if i say it twice it’s like the chinese pandas which are always given the same name twice because apparently for pandas it’s a sign of reverence and not stupidity. but for me, even with my vague connection thru chinese storytelling, really i’m just still stupid. dammit. why am i even still awake? (shut up, i know it’s only 10.) look at that i’m a belligerent tired person. heh.
so. there’s this thing called the miki scholarship which my alma mater gives out to people who want to go and study in japan for 9-12 months on any subject, with any sort of directional help that can be imagined and gotten, and with a stipend of what it would cost to attend UPS for the year. the trick is to 1)come up with something good and 2)apply. because no one applies. no one. it’s fucking amazing. my senior year they were holding applications and they were lowering the standards and encouraging almost anyone to apply. did i apply? no. but i am thinking about applying now. it’s my last chance to apply (you can only do it up to three years out of school, and since it’s only an every other year thing, this is my last chance.) the thing is…i want to go to grad school. i do. but i also want to go to japan. and i also want to study something. and i want money. and i want…i want lots of things right. but let’s be honest here, if i can come up with something really fucking good, and go to japan and complete an amazing research article, than my chances of getting into a good grad school are theoretically going to be exponentially increased, right? admittedly i don’t think it will be that hard in the first place to get into the schools i was going to apply for. you only need a 2.0 for sfstate. and the university of london doesn’t seem like the toughest nut to crack, or the only monkey in the barrel with an eyepatch and a cutlass. so i shouldn’t have that many obstacles facing me. but still….japan…with money…and the support of the miki foundation (sizeable monetary and political backing)….
the reason i am writing about this at all is because i think i came up with a relatively good idea and i was going to ask for opinions. canvas my readers as it were, garner the poll. ahem.
you can do research in conjunction with the shikoku university in tokushima, which has a literature department with japanese lit studies and english lit studies. and what i was thinking was that i could gain access to some classrooms in order to see what the difference is in the two programs/how the lit stacks up against one another/what texts are considered the most important. in order to compare that against whether or not there has been a change(/how big the change is) since the american occupation of japan since the 40’s. specifically though, i want to look into the propaganda writings pre-war and post-war aimed at children. because some of the stuff that i have read that was written pre-war is amazing. but then some of the stuff written post-war, in particular i am thinking of a tract leaflet handed out to visiting school children at this one temple in hiroshima that talks about the graves of the soldiers, women, and children (i wish i had it in front of me right now) is equally amazing. and i’m really more interested in the children’s perspective on the war advocacy movement in conjunction with the post-war defeat-debris sweeping under the rug movement, while also being clear to look at both sides putting forth “informational” literature and what exactly each one is saying or what they are not saying. but i could tie it in with the university teachings and work, perhaps, under the tutelage/with the help of a professor. while also maybe visiting some elementary schools and the temples and such-like.
eh? mind you, obviously i would say it better than that. with more big words. and real words. and an impressive preliminary bibliography. and with the proper things capitalized.
dood. that is an awesome idea. I would totally give you a lot of money to tell me about that idea. (this is in a theoretical sense mind you. I’m not actually going to give you money.)
but let me stress, AWESOME idea.
what a great idea. you should absolutely submit that shit!
yeah, and how pok-e-mon is the new propaganda…
yeah, study that shit. and eat fuji apples too.
I vote for going to Japan. We would all miss you terribly, but you’d be laughing all the way to the bank. Or possibly laughing all the way to the northern prefectures, where you’d spend every day petting silly little monkeys that sit in hot springs.
speaking of asia, I was looking at a murder mystery game relating to china, and the review said:
“Unfortunately, this game is full of embarrassing, clich�d mispronunciations of words–“retter” for “letter” and “roughry for “roughly”–and the actual utterance of “Ah So” in an appalling Kato delivery. But if one can forgive these crimes, it is…very satisfying…”
ah yes. ‘it’s a fun game, if you don’t mind racism.’
hee hee, kind of like 1000 blank white cards…
you said “pole.”
japan?
more like ja-MAN!
hee.
jacob: it’s actually in the south west of japan. down at the bottom. soooo…not quite the same as the monkeys and the hot springs in hokkaido. but still fucking cool with the 88 temples “founded” by kobo daishi (implausibility debate).
would that be the murder mystery game, “hoo hung woo?” or something like that? i want to play the teen ones with the vampires and the hollywood rich kids. snort!
it would, in fact, be hoo hung woo. heh.
vampires! yeah! cool! i was gonna buy the chicago one but vampires sounds better. i am lying low until my check comes in though and i can assess the xmas damage.
the thing about the vampires one is that since it is for teenagers, no one actually has died. they’re just being turned into vampires. because teenagers are fragile, you know. and they don’t know about death. but vampiric bats are ok.
sorry, there are no japanese vampires.
it is strictly forbidden.
your life would be in danger…
better stick with the other idea.
you remember, the war propoganda and its effects on future generations idea? question is… can you remain detached? wouldn’t you already be swayed by our own propoganda? marc may be on to something… the pok-e-mon thing. remember how kids were having seizures from watching it when it first came out? hmmm… media terrorism. i think i’m becoming engulfed in paranoia…. aaaahhhh! ninja turtles are coming for us because of what we flush down our toilets!!! RUN, RUN!!!
i think my complete lack of news knowledge and my CA public school history-lack-of lessons will stand me in good stead here.
and also. how do you account for all the graphic japanese representations of vampires then? admittedly this could be a western influence.
don’t they have a vampire which can turn into a cloud and eats your soul? starts with a G? from old stories, older than western influence.
unless mercedes lackey made it all up…
ooo oooo no there is something there. uh…crap…there’s this thing in tale of gengi…and….well ok but those are just dead people who have super unsettled ghosts….umm…..but they look like vampires….uh….hmmm…… i dunno if you can really trust mercedes lackey for info. there is vampire princess miyu though. which is an anime show/comic. but that’s new see. new. but what does it matter because my research idea had nothing to do with vampires. NOTHING.
I say go for it. The research idea sounds great. And you can talk about how it’s a timely issue because of the US led propaganda campaigns that are going on in Afghanistan and Iraq right now. I’m sure you could connect the leaflet drops to children if you wanted to make some point about having a historical perspective. I dunno, just a thought. Would you apply for the fellowship AND to grad schools… and then see who loves you best?
yes.
I hope you win! That’s a great idea.