issn 1472-6653 june 2008 number 16 bringing japan …/file/...bringing japan into the classroom a...

Bringing Japan intothe classroom

A screenshot of the virtual language laboratory.

EastAsia@Sheffield 1

ISSN 1472-6653 June 2008 Number 16

Nagai Miyuki, Teaching Fellow and Joint Head of Japanese language teachingin the School of East Asian Studies, has just been awarded a £2,000 prize inrecognition of her development of a virtual language laboratory.

In recognition of the University ofSheffield’s excellence in inquiry-basedlearning, the Centre for Inquiry-BasedLearning in the Arts and Social Sciences(CILASS) was established at theUniversity of Sheffield in October 2005.Since then, CILASS has funded over 100projects throughout the University,including two within the School of EastAsian Studies. One of these has been thedevelopment of a virtual languagelaboratory.

The virtual language laboratory is adatabase of audio-visual materials aimedat bringing Japan that little bit closer tostudents, whilst encouraging them tofollow their own paths of inquiry.

Miyuki has observed that “in recentyears student expectations havechanged. The feedback we werereceiving was that they wanted more useof audio-visual aids in the classroom.Whilst we did have a small video libraryof Japanese news and documentaries, itwas difficult to obtain up-to-date andrelevant materials. So, we were delightedwhen CILASS gave us the opportunity toestablish an online database, providingthe means for us to record originalinterviews with native speakers, both inJapan and the UK, on a range of topics.”

The audio and video files are currentlybeing made available to final-yearJapanese Studies students via theUniversity portal, My Online LearningEnvironment (MOLE), with instructionsbeing sent out by email a week beforethe class. Students can then prepare bylogging in and watching the videos inadvance. In addition to being asked tomake a note of any specializedvocabulary, they are also required toconduct their own research into the

topic, which could be anything frompaternity leave to euthanasia.

Amelia Cook, a final-year JapaneseStudies student, believes that “my goal isto reach a level at which I can discusscontroversial topics with Japanesepeople without causing offence. Thelaboratory gives me a good idea of how Ican express my feelings about suchdifficult issues in Japanese, as well ashow to elicit interesting and honestresponses without causing any ill-feeling.Being able to witness the way in whichJapanese people discuss suchcontroversial issues is invaluable.”

Whilst students have welcomed this newelement to their course, Miyuki is notcomplacent, “we are planning to continueto expand the range of materials we make

available via MOLE, and are currentlylooking into the feasibility of introducinginquiry-based learning into the curriculumfor students at other levels. Additionally,we have a pilot project running withstudents currently on their year abroad.They will be recording everyday sounds in Japan, which can then be usedcollaboratively with students back here in Sheffield.”

Whilst it is still early days in thedevelopment of the laboratory, it is clearthat it has already had a positive impactupon students’ learning experiences.Language resources in Chinese andKorean have also been digitized and asthe collection grows so it is hoped thatthe distance between Sheffield and EastAsia will continue to be bridged.

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2 EastAsia@Sheffield

Note on namesFollowing East Asian convention, thefamily name precedes the givenname/s in Chinese, Japanese andKorean names, unless the particularperson uses the Western nameorder (given name followed by familyname) in his/her publications and/oreveryday life.

Editor’s note

The views expressed in the articlesare those of the individual authorsand do not necessarily reflect thoseof the School and the University.

Certain images used in thisnewsletter are scaled-down, low-resolution images used to illustratefilms or books, or to provide criticalanalysis of the content or artwork ofthe image. It is believed that theseimages qualify as fair use undercopyright law.

The School of East Asian Studies waspleased to welcome Dr Harald Conrad toSheffield in June. Harald has beenappointed as a Sasakawa Lecturer inJapanese Management and Economicsin the National Institute of JapaneseStudies, part of the White Rose East AsiaCentre created in 2006 as a jointconsortium between the Universities ofSheffield and Leeds.

Harald received his PhD from theUniversity of Cologne for his thesis onthe problems and reform of theJapanese public pension system, whichrequired him to spend three years atKeio

_University in Japan conducting

research. Thereafter, he remained inJapan for a total of twelve years workingfirst as a Research Fellow and thenDeputy Director at the German Institutefor Japanese Studies in Tokyo, as well as

in the Faculty of Asia Pacific Studies ofRitsumeikan Asia Pacific University as anAssociate Professor. Harald now returnsto Europe to share his expertise in thestudy of Japan.

His research interests and numerouspublications in English, German andJapanese centre on the reform ofJapan’s social security systems, humanresource management issues andeconomic aspects of demographicchange. His two latest publications – The Demographic Challenge: A Handbookabout Japan and Human ResourceManagement in Aging Societies:Perspectives from Japan and Germany –will be available later this year. He is nowlooking to expand his research to look atthe challenges and opportunities forJapanese universities in the rapidlyglobalizing higher education market.

Dr Sarah Dauncey (third from left) with someof the successful graduates.

A number of postgraduate students,both in-house and distance learning,from the School of East Asian Studiesgraduated at a ceremony held on 18 January 2008. The graduatingstudents were accompanied at theceremony by several members oftheir families.

In addition to the MA and MScstudents, Rebecca Nadin and YukikoMiyagi received their doctorates.Yukiko is now a Post-Doctoral ResearchFellow in the School of Governmentand International Affairs at theUniversity of Durham. Rebecca iscurrently working for the British

Council as Assistant Director forSports and Science in the Culturaland Education Section of the BritishEmbassy in Beijing. The Schoolwishes all its graduates the best ofluck for the future.

Postgraduate graduation day

Welcome to Sheffield

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I can hardly believe it is more thanthirty-five years since I first heardthat the University of Sheffield wasoffering a new course in Japanese. Iwas planning to study languages atuniversity despite the fact that theonly career advice was to be eithera teacher or an airhostess, neitherof which was very appealing. ThenProfessor Geoffrey Bownas, theUniversity’s first professor ofJapanese Studies, visited my schooland spoke to us about the launch ofthe University of Sheffield’s newand modern approach to teachingJapanese. Encouraged by my latefather, who was a far-sightedbusinessman, I decided to apply.

Very little was known about Japan inthose days and I knew nothingabout the language. Nevertheless, Iwas interviewed and shown aroundthe then modern languagelaboratory with its reel-to-reel taperecorders. Although nothing couldprepare me for the eccentricities ofthe written language, it was love atfirst sound!

At the end of my first year I wasfortunate to visit Tokyo for a fewweeks on a homestay. It was aroundthe time of the Bon festival and myJapanese family took me to thefestivities at the local shrine, whereI visited a fortune-teller. I was toldthat my life would be very excitingas I had chosen to learn Japanese.What an accurate prediction!

My career across the years hasincluded working as a personalassistant to the managing directorof the London branch of a leadingJapanese company, in addition to an extremely exciting andunconventional career ininterpretation and translation. I have worked on building sites,production lines, in sewers andeven on dairy farms. I also workedfor the then Japanese Ministry ofConstruction when it sponsored aJapanese garden exhibited at theInternational Garden Festival inLiverpool in 1984, which led to mycontinued employment by theministry on a number of otherprojects. Then I went out to Japanin 1987 as the first Coordinator forInternational Relations (CIR) on theJapan Exchange and Teaching (JET)Programme. I went back to Osaka in1990 to work for the Japanesegovernment at their InternationalFlower and Greenery Expo.

In 1999 I was awarded theInternational Sato

_Prize for my work

in coordinating and interpreting for

the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kewwhen they needed to restore theirreplica of the Gateway of theImperial Messenger and create asurrounding Japanese landscape. In2004 I was made an honorary“ambassador” to Kagawa Prefecturewhere I had worked as a CIR. Thenlast year I received the JapaneseAmbassador’s award for my work inpromoting cultural exchangesbetween Japan and the UK.

I continue to coordinate joint Anglo-Japanese projects and am currentlychair of the Japan Society NorthWest. In July 2008 we will beholding a Japan Day to whicheveryone is welcome. There will bea range of exhibits, competitions,demonstrations and interestingpeople. To find out more please visitour website:http://www.jsnw.org.uk

Angela and Prince Charles at the prize-winningJapanese garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in2001 (image courtesy of the Press Office of thePrince of Wales).


Angela Davies, the University of Sheffield’s first ever graduate in Japanese Studies, tellsEastAsia@Sheffield about her interesting and varied career

Sheffield’s first graduate in Japanese

Angela workingin Japan in 1987.

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China firstparticipated in the

Olympics Games of1984 and since then

has increased itsmedal tally in fits

and starts.Expectations are

understandably high that Chineseathletes will make

a considerablebreakthrough this

summer.

All eyes will be on the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games as it is held in China for thefirst time. Staff and students in SEAS look ahead to this summer’s spectacle.

I also hope that the Olympics will continueto encourage China’s integration into theinternational community and acceleratepolitical reform within China. Putting thepolitics to one side, I am looking forwardto sitting glued to my television watchingthis feast of sporting achievement.

Dr Zhang MeiLecturer in Chinese Studies

The 2008 Beijing Olympics is special andoccupies a place in the heart of everyChinese citizen. From regenerating ahistoric area to banning a film, if it is in thename of, or for the sake of, the BeijingOlympics, Chinese people will understand.At the same time the Olympics haveturned the world’s attention to China in acomplicated way. In any case, as aBeijinger, I believe that the 2008 BeijingOlympics will act as a bridge to connectChina and the world, bringing not only thesports of the Olympics but also culturalunderstanding. Welcome to Beijing!

The Olympics come to China

Dr Jeremy TaylorLecturer in Chinese Studies

As a UK-based lecturer in Chinese Studies who grew up in Sydney (and who recently returned from a short tripto Atlanta), I have a certain interest in theOlympics and definitely think that Beijing2008 will be unlike any of the previousGames. I was living in Australia in the leadup to the Sydney Olympics, where therewas less focus on the idea of bringingAustralia onto “the world stage” via theGames and more public interest in thesporting side of the event. What struckme during a trip I made to Beijing lastyear was the extent to which theOlympics are seen as much more than asporting event. My sense is that theOlympics are viewed primarily in terms of national pride in Beijing.

Mark McLeisterMSc in Chinese Business andInternational Relations

The Olympic Games have inspireddevelopments in several key areas, notleast of which is the environment. The

Chinese government is taking a tougherstance on factories that violate anti-pollution laws and heads of China’senvironmental groups have brought theirexpertise to the Olympic Committee tohelp make the Games “greener.”Individuals are also increasingly aware ofsaving energy on a day-to-day basis.These are signs that environmentalawareness is becoming firmly establishedin many sectors of society. Admittedly,these changes are only part of the answerto China’s environmental problems butthey are a positive start. Beijing 2008 mayeven inspire a greater effort to clean upLondon for 2012.

Dr Zhang ZhongAcademic Fellow

The run-up to this summer’s OlympicGames in Beijing has attracted a lot ofmedia attention. I can understand whymany people went on the streets todemonstrate and am myself unhappy withthe current situation in China. However,

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Korean history in the twentieth century witnessed Japanesecolonialism, the division of the country between North andSouth, civil war and military dictatorship. Throughout thistroubled century many civilians experienced oppression andabuses of their human rights, but in many ways the families ofthese victims continued to suffer.

For example, during the Korean War (1950-3), more than 200,000innocent South Korean civilians were massacred by their ownpolice, military, anti-communist groups and even US soldiers. Yetthe bereaved families, guilty by association, continued to bevictimized. They were not allowed to get decent jobs or work inthe public sector, police tailed them everywhere and theirchildren were bullied at school. Although these victims are nowquite old, memories of these human rights abuses are still fresh.

During periods of authoritarian rule, there were also severalhuman rights abuses in the name of national security. Peoplewere dragged away by the police and tortured or murdered.Dissidents, demonstrators and many innocent people simplydisappeared and those who survived were either enlisted intothe army or were permanently disabled as a result of torture. Itwas only after Korea democratized in the late 1990s that itbegan to address this past.

In the early 2000s civil society groups began a nationwidecampaign to establish a body to deal with these issues. Workingalongside these human rights activists and the bereavedfamilies, liberal lawmakers proposed a bill to establish the Truthand Reconciliation Commission, Republic of Korea (TRCK) toexpose this hidden history and abuses of power from the time

Korea was colonized by the Japanese up to the militarydictatorship of the late 1980s.

After considerable debate the bill became law in May 2005 andthe TRCK was launched on 1 December 2005. The TRCK is runby fifteen commissioners who are appointed by the president,the parliament and the Supreme Court. It is an independentgovernmental body, and the scope of its investigations coversthe following five areas: the anti-Japanese movement during thecolonial period and the history of the Korean diaspora; themassacre of civilians after 1945; human rights abuses by thestate; incidents of dubious conviction and suspicious death; andreinvestigation of the above categories and other incidents asdetermined by the Commission.

I work as the Head of the International Cooperation Team andmy duties include publicizing our activities through our websiteand newsletter, organizing international conferences onrelevant historical issues and building connections with similarorganizations across the globe.

Since the South Korean government has never dealt with thesekind of issues before, the TRCK has been charged withaddressing some of the most sensitive and painful events intwentieth-century Korean history. Our truth-finding activitiesnot only assist in resolving the grievances of individual victims,they also function to prevent similar incidents reoccurring.However painful it may be, knowing the truth can help us build abetter society in the future. If you are interested in finding outmore about our activities, then please visit:http://www.jinsil.go.kr/english

Dr Sung-soo Kim was awarded a PhD from the University ofSheffield in 1998. He now works as Head of the InternationalCooperation Team of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,Republic of Korea.

Truth and reconciliation

Members of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on a visit to Cambodia (Dr Sung-soo Kim is on the far left).

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The seventh annual “Chinese Bridge” speech competition was heldon 15 March at the London School of Economics. The competitionprovides an opportunity for students of theChinese language to showcase their linguistictalent on a national level. The first twowinners are automatically selected toparticipate in this summer’s world“Chinese Bridge” competition in Beijing.

As reported in previous editions ofEastAsia@Sheffield, students fromSEAS have a good track record in thecompetition and this year Alex Bartonand Stefan Innerhofer, two third-yearChinese Studies students tied forthird place.

The competition is dividedinto four sections: apersonal introduction, aspeech on a self-selected topic, a quiz onChinese culture and aperformance relatedto China.

Alex and Stefan bothspoke about theirexperiences duringtheir year abroad,

the cultural differences they encountered and also the confusingand sometimes embarrassing situations these brought about. Forhis performance, Alex selected a traditional Chinese story-tellingmethod called kuaiban that involves using two flat pieces of

bamboo that produce a sharpclacking sound when clapped

together. Stefan performed adankou xiangsheng, which is atraditional Chinese comedicperformance in the form of amonologue.

Although Alex and Stefan were just shy of an opportunity

to return to China for thenext round of the

competition, theyfound it to be avaluable andchallengingexperience.

Japanese speech contest

“Chinese Bridge” competition 2008

On 2 February, twelve finalists from eight UK universitiesgathered at Imperial College in the University of London for thefinal round of the Third Japanese Speech Contest for UniversityStudents. This annual event, organized by the Japan Foundationin conjunction with the British Association for Teaching Japaneseas a Foreign Language, sees students undergo a gruellingselection process. Eventually six successful candidates arechosen to go the final, in which they make a ten-minute speechand field questions in front of an audience of 100 academics,business leaders, students, family members and friends.

Representing the University of Sheffield was Joseph Tame, a final-year Japanese Studies student. With 2008 marking the tenthanniversary of Japan’s Non-Profit Organization Law, Joseph choseto speak about the increasingly important role of non-governmental organizations in the development of Japan’s civilsociety. He illustrated his talk with examples taken from his timespent working with Oxfam Japan whilst on his year abroad atRikkyo University from 2006-7.

Competition for the first prize of a return flight to Japan, £1,000and a Japan Rail Pass was stiff and the judges commented onhow surprised they were by the high quality of all the speeches.Although he didn’t win, Joseph felt that “all the hard work paid offand getting to the final was a dream come true. When I first cameto Sheffield in 2004, I would never have believed that I could havedone something like that. Many thanks to all my tutors!”Joseph gives his speech.

l

Stefan (left)and Alex.


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As part of an initiative to expand links with European partners, staff from the School ofEast Asian Studies have been teaching at other European universities. Dr Peter Matanle(left) visited Germany, whilst Dr Hyangjin Lee (right) went to Spain.

Teaching in Europe

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“Named after the Dutch humanist Erasmus (1466-1536), andfounded more than twenty years ago, this programme enablesmore than 150,000 citizens of the European Union to study orteach in another member country every year. Its purpose is tohelp build a European identity and society amongst thepeoples of our continent by increasing academic mobility.

I travelled to Munich in May to teach for two weeks at LudwigMaximilians University, one of Germany’s leading highereducation institutions. In addition to teaching an intensivecourse on “Work and Society in Japan” to a group of higherlevel students approaching the end of their degree, I also metwith academics and learned about the university and theGerman system of higher education.

This was a good chance for me to learn about how Japan isunderstood elsewhere in Europe, and with over twenty-fivecentres of Japanese Studies, Germany is one of the leaders inthe field. The students in Munich impressed me with theirrelaxed but serious approach to their studies. Theirparticipation in class was intelligent and thoughtful, and theiroral presentations in English were excellent. On the last day ofclass we visited a Munich beer garden and I learned about thestudents’ experiences of working and studying in Japan.

I know that I will personally treasure this experience but I alsonow appreciate even more how UK universities can benefitfrom closer cooperation with other European institutions,academics and students.

“

I was lucky enough to visit the Autonomous University ofMadrid, one of the most prestigious universities in Europe,during spring in order to give a series of seminars on Koreanculture and cinema. I am interested in the different responsesamongst European countries to Asian popular culture and thisteaching opportunity in Madrid was a good chance tounderstand Spanish students’ thoughts, perceptions andcultural awareness.

My specific interest in the Spanish reception of Koreancinema goes back to 2004 when the Las Palmas de GranCanaria International Film Festival presented a retrospectiveseason of Korean films and published the first Spanish bookon Korean cinema; I was invited to write the preface. Morerecently my interests have expanded to include the emergingpopularity of Korean TV dramas amongst the Spanish-speaking populations in the world.

The students and staff who attended my seminars explainedhow they are sympathetic to the family ordeals, social turmoiland political corruption depicted in many Korean films. Theyalso appreciated the humour and comedy that exists in someextremely tense scenes. They related a lot of what they saw inKorean films to Spain under Franco and the importance ofthe family in Spanish life.

Because my interests focus on the transnational flow ofculture and identity issues, not only was my teaching inMadrid a stimulating experience that opened up many newavenues for my research and teaching, it was also a greatopportunity to understand more about Spain’s vibrantculture.

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Delving into the archThe University of Sheffield’s Library proudly contains a wealth of archival material ato East Asia. Jacky Hodgson, Head of Special Collections, introduces some of the m

The Knoop Far Easternphotographic collectionDouglas Knoop was born in 1883 and became one of the firstlecturers in the newly established Department of Economicsin the University of Sheffield in 1909. He remained inSheffield until his retirement in 1948.

During the academic year 1913-14, Knoop was elected to theAlfred Kahn Travelling Fellowship and undertook a world tour.This collection captures his travels in East Asia and totals1,400 images. It includes slides, photographs, negatives andpostcards in both colour and black and white. The subjectmatter of the images covers scenes of nature and everydayurban life, in addition to major events, such as earthquakes,across the region including Singapore, the Dutch East Indies,China, Korea, Japan and the Russian Far East.

The Department of Geography donated the collection to theLibrary in 1993 and immediately work began on establishingits origins. Dr Marjorie Dryburgh, Lecturer in the School ofEast Asian Studies, believes that “this is a very rich collection.It shows East Asia at a time of very rapid change and alsoreveals how travellers build a visual record of a journeythrough their own photographs and commercial images suchas postcards.”

The Empson documentsSir William Empson was born in Yorkshire in 1906 andeducated at Cambridge University. He first ventured to EastAsia when he was appointed Professor of English Literatureat Tokyo University of Literature and Sciences from 1931 to1934. Thereafter he was appointed Professor of English atPeking University in 1937 – a tumultuous time as theuniversity was forced by the Japanese invasion to relocatefrom Peking to Kunming.

During the Second World War he returned to the UK andworked for the BBC monitoring department withresponsibility for China. It was here that he met his futurewife Hetta, a South African artist and political activist. Afterthe war, they returned to China together with their familyand Empson was appointed Professor in Western Languagesat the National University in Peking. During this time Hettaworked as a journalist for The Observer as well as a sculptor.The family remained in Peking until the pressures of theKorean War forced them to return to the UK in 1952. Empsoncontinued his academic career and was appointed Professorof English Literature at the University of Sheffield. He died in1984 and Hetta in 1996.

The collection of documents includes correspondencebetween William and Hetta in addition to letters jointlyauthored by the two of them that describe their experiencesin China during the Communist Revolution.

An image of Peking from the Knoop collection.

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chivesal and many special collections related e most important.

The Winnington papersAlan Winnington was born in 1910 and worked for theCommunist Party of Great Britain and its newspaper TheDaily Worker. He first travelled to China in 1948, on Partyinstructions, and accompanied the People’s Liberation Armyon its march to Peking. In 1950 he moved to Korea to reporton the war then taking place there and also on its aftermath.

During that conflict Winnington alleged that the Allied forceshad used biological warfare against the Communists. In turn,he was accused of having participated in the interrogation ofBritish prisoners of war and attempting to convert them toCommunism and consequently was branded a traitor in theBritish Parliament. As a result, his passport was not reneweduntil 1968. After leaving East Asia he moved to East Berlinwhere he continued with his journalism and other writingsuntil his death in 1983.

In addition to his reportage, Winnington produced pamphletsincluding I Saw the Truth in Korea (1950), travel andanthropological research, detective stories, and anautobiography, soon to be reissued, entitled Breakfast withMao (1980).

The papers kept at the University of Sheffield cover much ofWinnington’s life in East Asia as well as in East Germany andhave been used by Professor Colin Holmes of the HistoryDepartment in his forthcoming authorized biography.

Some of the items in this collection might be subject torestricted access.

The Goddard papersBorn in 1887 in Australia, Dr William G. Goddard was amissionary, radio broadcaster and scholar who worked as anunofficial spokesperson for Chiang Kai-shek and hisNationalist Chinese government on Taiwan during the 1950sand 1960s. Whilst Goddard’s books are relatively well knownto students of modern Taiwanese history, less is understoodabout his career beyond writing.

The Library at the University of Sheffield was honoured toaccept a collection of Goddard’s papers in 2007 includingmanuscripts of unpublished books, letters, photographs,medals and honours, lectures, cuttings and Goddard’s PhDthesis. These were kindly donated by Goddard’s family inNew Zealand.

Dr Jeremy Taylor, Lecturer in Chinese Studies in the Schoolof East Asian Studies, is currently conducting research onGoddard’s career and helped in securing the collection forthe University. He believes that “Goddard’s papers shed lightnot only on the work of a fascinating individual, but also on amuch overlooked period in the political history of Taiwan and the wider Chinese-speaking world. There is an increasingacademic interest in trying to understand what motivatedcertain Western intellectuals to side with different Chinesegovernments throughout the twentieth century, andGoddard’s story is an important part of this.”

The collection includes not only many examples ofGoddard’s scholarly work, but also his graduation robe and a Chinese gown inherited by him but believed to have originally belonged to a member of the ImperialChinese government.

The Townsend papersPeter Townsend, born in 1919, became one of the UK’sleading Sinologists and friend of William Empson (seeabove). He first went to China in 1941 to assist in thedistribution of medical supplies but for most of the 1940s helived and worked in the impoverished Chinese industrialcooperatives, eventually becoming fluent in the Chineselanguage and its dialects. At the same time, he came to knowthe leaders of the Chinese Revolution such as Mao Zedongand Zhou Enlai.

With the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in1949, Townsend returned to the UK with his wife and beganediting the magazine China Monthly and published a book onthe revolution entitled China Phoenix (1955). Thereafter hebecame equally known as a leading light in the UK arts world.He died in 2006. The collection of papers at the University ofSheffield includes correspondence, typescript articles andphotographs.

Some of these archives and special collections have yet to be catalogued butanyone interested in learning more about them should in the first instance contactMs Jacky Hodgson at [email protected]

A selection of the various collections.

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Mark Boyle (MA in Advanced Japanese Studies, 2003-4)has been helping us to train our brains.

Dr Ryu_ta Kawashima is probably the

world’s most famous neuroscientist,best known as a cheerful disembodiedhead bobbing on the screen ofNintendo’s DS handheld gamesconsole. The man behind the globalBrain Training craze, Dr Kawashimaclaims that by regularly doing puzzlesthat test your verbal dexterity,arithmetic skills and memory, youcan shave years off your “brain age”and get a younger brain.

However, some members of thescientific community havequestioned whether these puzzleshave any real effect on cognitiveabilities and whether “brain age” is ameaningful concept. In response,Nintendo stress that this is first andforemost a game and cannotguarantee that it will have a beneficialeffect on users’ brains. In any case,doubts about the software’s efficacyhave not prevented it frombecoming a best-selling sensation;the two Brain Training titles hadsold eight million copies in Europeby the start of this year.

I worked on the Europeanlocalization of More Brain Training,the sequel to the original BrainTraining title. Adapting the softwarefor the European market meantbeing involved in many aspects of itsdevelopment. In addition totranslation, the more Japan-specificmini-games, such as the haikufeature, needed to be completelyreworked, and handwriting andvoice recognition had to bereworked for the European market.I even lent my vocal talents byintoning a number of everydaywords in one of the mini-games.

Playing a small part in a culturalphenomenon that has gone farbeyond the traditional gaming worldhas been rewarding. It’s certainlysatisfying to spot people engrossedin the game and visibly enjoying the

fruits of your labours. At the sametime, it was also salutary to have theshortcomings of the game’slocalization revealed on the BBC’sWatchdog programme. It wasclaimed that Nintendo had takeninsufficient care with voicerecognition for northern accents asopposed to “posh” southern ones,something that Nintendo haspromised to improve in future.

Whether Dr Kawashima plans towork on further titles is unclear atpresent. He has admirably turneddown the chance to become amillionaire many times over byrefusing royalties and instead hasused all of the profits from the

series to build a number of newlaboratories for neurologicalresearch. Even if he decides not toremain involved in video games, hehas certainly played a positive role inchanging public perceptions of them.


Japan Day 2008Organized and run by the University’s own Japan Society, Japan Day 2008took place on 23 May and once again gave people the opportunity toexperience Japanese culture at first hand. Events included live dance andmusic performances, a fashion show and the opportunity to try Japanesecalligraphy, origami and kimono.Students perform a Japanese dance known as so

_ran bushi (image courtesy of Joseph Tame).

Brain trainingand me

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Alison Watts was awarded an MA in Advanced Japanese Studies bydistance learning in January 2003. Since graduation she has put herlanguage skills to use by translating Aya Goda’s book Tao: On theRoad and on the Run in Outlaw China from Japanese to English.

Image courtesy of Portobello Books.

Tao captured my imagination before I’d even read it. Oneday in the hairdressers I happened to pick up a magazineand read an interview with the author, Aya Goda. Herstory struck a chord with me so I tracked down a copy ofthe book.

It was compelling. Goda recounted the true story of howshe had met the larger-than-life Tibet-based Chinese artist,Cao Yong, in Kashgar. She went on to help him escapefrom China after a daring exhibition in Beijing landed himin trouble with the authorities. For eight months theycriss-crossed China on a paperchase for the documentationthat would enable Cao to leave the country legally. Thebook is also partially a biography of Cao’s early life. I likedall the different angles it contained – a child’s view of theCultural Revolution, a Han perspective on Tibet and aJapanese perspective on China.

The year was 1989 and martial law had been imposed inTibet to suppress uprisings that marked the anniversaryof the Dalai Lama’s departure. This complicated thesituation for Cao and Goda. In addition, during theirjourney the Tiananmen Square protests escalated andended tragically. Tiananmen is part of history now, andthe situation in Tibet still unresolved. This translation mayhave come out long after the events described in thebook took place, but it is still a relevant reminder of thesame tensions that exist beneath China’s recentmodernization.

Tao had won the Kodansha Non-fiction Prize so I thoughtsomeone was bound to translate it before long, but notme as I was too busy with childcare and study. Over theyears I checked the Internet occasionally and found aninterview with Goda saying that the English version wasdue out soon. Meanwhile, I got on with my MA studies andchose a chapter from Tao for my last translation task.

Eventually I resumed work as a freelance translator but Ihadn’t forgotten about Tao and was still waiting for theEnglish translation. So I rang up the publisher to get thedetails, only to discover there was none. That was when Idecided to do it. As I had no idea how to get a translationpublished, I simply polished up the chapter I’d alreadydone and contacted the author through her website.Coincidentally, she was looking for a translator andrequested more sample chapters before eventually asking

me to do the job and to find a publisher. When I realizedhow difficult a task that was, I contacted an agency. Theyknew the book and immediately agreed to take it on.Once a publisher was found and the contract signed, I gotdown to work.

I was conscious of an enormous responsibility. Thesewere living people whose story I was rendering intoEnglish, and the words I chose would influence theEnglish-speaking world’s perception of them. So, the factthat critics are now taking Tao seriously as a book thatmakes a genuine contribution to the genre of travelwriting on China and Tibet is deeply satisfying.

On the road and on the run inoutlaw China

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This summer Japan will host the meeting of the Group ofEight (G8) leaders. In order to explore the participation ofJapan and the UK in this central mechanism of globalgovernance, a two-day workshop took place at theUniversity of Sheffield from 29 February to 1 March underthe aegis of the White Rose East Asia Centre and with thesupport of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, BritishAcademy, Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, GB SasakawaFoundation and Japan Foundation. Academics, governmentofficials and civil society activists from Japan and the UKdiscussed a range of issues – reform of the G8, theparticipation of civil society, Africa and climate change –from the perspectives of both countries.

Long-term observer of the G8 summits, Sir Nicholas BayneKCMG, welcomed the workshop believing that “theintellectual content was very high, but always accessible. I learnt a lot of new things and had many suspicionsconfirmed, whilst other beliefs were exploded.”

Later in March, one of Japan’s former ambassadors to theUnited Nations, Professor Kitaoka Shinichi, Professor of

Japanese political and diplomatic history at the Universityof Tokyo, presented the second White Rose Distinguishedlecture. In his lecture, which was attended by a largeaudience of staff, students and other interested parties,Professor Kitaoka offered fascinating insights into the roleof Japan in East Asian security cooperation. The event washeld in cooperation with the Japan Embassy andsponsored by the Embassy, the Japan Foundation, theChu

_bu Electric Power Company and the White Rose East

Asia Centre.

The same month, a range of leading and emerging scholarswere invited to a workshop and symposium to answer thequestion of how boundaries have been established andnegotiated in postwar Japan. The sessions dealt withboundaries at the international, regional, national, localand societal level, with scholars from Japan, NorthAmerica, South Korea as well as the UK presenting theirresearch from multidisciplinary perspectives. The eventwas sponsored by the Toshiba International Foundation,the Chu

_bu Electric Power Company and the White Rose

East Asia Centre. A book of the revised papers is plannedfor the future.

The focus shifted to China when scholars from Europe,East Asia and North America gathered in Sheffield todiscuss the practices of life writing. Participants includedProfessor Wu Peiyi, author of the first full-length study inautobiography in China, and Margaretta Jolly, editor of theEncyclopedia of Life Writing. Presentations reflectedChina’s rich and diverse traditions of self-representationby examining seventeenth-century dream records andepitaphs, political diaries and autobiographical writing, andthe websites and blogs of novelists and disability activists.The workshop was generously supported by the BritishAcademy, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation forInternational Scholarly Exchange and the White Rose EastAsia Centre.

Some of these lectures and presentations will be availableas podcasts on the webpages of the White Rose East AsiaCentre: http://www.wreac.org

Over recent months academics from across the world have come to the University of Sheffield to attend arange of international conferences, workshops and symposia on both China and Japan.

Conferences and workshops

Takaoka Masato, Minister forEconomic Affairs in theEmbassy of Japan, speaks on Japan and the G8’scontribution to aid anddevelopment in Africa.

Professor Kitaoka Shinichi alongside ProfessorRosemary Foot of Oxford University.

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New postgraduate degrees

Over the summer, the award-winning MA in AdvancedJapanese Studies by distance learning willmetamorphose into a series of new degrees, each withtheir own specialist track. October 2008 will see thelaunch of two versions of the MA, one specializing inJapanese to English translation and the other focusingon gender, diversity and citizenship. These will befollowed in April 2009 by two more new specialisttracks, namely literature, in addition to economy andsociety.

This change will allow students to focus on the aspectof Japan that fascinates them most. Each new degreewill contain core language modules, as well asspecialist, degree-specific modules which allowstudents to focus on their chosen specialism, such as“Theory of Japanese to English Translation” and“History of Modern Japanese Literature.” The “classic”MA in Advanced Japanese Studies will remain availablefor those who prefer the freedom to take a broad rangeof topics.

The delivery of the degrees will also undergo a change.New technologies such as “Wimba Classroom” arecurrently being trialled and increased use of theUniversity portal, My Online Learning Environment,will be employed to invigorate the learning experienceand enhance interaction.

Dr Thomas McAuley is heading up the development ofthese new degrees: “For some time we have felt thatwe’d like to offer students the opportunity to studytopics in greater depth. With these new degrees,people all over the world will be able to join ourdistance learning community and enjoy the benefits of

doing a demanding postgraduate programme fromtheir own homes. The new technologies will allow us tokeep in regular audio and video contact with eachother, and replicate the classroom experience online.”

Elsewhere within the University of Sheffield, SEAS isalso currently cooperating with the ManagementSchool in the delivery of a new MSc in InternationalManagement.

Different countries have different ways of doingbusiness and that is what “international management”in the strict sense is all about. Expanding acrossfrontiers and becoming a multinational enterpriseinvolves challenges and requires competences that aredifferent from domestic business. That’s also what“international business” is about.

Building on the Management School’s expertise in thegeneric aspects of international management andbusiness, this degree programme also focuses on thespecifics of the major business regions of the world:the English-speaking world, Europe and East Asia. EastAsia is recognized as the most dynamic region and themost challenging in terms of opportunities andthreats.

This degree programme takes full advantage of thestrengths of SEAS staff in Chinese, Japanese andKorean business as well as region-wide specialisms.Professor Andrew Tylecote, who oversees theEuropean business element of the programme, believesthat “this degree provides exactly what aspiringmanagers need to know in order to conductinternational business successfully.”

SEAS is expanding the range of choice available to postgraduate students and the depth to whichthey study by launching new versions of its successful distance learning MA in Advanced JapaneseStudies and cooperating with the Management School in the provision of a new degree, the MSc inInternational Management.

Dr Thomas McAuleyintroduces studentsto the distancelearning programme.

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““

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Trotting the globe“

“Mark Bentley(MSc in East Asian Business,2003-4)

I’d wanted to work in a university as aninternational officer for some time andwas encouraged when I heard that myfriend Adrian Thomas was doing justthat. I met up with him a couple oftimes when he visited Seoul on businessand he gave me some pointers.

Soon after that SungkyunkwanUniversity (SKKU), Korea’s oldestuniversity and my wife’s alma mater,advertized for an international officer.They had signed a partnershipagreement with Sheffield, which hadbeen negotiated through ProfessorJames Grayson in SEAS, and werelooking for somebody to handle theexchanges for both the incoming andoutgoing students. I was successfullyinterviewed and last September wesent the first two exchange students toSheffield.

It’s interesting to be able to work withstudents and universities from allaround the world and I’m learning a lotabout different cultures. I’m stilllearning about Korean culture as well,especially the strong work and playethic. My aim is to strengthen thepartnership between Sheffield andSKKU and attract more students to thecourses, Korean language programmesand new summer school here.

A number of graduates from the School of East Asian Studies haveestablished careers as international officers promoting UK universities,such as Sheffield, across the world and especially in East Asia.

Adrian Thomas (MA in Advanced JapaneseStudies, 2003-4)

My role at Lancaster University isprimarily about marketing and figuringout ways to ensure that internationalstudents keep coming to the university.Like Sheffield, and most other Britishuniversities in fact, Lancaster regardsinternational students as making anextremely important contribution touniversity life, and East Asia is by farthe largest source of them.

The job requires up to three months oftravel around the region each year andcan get pretty taxing. However, so far ithas been really stimulating and thepeople I meet and work with are allinteresting and positive people.

For me, the job provides a goodbalance between the UK and Asia and acareer that involves travelling andmarketing in Asia is pretty much whereI hoped I would end up. I also make alot of use of the knowledge of theregion I acquired at Sheffield whilstlearning about Japan. I love being ableto get an overview of the whole regionand not having to immerse myself toomuch in just one country.

Hannah Lilley(BA in Chinese Studies, 2004)

I have been working as an InternationalOfficer at the University of Sheffieldfor almost a year now, and canhonestly say that no two days havebeen the same.

I am lucky enough to cover Taiwan andsub-Saharan Africa, which makes foran extremely interesting and variedworkload. I spend up to three monthseach year overseas and this can involveanything from attending educationexhibitions and one-to-one counsellingsessions with prospective applicants,to giving presentations and arrangingAlumni events. Of course, havingstudied here myself, it gives me a greatexcuse to talk about Sheffield!

When I am back in the office the focusis on making sure that all theapplicants I’ve met overseas actuallymake it to Sheffield. There are so manyhurdles for them to negotiate, such asvisa applications, that it is a greatfeeling when September comes andthey all finally arrive.

Although we generally speak tostudents in English, I always find anexcuse to use a few words of Chinesewhen I’m in Taiwan. It never fails toraise a smile, albeit a polite one!

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Cathy: Claudia, I first saw your smiling face inEastAsia@Sheffield [Number 13]. I’d just finishedproducing a book on contemporary Japanese artand was looking round for a follow-up. I knewthat interest in Chinese contemporary art wason the rise and when I read about your job at798 Space, China’s leading arts venue, I decidedto ask if you’d like to write a book.

Claudia: Although we both hadearned degrees from the University ofSheffield, we had never met so yourproposal arrived out of the blue butjust at the right time. I must admitthat the thought of taking on a bigproject like this was a bit scary, but Ifelt ready for the challenge.

Cathy: What worried you?

Claudia: A simple lack of confidence,which I soon overcame. You explained that thebook would be a resource for art lovers and alsoa portrait of a country in transition. I realizedthat this was a great chance to share myamazement at the whirlwind changes happeningin this country and to meet the artists – the“avatars and antiheroes” – behind thesechanges.

Cathy: How did you manage to get some of thebiggest names in Chinese art today to appear inthe book?

Claudia: First, I emailed them. Answers wereslow in coming so I then phoned them andeveryone I spoke to was interested in the project.Rather than a formal interview, I simply chatted

to them about art in general and theartists were happy to express theirideas. Now, let me ask you a question.We met through the pages ofEastAsia@Sheffield so was it difficultdealing with a writer only via emailand the phone?

Cathy: Of all the books I’ve produced,this was the smoothest. You got theartists to cooperate and all thedeadlines were met. It is amazing thattwo people who have never met could

make a book together.

Claudia: Well, we did it and Avatars andAntiheroes is now published. I hope one day youand I will meet and that you will get the chanceto know some of these avatars and antiheroes.

Two SEAS graduates – Cathy Layne (left, MA in Advanced Japanese Studies by distance

learning, 2002) and Claudia Albertini (right, MA in Advanced Chinese Studies, 2004) were

brought together by similar interests to work togetheron the publication of a new book on contemporary

Chinese art, Avatars and Antiheroes. They tellEastAsia@Sheffield about their collaboration.

Publishing undergraduate researchCongratulations to Harriet Gray (BA in Japanese Studies, 2007) who has just published her first article in the online journal,Reinvention: A Journal of Undergraduate Research. This journal is produced biannually by the Reinvention Centre forUndergraduate Research, which is a collaborative Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning based at the University ofWarwick and Oxford Brookes University. It is available at: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/research/cetl/ejournal

The title of the article is “Rape and Sexual Assault in Japan: Potential Gender Bias in Pre-Trial Procedures” and is based onHarriet’s final-year dissertation, which was awarded a first-class mark. Harriet is currently studying for a postgraduate degreeat the University of London.

““Avatars and antiheroes

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East Asian Studies degrees The School of East Asian Studies offers a wide range of single anddual honours degrees, as well as postgraduate taught and researchdegrees. For further information, contact [email protected], orsee the School’s webpages: http://www.shef.ac.uk/seas

School of East Asian StudiesThe University of SheffieldWestern Bank, SheffieldS10 2TN, UK

Tel: +44 (0) 114 222 8437Email: [email protected]

is published by the School of East AsianStudies at the University of Sheffield.

Enquiries to:Dr Hugo Dobson Editor

EASTASIA@SHEFFIELD

EASTASIA@SHEFFIELD

Copyright © 2008 The University of Sheffield

Design and Print: Northend Creative Print Solutions, Sheffield

BA degrees

Most degrees involve four years of study.Those marked with an asterisk take threeyears.

Single honoursChinese StudiesJapanese StudiesKorean StudiesEast Asian Studies*

Dual honoursChinese Studies and/History,Management, MusicChinese Studies with/French, German,Japanese, Russian, SpanishJapanese Studies and/History, Linguistics,Management, Politics, SociologyJapanese Studies with/German, Russian,SpanishFrench/Germanic/Hispanic/RussianStudies with JapaneseKorean Studies and/Linguistics,Management, MusicKorean Studies with JapaneseEast Asian Studies and/Management,Music, Russian Studies*International Politics and East AsianStudies*

Postgraduate taught degrees

In-houseMA/Diploma/Certificate in ChineseStudiesMSc/Diploma/Certificate in ChineseBusiness and International RelationsMSc/Diploma/Certificate in ChineseLanguage, Business and InternationalRelationsMA/Diploma/Certificate in JapaneseStudiesMA/Diploma/Certificate in AdvancedJapanese StudiesMA/Diploma/Certificate in AdvancedJapanese Studies (Research Methods)MA/Diploma/Certificate in ModernKorean StudiesMSc/Diploma/Certificate in East AsianPolitical EconomyMSc/Diploma/Certificate in East AsianBusiness

Distance learningMA/Diploma in Japanese Language andSocietyMA in Advanced Japanese StudiesMA in Advanced Japanese Studies(Japanese to English Translation)MA in Advanced Japanese Studies(Gender, Diversity and Citizenship)MSc in Chinese Business and InternationalRelationsMSc/Diploma in Chinese Language,Business and International Relations

Postgraduate research degrees

PhD supervision is available in a wide range of subject areas on China, Japan, Korea andintra-regional studies. In addition, a number of scholarships are available through the WhiteRose East Asia Centre.

The University of Sheffield was deeplysaddened to hear of the seriousearthquake that recently hit China killing more than 60,000 and leaving over five million people homeless. Ourcondolences go to all those affected by this tragic event.

In response, students from the ChineseSociety and the Chinese Students andScholars Association, supported by otherstudents, the Union of Students andacademic departments, raised over£10,000 in donations in a few days. The money raised will support the vitalemergency relief work carried out by the British Red Cross.

The Red Cross China Earthquake Appealhas communicated its thanks “to allUniversity of Sheffield staff and studentsconnected with the fantastic fundraisingeffort. To mobilize such a strong team ofenthusiastic volunteers in such a shortspace of time was a brilliant achievementbut to raise so much money wasoutstanding!”

Anyone wishing to donate to the ChineseEarthquake Appeal can do so online at:http://www.redcross.org.uk/donatesection.asp?id=77029

Sheffield students raising money for the British Red Cross.

Chineseearthquakeappeal

Farewell to SEASBoth staff and students were saddened to say goodbye to Jenny Leech, whoretired at the end of April. Jenny first came to work as part of the secretarial teamin the SEAS main office in 1996 and since then has been a friendly face in the mainoffice dispensing support and advice to generations of SEAS students. Although shewill be sorely missed, everybody in SEAS wishes Jenny the happiest of retirements.

Jenny Leech (second from right) with the SEAS secretarial team (image courtesy of Joseph Tame).

J24571_EastAsia 5/6/08 13:02

issn 1472-6653 june 2008 number 16 bringing japan …/file/...bringing japan into the classroom a...

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