Every year the UICA in downtown Grand Rapids hosts an international film series called Chiarascuro. This year, the theme is "The Muses" and the selected films explore various aspects of the arts. I was asked to choose a Japanese film to be included and I chose "Achilles and the Tortoise" (アキレスと亀), a film by Kitano Takeshi, who also directed Sonatine, Hana-Bi, Kikujiro, etc. It's the story of a man obsessed with art and his craft of painting, but it raises interesting questions, since it's never quite clear if the man's talent is up to his dedication to the ideal of art, or how far he can push against his ideals for commercial success. Is commitment to art for art's sake enough?
The film is showing this Sunday, Jan. 31st, beginning at 2:30pm, and admission is free. It is at the UICA, 41 Sheldon Blvd. SE, and will be followed by a panel discussion, on which I will be sitting as the honorary "guy who knows stuff about Japan" along with a "guy who knows stuff about painting."
That will be the only Japanese film in the series, but there is one other film that deals with Japan and may be of interest to you as well. It is a German film called "Cherry Blossoms" (Kirschblüten - Hanami) and has a strong focus on the unusual Japanese dance form called butô. I have not seen it and am not sure of the story, but I believe it focuses on a German man who meets a Japanese female butô dancer. It will be showing on March 14th, and I plan to be there as well (though I will do my best to avoid getting put on any panels).
Monday, January 25, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Winter Film Series
The films and locations for this semester's JCA film series have been firmed up, and the first film will be screened this Wednesday. There is a room change for this semester, but it's a similar room just a few doors down from the old one so it shouldn't be too confusing. The time will remain every other Wednesday at 7:30pm, but now they will be in Mackinac B-LL-110 (basement of Mackinac B wing). Here's the schedule:
Jan. 20th -- Cowboy Bebop
Feb. 3rd --- The Great Youkai War
Feb. 17th -- Koizora
Mar. 3rd --- Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Mar. 17th -- Tampopo
Mar. 31st -- Paprika
Apr. 14th -- Death Note III – L:Change the World
As before, the members of JCA chose the films and I'm really looking forward to this season since I've only seen about half of them before. And if you have any ideas, suggestions for films to add to the LRC collection or for future film series are always welcome.
Jan. 20th -- Cowboy Bebop
Feb. 3rd --- The Great Youkai War
Feb. 17th -- Koizora
Mar. 3rd --- Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Mar. 17th -- Tampopo
Mar. 31st -- Paprika
Apr. 14th -- Death Note III – L:Change the World
As before, the members of JCA chose the films and I'm really looking forward to this season since I've only seen about half of them before. And if you have any ideas, suggestions for films to add to the LRC collection or for future film series are always welcome.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Japanese program developments
Remember back at the beginning of last semester, when I said I would make this blog a clearing house for announcements about Japanese events. Ah, how young and naive I was then. Anyway, there are a lot of events coming up this year, but I think the key to keeping up on things is to make all the entries short and targeted. So this one will be about developments in the Japanese program.
As I've written before, the expansion of the Japanese program is happening even faster than I'd hoped, and enrollments seem to be rising to fill whatever classes we offer. As you know, we're offering JPN 101 in the winter for the first time this semester, and enrollments are at 26 students! That's huge for a first time! We have also put a JPN 101-102 sequence on the books for the spring and summer semesters for the first time. Of course, those classes are dependent on getting sufficient enrollment, and I hear that courses like that almost never run the first couple of years they are offered. Still, I am hopeful.
And now for next year... With 101 being offered in the winter, we're going to follow up so that students can take all of the first three semesters in "off" semester rather than adhering to the straight fall-winter-fall-winter progression. That means teaching 102 next fall and both 101 and 201 next winter. Abe sensei will be teaching a course in Japanese linguistics in the fall, and I will be teaching the next course in the Japanese culture and civilization sequence in the winter. And the third-year Japanese language sequence has been officially approved, so that will be on the books next year as well. Here's how next year looks:
Fall 2010
JPN 101 (three sections)
JPN 102 (one section)
JPN 201 (two sections)
JPN 301 (one section)
JPN 380 (linguistics)
Winter 2011
JPN 101 (one section)
JPN 102 (three sections)
JPN 201 (one section)
JPN 202 (one section)
JPN 302 (one section)
JPN/EAS 380 (early modern Japanese culture and civilization)
That adds up to eight courses per semester, which means that in addition to myself and Abe sensei, we will also need an adjunct instructor to teach two courses per semester. And, as long as enrollments hold, it brings us one step closer to justifying a third full-time hire. In other words, by the end of that year I'm hoping that we will have justified requesting both a second tenure-track faculty member and a full-time visitor for the following year (2012-13). In my mind, that's when we can really start thinking seriously about a Japanese minor. I know it feels like a long road to get there, but I'm actually pretty happy with the speed at which things are falling into place. These things take a lot of time, and I'm excited that the demand is driving things forward so well.
As I've written before, the expansion of the Japanese program is happening even faster than I'd hoped, and enrollments seem to be rising to fill whatever classes we offer. As you know, we're offering JPN 101 in the winter for the first time this semester, and enrollments are at 26 students! That's huge for a first time! We have also put a JPN 101-102 sequence on the books for the spring and summer semesters for the first time. Of course, those classes are dependent on getting sufficient enrollment, and I hear that courses like that almost never run the first couple of years they are offered. Still, I am hopeful.
And now for next year... With 101 being offered in the winter, we're going to follow up so that students can take all of the first three semesters in "off" semester rather than adhering to the straight fall-winter-fall-winter progression. That means teaching 102 next fall and both 101 and 201 next winter. Abe sensei will be teaching a course in Japanese linguistics in the fall, and I will be teaching the next course in the Japanese culture and civilization sequence in the winter. And the third-year Japanese language sequence has been officially approved, so that will be on the books next year as well. Here's how next year looks:
Fall 2010
JPN 101 (three sections)
JPN 102 (one section)
JPN 201 (two sections)
JPN 301 (one section)
JPN 380 (linguistics)
Winter 2011
JPN 101 (one section)
JPN 102 (three sections)
JPN 201 (one section)
JPN 202 (one section)
JPN 302 (one section)
JPN/EAS 380 (early modern Japanese culture and civilization)
That adds up to eight courses per semester, which means that in addition to myself and Abe sensei, we will also need an adjunct instructor to teach two courses per semester. And, as long as enrollments hold, it brings us one step closer to justifying a third full-time hire. In other words, by the end of that year I'm hoping that we will have justified requesting both a second tenure-track faculty member and a full-time visitor for the following year (2012-13). In my mind, that's when we can really start thinking seriously about a Japanese minor. I know it feels like a long road to get there, but I'm actually pretty happy with the speed at which things are falling into place. These things take a lot of time, and I'm excited that the demand is driving things forward so well.
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