‘An Elementary Reader for Citizens’ (國民小學讀本)
At my own blog I’ve been writing a series of posts about some interesting old Korean books I’ve come across in the library of the School of Oriental and African...
Category: Books and Articles
Berry on Early Modern Information
I admit that I’m a great admirer of Berry, but this is going to be fun. My own thoughts about Early modern Japan as an intellectual renaissance are going ...
Seasonal treat for Koreanists
It has been brought to my attention that historians of premodern Korea have a very special Christmas treat in the form of the annals of the Chosŏn Dynasty (Chos...
Demands of the Tonghak Rebels
Some fifteen years ago in a Journal of Korean Studies article entitled “The Conservative Character of the 1894 Tonghak Peasant Uprising” Lew Young I...
Takeuchi Yoshimi on E. H. Norman
It is a fairly rare thing to see Japanese public intellectuals pour praise on the work of historians of Japan who are active outside of Japan. It is heartening,...
Cinema, nationalism, and nostalgia
I have just finished reading a new book on Korean cinema (New Korean Cinema, New York: NYU Press, 2005, edited by Chi-Yun Shin and Julian Springer). It was a sa...
Finding Korean journal articles online
Following up on Owen’s very useful posts, I’ll write a few words on finding Korean journals online. I have used the RISS site a lot and they do have...
Western Perceptions of Koreans: Part V – The Korean Mind and other Characteristics
Before diving into some descriptions of the Korean mind and personality in the readings considered in this series of postings (Part I begins here), let me make ...
Finding Korean journal articles online
One of the most difficult and frustrating aspects of studying Korean history while outside of Korea must be getting hold of the most up to date research in Kore...
Western Perceptions of Koreans: Part IV – Women
As one might expect, descriptions of Korean women in the writings by Western visitors that I have looked at tend to be completely dominated by the theme of pity...
Early Western Perceptions of Koreans: Part III – Of Labor and Laziness
Western visitors to late 19th century and colonial Korea often write about the Korean worker’s laziness, or at least a profound indifference to their labo...
Early Western Perceptions of Koreans: Part II – Education and the Yangban Class
Western visitors to Korea are struck by the idleness and corruption of the Yangban class. While many of them live in considerable poverty at this point, and the...
Early Western Perceptions of Koreans: Part I – Introduction
What did visitors to late Chosŏn and colonial Korea have to say about the people and society they found there? When seen through the lens of imperialism and all...
Some Differing Approaches
I have been reading through a collection of books about the road to Japan’s annexation of Korea, mostly somewhat dry political history for my tastes. It i...
Jazz in Japan
Michael Molasky, who teaches at University of Minnesota and has published on Okinawa literature (this and this), has recently released a book in Japanese on the...