Paper instructions:
Length:
question number 1 and 2. no more than 1½ pages (typed, double-space)
question3: no more than 2 pages (typed, double-spaced)

1.What does the story of Joji Obara that Parry tells illustrate about 1) Japan’s court system, 2) outsider/marginal individuals in Japan and 3) the relations between hostesses and customers.

Parry, People Who Eat Darkness, pp. 3-19, 62-89, 129-132, 189-191, 192-224, 227-228, 232-235, 252-256, 259-262, 268, 270-275, 297-305, 315-318, 322-331, 390-392, 408 (top of page)-410 (top of page), 426-427

2. Describe the situations of 1) the “lost generation” described by Directo and 2) the members of the “stressed society” described by Vickery and explain how, respectively, these are the result of Japan’s post-Bubble recession.

Nathan Directo, “Animating the Lost Generation: Understanding Japanese Youth Problems through Popular Culture”

George Kendall Vickery, “A Cold of the Heart: Japan Strives to Normalize Depression” http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/10059/1/VickeryDiss05.pdf pp. 1-5, 9-22, 116-133, 134-145, 157-158, 171-173, 182-185, 189-196, 201-204, 297-303

3. With Directo’s paper as a model, analyze the following episodes of “Welcome to the N-H-K” as evidence to support (or refute) points made by Ozawa-daSilva and Vickery and in class. A small portion of your essay my be devoted to a comparison with the “suicide” episode of “Paranoia Agent” [Note: Do not spend space and time summarizing the plot.]