Individual Presentations

Your individual presentation assignment is deliver a five-minute presentation based on research into a specific aspect of the Japanese civilisation that interests you and which may illuminate our reading of the course texts. Your final cause is the improvement of our understanding and the increase in our appreciation of the civilisation that produced the literature we are studying. After the presentation you will hand in your research notes to the instructor for consideration in the grading of the assignment.

Update: please feel free to use any types of aid, media or format that you prefer. The only criterion in this regard is effectiveness.
Update 2: again, the specific format of your presentation is for you to decide. If I might offer a recommendation, one effective method would be to use the last minute of your presentation to state your opinion on the connection of your chosen topic to the literature of our period.
Update 3: the five minute time limit will be strictly enforced - from both sides. This is a discipline that will prove effective in many future practical applications.
Update 4: another recommendation is that you use the opportunity to develop your oral presentation skills. Design and incorporate techniques which give your presentation its greatest effectiveness. As always, of course, I am available for consultation ...

The choice of topic is entirely up to you: your only criterion in addition to that of relevancy as stated above is that you find it intriguing.

1. Select your topic from these given below, or chose your own.
2. Enter your choice in the comments section of this post.

• ikebana (flower arrangement)
• Mito Komon: a Japanese hero
• tea ceremony
• Japanese gardens
• sushi & sake
• marriage in Japan: then & now
• karoshi (death by overwork)
• sumo
• Rape of Nanking
• geisha: the flower & willow world
• the Edo period
• The Heian Age
• genji monogatari
• teen suicides
• hierarchy in Japan
• seppuku
• kanji & calligraphy
• politics - the Jiminto
• the ultra-right & ultra-left in Japan
• racial purity policies
• caste system: the buraku
• Japanese World War II militarism
• anime
• manga
• Kyoto
• Hiroshima & Nagasaki
• Ameterasu: Japan's creation myth
• hanami: cherry blossom season
• colour symbolism in Japan
• Momotaro & Omusub Kororin: Japanese folk tales
• [To be Continued]