized in the department more than six years ago. Rather than committing to a tenure-track faculty member in Japanese, approval at the college level was only given for first one, and then another three-year visiting faculty member. And for all the advantages of variety and energy brought to classes by short-term visitors, they cannot and should not be tasked with growing a program that they are bound to leave. For six years, the only options available to Japanese students have been two years of language and occasional courses centered on the visitors' areas of expertise. Students who wanted more had to either study abroad or even transfer to another school with a better developed Japanese program. For a school in which the first-year classes began with three full sections and over 80 students, I think this is unforgivable.

So that is why I'm here... to teach what I know, but also to do whatever I can to ensure that students who have the desire and the commitment to study Japanese language and culture won't have to stop due to a lack of available courses. And the reason I am beginning this blog is because I recognize that the most important part of this grand plan of mine is the students. Speaking with many of you when I arrived at Grand Valley, I was surprised by how little of what went on in the Japanese program was shared with the students. Many of you didn't know that Emoto Sensei was only a visitor, that Wu Sensei was an adjunct working only part time, and that neither of them would be around this year. Now in all fairness, Wu Sensei's departure came as a surprise to all of us, but in general it seems that the students have been largely kept out of the loop and I hope to change that. I want to use this blog to keep you all abreast of the changes that are going on in the Japanese language program, and let you know what those changes mean to you. I want to make clear the way the East Asian Studies program and the Modern Languages and Literatures Department interact (just as soon as I figure it out myself), and openly discuss the options that I anticipate being available to you as they both continue to grow. And I want to make this blog a clearinghouse for information on the various Japan-related groups that are beginning to emerge on campus, as well as for announcements of Japan-related events in the area... which I hope to help expand in the coming years. I am doing this in part because I am a strong believer in transparency in theory, but in more practical terms I do it because I believe it is the best way to help myself accomplish the task. When I said students were the most important part of my plan, I meant far more than just the need to fill seats in classes. It is your energy and your demand for a greater range of options that will make it possible for me to go to my department head -- and for my department head to go to the dean -- to request additional faculty positions to respond to that demand. I will discuss where we stand now, how I see the next few years shaping up, and what I think I will need in order to accomplish my goals in later postings. But for now I just wanted to let you know my position, and the perspective from which I am approaching the task.

I look forward to hearing your input whenever you have something to say; the blog comments section is completely open. Criticism is completely welcome (especially if it's constructive), and although I always like to know who is posting, if it's easier to post something anonymously you can feel free to do that as well. In whatever way you are willing to contribute, I am eager to hear your contribution. And I look forward to working with you to build the program. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!