KANSAI GAIDAI UNIVERSITY JAPAN

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work; state policy, gender ideology and the gendered division of labor; the Japanese women’s movement; and gender and sexual-ity, including recent widespread and highly visible public discus-sions involving the "LGBT" model of understanding gender and sexual diversity, marginalization and recognition.Popular Culture as Social Practice: Fandoms, Subcultures and the Rest of UsHow do the products of popular culture (objects, images, discourses, categories) impact social life in Japan? While introducing key concepts in the study of popular culture and society, this course focuses on specific fandoms, subcultures or social categories constructed around consumption practices such as otaku, dōjinshi writers, J-rappers, gyaru, visual-kei fans and the legendary devotees of the Takarazuka Revue. Central themes running throughout the course include fan labor in participatory popular culture, including creative “play” in the fields of gender and sexuality; popular culture consumption and constructions of “deviance;” and identity work undertaken through investments in popular culture participation.Sexuality and Culture in Japan: Shifting Dimen-sions of Desire, Relationship and SocietyOur erotic lives are profoundly shaped by history, social beliefs and institutional practices. In Japan today, sexuality is a dynamic and contested field. Topics for exploration in this course include changing aspects of mating, romance and marriage; sex educa-tion in Japanese schools and recent controversies over sex educa-tion policy and practice; conjugal sexual relations, contraceptive practice, and abortion; international romance and marriage; the exploitation and commodification of sexual and emotional relations; mizu shōbai (the after-dark "water trades") and eroticized servicing by hostesses and hosts; sexualized images in popular culture; and minority sexual and gender identities and practices and impacts of the imported cultural model of "LGBT."Traditional Japanese Music & Theatrical PerformanceJapan has an abundance of types of music and theatrical perfor-mance, which extend from the highly sophisticated court music preserved in the Imperial Household, to the rustic but very energetic performance of Tsugaru shamisen. However, since the Meiji Restoration in 1868 traditional music and theatrical perfor-mance have been totally neglected by educators. Recently both the young generation and non-Japanese people have been attracted by the charm of this colorful tradition. In a sense, nowadays, traditional Japanese music and theatrical perfor-mance are discovered once again by an open minded new genera-tion. Based on this observation, this course will introduce a new generation to this abundant and colorful tradition.Foreign Policy Analysis: Cases from AsiaPolitics is all about decision. International politics is not an exception. Then, who makes decisions in international politics? Traditional theories in international politics has emphasized the state and the structure that their relations build while the liberal tradition focuses on international organizations and the regimes created among the states. However, the state and international organizations are actually made of human beings who make actual decisions in the name of the entities to which they belong. Since the early post-war period, a group of scholars have emphasized the need to look into the 'black box' to see the actual decision-making process. This tradition that pays more attention to the actual decision-makers has developed into a field named "foreign policy analysis." This course is an attempt to understand the evolution of the Foreign Policy Analysis and how it can be applied to the explanation of actual cases, particularly the cases from Asia.ASIA/JAPAN STUDIES COURSES25