Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Minnesota, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 218-241).

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This study was conducted for the following two purposes: 1) to create and test a process by which cultural information in English textbooks in Japan can be analyzed, and 2) to examine what and how much information about foreign culture is taught in English classes in Japan. First, a process was developed from Joiner's evaluation form to gauge the cultural content of EFL textbooks. Action was taken to ensure that the process included both qualitative and quantitative steps. Second, the process entailed an analysis of the cultural content of 10 senior high school English textbooks published in Japan. The process was found to be functional and the analysis revealed that the textbooks were inadequate for the purpose of raising students' cultural awareness. The results of this study may be utilized not only for the improvement of textbooks, but also for future studies which might examine junior high school and college English textbooks. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

Japan experienced drastic economic, political, and social changes during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Her modernization process has many notable charactertics. In this paper, I discuss an ideology which governed all aspects of the Japanese people's lives between 1868 and 1945 and the people's reaction to it. This ideology , which is now called Tennōsei ideology (the ideology of the Tennō system), was based on the myth that emphasized the divinity of the Tennō (emperor). The Meiji government developed and cultivated Tennō-sei ideology as the theoretical backbone of the government's modernization policy. When one studies the problems of modernization in Japan, Tennōsei ideology and the people's reaction to it should not be overlooked. However, it is quite difficult to know how common people, especially those of the lower social strata, reacted to the changes in their lives which were caused by modernization. During the period between the late Tokugawa era and the late Meiji era, many new religious movements were born. Most founders' of those new religions experienced many difficulties firsthand and expressed critical views of modernization. They attracted people who suffered from the economic, political, social, and religious changes occuring during the rapid modernization process. This paper focuses on examining the religious teachings of Deguchi Nao, the founder of Omoto-kyō, because her writings, called Ofudesaki (Tip of A Writing Brush), contain the sharpest criticism against the Meiji government's policies and the Tennō. I examine religious currents in the late nineteenth century to find out why a large number of new religious movements developed during this period. Also the background of the Tennōsei ideology and how the Meiji government systematically made the ideology penetrate into Japanese people's minds are discussed in Chapter One. In Chapter Two, Deguchi Nao's life experiences as the background of her religious teachings are examined. For the purpose of clarifying Nao's religious ideas, I analyze her early Ofudesaki in chapter three. Through Ofudesaki, the Kami, Ushitora-no-Konjin, warned the people that the present world would be demolished unless they repented their sins quickly. Nao used only simple and unsophisticated expressions when she wrote Ofudesaki, but in it one can find her original mythology and view on salvation. In 1899, a man named Ueda Kisaburō (later changed his name to Deguchi Onisaburō joined . Nao's group. Although Onisaburō is considered by present Omoto-kyō followers as a co-founder of the organization, there were fundamental differences between Nao and him. Onisburō's religious and social background are discussed in chapter four. In chapter five, those ofudesaki written between 1896 and 1899 are analyzed, especially focusing on a series of pilgrimages, called Shussu, led by Nao. I also discuss whether it is appropriate to categorize Nao's religious group as a millenarian movement. Since the Meiji government was maintained by the myth of a 'divine' Tennō, the existence of a new religion which held an independent mythology could be considered a serious threat to the Tennō and his government. In conclusion, I re-examine the struggle between the Meiji government and the new religious movements as an important element of Japan's modernization process. / Arts, Faculty of / Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, Department of / Graduate

The aim of this paper is to trace the role Japan's print media played in the course by which the nation came to be imagined in the late nineteenth century, and once conceived, altered and expanded in the early twentieth century. By the conclusion of the Russo-Japanese War (1905) a shift from a multiplicity of ideological articulations vis à vis the nation to a hegemony of "official" nationalism, which incorporated imperialism, had occured. How Japanese newspapers became an effective and powerful ideological institution which served to facilitate the hegemony of "official" nationalism is here examined. As the manner in which a culture communicates is a dominant influence on the formation of a culture's social and intellectual preoccupations, the monopoly of print in Meiji Japan makes an analysis of it a crucial first step in understanding how Japanese nationalism developed. Meiji newspapers evolved through four distinct phases: "pro-establishment," "political," "early commercial," and "fully commercial." In each succeeding stage of development, news was more finely strained. Print media's commercial coming of age had significant consequences: "official" nationalism became hegemonic, non-"official" nationalisms were effectively marginalized, and print came to play an increasingly central role in the body politic. An examination of editorial coverage of the war indicates the 1903-1905 period was pivotal to this development. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Film and Television. / For this research project, I search for an approach to adaptation theory that may be better suited to adapting Manga (Japanese comics) to film. The American comic book adaptations in the last eight years have met with resounding success, and their increased number has also prompted a shift in what audiences and producers qualify as a successful adaptation. For example, 19 films that have been made by Marvel, Sony and Fox since 2008, were adapted from Marvel comics, but followed plot lines that varied greatly from that of the comics (IMDB.com, n.d). However, Manga adaptations have not met with the same level of success, and as such, I propose that a different approach might be necessary when it comes to adapting them. To do so, I discuss how Japanese Manga has been adapted by Hollywood in the past, and why those attempts have been considered a failure, the key example being that of ‘Dragonball Evolution’ (James Wong, 2008), which was based on the famous series, ‘Dragon Ball’, created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. To conclude, I propose my approach to adapting Manga and support it with a short film adaptation. / MT2017

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