Meredith Burns

My name is Meredith Burns. I am a junior and a transfer student.  My area of study concentrates on women, the Middle East, Islamic cultures and Arabic.  In order to keep all my options open, I took this class as a way to expand my horizons on unfamiliar cultures.  I have no experience whatsoever in Japan, anime, Japanese language, manga, or anything else Japanese.  My version of Japan is a mix of admiring the beauty of kimonos, being impressed by the level of ritual in everyday life, devouring sushi and puzzling over business men doing karaoke with their bosses.  I wanted to see what other people think is so fascinating.  I thought there would be more game shows, horseradish ice cream, and cat ears.  I wanted my preconceived notions either confirmed or dispelled.

In my future endeavors I hope to work with many different cultures across the globe and having a basic knowledge of  the theory of Japanese pop culture and soft power is a start.