What is the place of recent Japanese visual culture in the larger history of the Japanese art? Can it illuminate our understanding of earlier art and vice versa? This course examines examples of premodern and contemporary popular visual culture in order to illuminate fundamental themes common to many times and people throughout Japan. The lectures do not present a survey of modern art, nor are they meant to be in any way comprehensive. Yet they will examine a wide variety of films, photography, painting, sculpture, architecture, comics, advertisements, websites, and new media as lenses through which we will focus our exploration of concepts about nature and place, personal and national identity, fantasy and virtual realities, humanity and its borders, superheros in a cross-cultural context, beauty and ugliness, violence and war, the body, gender, sex, and consumption. We will also explore parallels between the United States and Japan in recent decades, considering the ways that visual cultures manifest and shape soft power in recent decades.

The course assumes no previous exposure to the cultures or languages of Japan, and all students are welcome to attend.

Textbooks/Other Materials: There is no required textbook for this class.

Course Requirements: Apart from background reading and participation in class (25%), your coursework will include one short visual analysis (20%), a mid-term exam (25%), and a final research project (30%).

Intended Audience: undergraduates at any level with an interest in art, Japanese visual culture, or history

Class Format: Two 1.5-hour lectures and a one hour discussion section each week.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $0-$50

HISTART Distribution Requirements: C. Asia (Includes China, Japan, India, South/Southeast and the Pacific, 2. Medieval, 4. Modern and Contemporary