ASIAN 6663

Unfamiliar Encounters in Tokugawa Japan

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2014-2015.

From the 1630s until Japan was forced to open its ports to the west in 1868, Japan enforced a policy of national isolation in which Japanese residents could not leave the country and "foreigners" could not enter Japan. Portrayals of 'the Other' by Japanese and of Japanese by 'the Other' take on a unique significance during this period because such representations are largely based on absence and imagination, not familiarity and fact. In this course, we will examine a variety of texts that document these encounters with the unfamiliar, including first- and secondhand non-fiction accounts, quasi-fictional illustrated novellas, theatrical portrayals of other countries, travelogues, images, and secondary literature.

When Offered Spring.

Course Subfield (LL)

Comments Co-meets with ASIAN 3363.

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