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Anime and Manga: It's Not All Make-Believe
EssayAnime (Japanese animation) and manga (Japanese cartoons) are wildly popular with American children. Antonia Levi, a historian of Japan and expert about anime and manga, offers ideas as to how to use these popular items in the classroom, including highlights and possible pitfalls.
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Popular Culture and Japan's Gross National Cool
LessonModern Japan's pop culture, from Hello Kitty to Wii, has been successfully exported worldwide. This lesson explores the varied roots of these cultural trends and their significance in a global context.
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Teaching Anime: Exploring a Transnational and Transmedia Movement
EssayCultural anthropologist Ian Condry explores the variety of ways anime can be used as a teaching tool.
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The Many Faces of Kamishibai (Japanese Paper Theater): Past, Present, and Future
EssayDr. Tara M. McGowan explores the past, present, and future of Kamishibai, Japanese Paper Theater.
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Integrating Kamishibai Performance across the Curriculum
LessonDr. Tara McGowan looks at useful and accessible ways to integrate kamishibai (Japanese paper theater) into the classroom in this fun and interactive lesson plan.
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Setsubun
LessonThe festival of Setsubun—when people throw soybeans at demons—follows closely on the heels of New Year’s. The word setsubun means “changing of the seasons.”
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Setsubun Festival
EssayThe word setsubun means “changing of the seasons,” so there are four setsubun a year on the day before each new season begins. But because of the importance of the New Year in the Japanese calendar, the setsubun directly before the start of spring was by far the most important and is currently the only one widely celebrated in Japan.
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The Strange and Weird Creatures of Japanese Yokai
EssayAll sorts of strange creatures and weird monsters populate the folklore of Japan. Known by a variety of terms, including bakemono, obake, and most common today, yōkai, they are associated with myth, folktale, and local legend.
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Doraemon cartoon character on a Merry Go Round
ResourceDoreamon, one of the most popular cartoon figures in Japan, as a ride on a merry go round in Ueno Park, Tokyo.
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Snoopy Town!
ResourceThe photograph of this Snoopy Town store in the Harajuku section of Tokyo raises questions about identity, pop culture, and the movement of cultural ideas and products between Japan and the United States.
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