Why I Chose to Study Japanese
I chose to study Japanese because I work on modern Chinese literature. Writing in Japanese is very important to the history of modern Chinese literature, both in terms of primary and secondary sources. I am especially interested in the early 20th century, so it is especially important. Because I work as a curator, I also am very interested in East Asian contemporary art. 1960's Japanese contemporary art was very avant-garde; in fact, the title of the blog is based on an article by the conceptual artist Akasegawa Genpei 赤瀬源平 called "The Objet After Stalin" that I found fascinating.
I have found learning Japanese not as challenging as I thought, because the classes are very well-structured and frequent. However, I find it difficult to remember certain sentence patterns, particularly when speaking. For some reason, when speaking I often forget to use particles, especially the one that seems simplest of them all: the question marker ka (か). I hope to practice more and watch more Japanese media, which I think would help.
I am most excited about being able to better understand the work of certain Japanese filmmakers, like Oshima Nagisa, Matsumoto Toshio, Wakamatsu Kōji, and Adachi Masao. I also want to learn more about artists like Aki Suzuki, Yoko Ono, Shigeko Kubota, and Atsuko Tanaka. And I would also like to read certain authors, such as Yokomitsu Riichi, Kawabata Yasunari and Go Dakuryuu. I also like to play more go.
I have found learning Japanese not as challenging as I thought, because the classes are very well-structured and frequent. However, I find it difficult to remember certain sentence patterns, particularly when speaking. For some reason, when speaking I often forget to use particles, especially the one that seems simplest of them all: the question marker ka (か). I hope to practice more and watch more Japanese media, which I think would help.
I am most excited about being able to better understand the work of certain Japanese filmmakers, like Oshima Nagisa, Matsumoto Toshio, Wakamatsu Kōji, and Adachi Masao. I also want to learn more about artists like Aki Suzuki, Yoko Ono, Shigeko Kubota, and Atsuko Tanaka. And I would also like to read certain authors, such as Yokomitsu Riichi, Kawabata Yasunari and Go Dakuryuu. I also like to play more go.
I have only recently realized how important and intertwined Japanese and Chinese language are. I finished reading excerpts of the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagan, from the 1000's, in one of my classes and there was a particular line that described how the dialect of men and women differed because scholarly men wrote in Chinese while the women of Japan were not as familiar with the Chinese language because they raised children for the most part. Therefore, men tended to intertwine more Chinese words into their vocabulary than the Japanese women. Also, in reference to art and music from Japan, I would suggest looking into artists Cornelius and Toshiko Akiyoshi. They're drastically different (Cornelius is an experimental artist from the 90's and Toshiko Akiyoshi is a female jazz pianist from the 50's) but I really enjoy both.
ReplyDeleteわたしは秋吉敏子をグーグルでさがします！そしてかのじょのおんがくをききます。にほんのジャズはすてきですね！
DeleteI study art history and am very interested in contemporary art, but I haven't looked much into that of Japan. I would very much like to learn about it. Also, I am a fan of the Japanese Nobel Prize Laureate, Kazuo Ishiguro. I've read his "Never Let Me Go" and "Artist in the Floating World". I look forward to hearing your opinion on these and on Japanese literature in general.
ReplyDeleteいしぐろさんはイギリスじんですね？わたしわかれのほんはじめましたが、ちょっとたいくつなほんでした。とてもおそいです！
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ReplyDeleteI just started in on my Art History major and haven't gotten around to taking any East Asian courses yet, but I hear they're significantly harder than a lot of other regions, so I'm nervous. However, I'm also super excited to learn more about the works of Yoko Ono and Atsuko Tanaka.
ReplyDeleteおはいようございます！洋子小野はとても重要なアーティスト。ジョン・レノンはつまらない人、大変ですね。
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