I really work hard to initiate, nurture, develop and maintain a relationship with students. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But I am tickled if my former students remember me, even for silly reasons. I often refer to myself as Onigiriman--onigiri means rice ball. I am, I think, soft and mushy on the outside and easy to eat, but ultimately hard to swallow, as I ask student to do what I say if they expect a good grade in my class. For better or for worse, they do remember my as Onigiriman, as post on my facebook page reveal.
Lynn wrote: "
This, of course, reminded me of you, sensei."
And Hannah wrote: "This reminded me of you!"
Oh well, I guess I'll take anything...
Today was 2016 Research Days at GW. Students were selected to exhibit a poster representing their research. Research Days is heavy with hard science and social science heavy and there were only a handful of humanities students. But among them was our very own Japanese major, Alicia Taylor who is researching Japanese TV ads and how they are effective. Way to represent. And I love supporting our major!
Alicia is using the critical approach of Roland Barthes' Mythologies to break down the effectiveness of a Pokari Sweat television commercial, and the ineffectiveness of a yakisoba ad starring Nagase Tomoya. Barthes approach builds on Ferdinand de Saussure's theory of sign (signifier and signified) and demonstrates the effective association that can be manufactured between multiple images and emotions to build a message that feels "natural", effectively building a "myth". Can you see the "myth" in the Pokari Sweat ad with images of high school baseball players pursuing their dream of reaching Kōshien through hard work and "sweat"? Or how about the colors of the uniforms--school and baseball--and other items that reflect the Pocari Sweat image? Anyway, I look forward to reading her final research submission.
