Satou-san was very connected in the local music scene and would often take me to various live folk music events going on. It was a wonderful experience, participating in a musical culture that I was familiar with but had only ever read about in academic papers while simultaneously recognizing that my Japanese had progressed enough …
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Music and Pop Culture
The Cafe by the Music Shop
When I lived in Kyoto while studying abroad in the spring semester of my Junior year, I frequented a little cafe near my host family’s apartment. I found it on Google maps (as I found most restaurants in Japan) and was immediately intrigued by the cozy atmosphere. So one day I made the 15 minute …
The connection between Music and Culture
During my time at Wesleyan, I’ve been a part of 2 ensembles, the Chinese music ensemble and the introductory Korean drumming ensemble. These are experiences that I could have never had without Wesleyan and the incredible resources the music department has in sponsoring programs that go beyond the borders of typical western cannon that you …
As History Repeats Itself
Another essay I wrote for my global coursework centered on Japanese popular music, I analyze how the repetition of musical history shows that society’s underlying structural frameworks can be more static than they first appear. This class taught me much of what I know about post WWII Japanese musical history and how it is closely …
The Evolving “Japanese Woman”
During my sophomore year I took an interesting class examining Japanese popular music and its evolution since WWII. During the class I analyzed the pervasive concept of the “Japanese Woman” and her portrayal through music, noting how how it has evolved from WWII Gunka (war music) to the popular “boogie-woogie” musical style of the 1950s. …
Enka and the National Imagenings of Japan
When looking at musical studies, I’m particularly interested in a Japanese genre called Enka. Enka was made in the 1970s/80s yet imitates traditionally through the use of traditional instruments and vocal techniques. In reality it’s a mixture of the modern and traditional, but it is consumed as authentic traditionality. In my SP23 class, ‘Pop Music …
Enka, Schlager, and Nationalism
During my FA23 class, ‘Losers of WWII,’ students wrote a research paper comparing Germany and Japan on a topic of their interest. We were instructed to find a way Germany and Japan were different, and then explore possible reasons for this difference. I decided to write about music, and this blog post is a collection …
Chinese Music Ensemble Final Concert FA2023
This semester I decided to take the plunge and do something I’ve been wanting to do since freshman year but was always too nervous for—joining the Chinese music ensemble. A pianist of 6 years, I’ve always loved music. And in particular I was really drawn to one instrument in particular—the Erhu. It’s a 2 stringed …
Lippi-Green Reflection
I find this particular avenue of research really fascinating. Especially looking at a company like disney, which (when looking at old movies) can quickly become incredibly problematic. And yet a lot of the problematic movies are ones I love—the emperor’s new groove is one of my favorite movies, and yet there’s no doubt it trivializes …
Miyazaki and Writing the Everyday
The Magic of Miyazaki With the exception of the pseudo-autobiographical film The Wind Rises, Miyazaki’s stories aren’t grounded in reality the same way Ethnography is. Despite this they utilize similar methodologies of depicting a person’s story as proposed by Abu Lughod—writing against culture. Lughod suggests that writing against culture, or writing the everyday, can disturb …
