This thesis examines the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale (ETAT) and the Setouchi Triennale (ST), two of the largest and best-known Art Triennale in (and outside) Japan, and considers how these art...Show moreThis thesis examines the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale (ETAT) and the Setouchi Triennale (ST), two of the largest and best-known Art Triennale in (and outside) Japan, and considers how these art festivals intend to provide a solution to the continuing ageing population and declining birthrate in Japanese rural areas. Japan contains the largest proportion of elderly people in the world and its population continues to decline since 2004. Yet, this decrease is especially severe in rural areas because the majority of the population consist of elderly people. The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale (ETAT) and the Setouchi Triennale (ST), have been established as strategies to tackle Japan’s increasingly ageing population. The former was established by Kitagawa Fram (1946-present) whereas the latter was co-founded in 2010 by Kitagawa Fram and Fukutake Sōichirō (1945/46-present). The common aim of the ETAT and ST initially seems to be the restoration of these economically declining rural areas through contemporary art projects. Yet, this thesis claims that Kitagawa’s and Fukutake’s idealistic views about the countryside and ‘traditional’ countryside lifestyles resulted into their attempt to reshape Japanese society by reidentifying neglected rural areas through contemporary art. This is because both men’s strong partnership and their active involvement in both Triennale shape these art festivals according to their own convictions and objectives. Therefore, this thesis demonstrates that the ETAT and ST’s purpose exceeds rural revitalization and is actually about the creation of a ‘new’ society which is brought together by the art festivals.Show less
This thesis argues that the notion of a samurai film genre is actually an Anglophone construct that is used to classify Japanese films from the 'jidaigeki' (period film) and 'chambara' (swordplay)...Show moreThis thesis argues that the notion of a samurai film genre is actually an Anglophone construct that is used to classify Japanese films from the 'jidaigeki' (period film) and 'chambara' (swordplay) genres. Because of the political situation during the Cold War and the orientalist perspective of Western audiences, Western cultural conventions that would eventually create the samurai film genre were thought of as Japanese cultural conventions based on Japanese cultural tradition. Kurosawa Akira's 'samurai films', which were the first to be shown in the West and also the most widely exported outside Japan, have become representative of this genre, despite the fact that Kurosawa’s jidaigeki films often do not follow the cultural conventions that is believed to be the samurai film genre.Show less
With the drastic shift started by the Meiji Revolution in 1868 and the opening of Japan’s borders also came a need to create a national Japanese identity, and one of several ways to achieve this...Show moreWith the drastic shift started by the Meiji Revolution in 1868 and the opening of Japan’s borders also came a need to create a national Japanese identity, and one of several ways to achieve this was to create a standardised national language. Ueda Kazutoshi stood at the forefront of this movement, advocating for the conceptualisation of kokugo, the national language, and in turn educational reforms which would implement this national language for the improvement and modernisation of the Japanese empire. In the book, Kokugo no tame, he goes into further detail on how to achieve this. This thesis looks at how idealistic and influenced by nationalism Ueda’s Kokugo no tame is by reading, interpreting and finally reflecting on his writings found in the book, as there is discourse on its abstract nature and its achievability. This thesis finds that Ueda’s writings were heavily influenced by the new social context of Meiji Japan and its recent victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, and that with the limitations that nationalism and racialisation bring, it also put limits on the feasibility of Ueda’s envisioned kokugo. While achievable in some ways with concrete ideas on how to implement kokugo, and indeed Ueda’s writings did set up the foundation of language standardisation, it is also the caveats made by Ueda on how kokugo should be educated under nationalist terms which made it more difficult to bring it to fruition according to Ueda’s ways.Show less
This thesis investigates how Chinese exchange students have come to experience Dutch society during their time in the Netherlands in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, this thesis...Show moreThis thesis investigates how Chinese exchange students have come to experience Dutch society during their time in the Netherlands in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, this thesis also investigates how this experience abroad has made Chinese exchange students reflect on their own national identity.Show less
