Senior Seminar

The topic of my senior seminar is Culture in Media, and draws on cultural studies and the students’ background in international studies. Through analyzing entertainment, social media, commercial, and other sources, students learn to write papers on their own discoveries while grounding them in published research.

Two of my own papers on this topic serve as models:

• Kitano, M. (2014, March). Gender and Violence in The Hunger Games and Battle Royale. Shonan Journal, 5, 1-14.
• Kitano, M. (2017, March 1). Hiding Atrocity behind Violence: The Replacement of War Crimes with
  Formulaic Hollywood Violence: Pacific War Prisoner of War Films 1950 to 2015. In 文教大学国際学部叢書編集委員会 (Ed.), 世界と未来への架橋 (pp. 673-711). 創成社.
  PDFダウンロード

Student Theses

2023

• Changes in Minority Representation in Spider-Man Movies (Hiroki Sakurai)
• Changes in Gender Representation over the 40-year History of Star Wars (Aoi Kubota)
• Difference in Perception of Bullying between Japan and the U.S. (Yuta Enohara)
• Comparison of Bullying in Three Countries Through Media (Yining Chang)

2022

• Strength in War through Film: A Comparison of Japanese and American Views (Chiaki Kondo)
• Social Issues in Japanese and American Music Documentaries (Haruna Suzuki)

2021

• A Cultural Comparison of Japanese Fairy Tales and Grimms’ Fairy Tales (Yumino Shimada)
• A Comparison of Animated and Live Action Disney Movies (Mayu Kubota)
• Cultural Differences between Japan and America as Seen in Video Games (Yang Yang)

2020

• The Quiet American and Changing American Views on Involvement in Vietnam (HuangziJing)
• A Comparison of Professional Baseball in Japan and America (Satoshi Taguchi)
• Differences in Professional Basketball Games between Japan and America (Keitaro Murakami)
• Women in Indian and American Movies (Takumi Sato)

2019

• Japanese and English Children’s Books (Yukina Arai)
• The Differences between Japanese Horror Movies and American Horror Movies (Tomoyuki Kamiyama)
• The Differences between Japanese and American Prisons through Dramas (Satoshi Fukuhara)
• Cultural Differences between Hong Kong, Japan and America through Media (Ng Tan Tan)
• A Comparison of Japanese and American Horror Movies (Yujiro Yokoe)
• The Roles of Fathers and Mothers in Ghibli Movies (Sayeon An)
• Gender Equality in American LGBT Movies (Nguyen Kha Nhi)
• Characters that Represent the Era (Manami Sato)
• The Depiction of Japanese in American Movies (Yohei Terashima)

2018

• The Change in the Image of Women, as Seen in Disney Princess Movies (Saori Kobayashi)
• Director Identity and Diversity in Movies (Yuri Shimada)
• Working Attitudes and Styles Differences of Americans and Japanese (Pham Xuan Huong)
• Positive Effects of Video Games (Takeru Hirota)
• Japanese Movies Overseas: What Japanese Movies Make Foreigners Want to Visit Japan? (Midori Kamata)

2017

• Differences in the Relationships between High School Students and Adults in America and Japan (Nana Oguchi)
• Student Life in Japan, Korea and Taiwan (Ai Otomo)
• Cultural Differences of High Schools in Japan and America from Movies and Dramas (Anna Sakai)
• Comparison of Movies Remade across Borders (Yuka Sugiyama)
• Family Relations and Lifestyle in the United States and Japan (Rina Takazawa)
• Effective and Ineffective Product Placement in Movies (Mizuki Adachi)
• Subtitling Techniques and Their Effects on Viewer Experience (Hazuki Ito)
• Dramatization of the 9/11 Experience (Hikaru Komada)
• Differences between Foreign Guidebooks and Japanese Guidebooks: How should Japan Appeal to Foreign Tourists?(Wakana Motoyama)
• Gender Differences in American TV Dramas and Movies (Mami Saito)
• Gender Discrimination in America and Japan (Sekiko Suzuki)

2016

• Japanese Television Commercials during the Bubble Economy Period (Aoi Saito)
• The Impressions of Japanese and American Cars (Kazuki Hanada)
• Comparing Wikipedia with Documentary Movies (Ken Kaifu)
• Features of Young People in Japan and America (Nanae Furiya)
• Family Differences between Japan and the United States as Seen in Movies and Television (Erina Asato)
• Different Types of Crime by Age and Gender between TV Dramas and Reality (Riku Yoshikawa)
• An Examination of World War II Movies Produced in Japan (Lin Jian Yong)

2015

• A Comparison of Characteristics of Top Ten Movies in Japan and America (Minako Fuchie)
• Cinematic Techniques Used in Japanese and American World War II Movies (Reima Kamogawa)
• A Comparison of Pre-school Educational Programs in America and Japan (Miyu Mochizuki)
• Common Characteristics of American High School Dramas since 2000 (Rumina Tsuchiya)
• Heroes and Villains: The American Superhero Movie (Akira Nakazawa)

2014

• Unnatural Family Dinner Scenes in Japanese Dramas (Shiori Takano)
• Product Placement of Porsche in Movies (Yuji Kubota)
• The Impressions Japanese Have on Americans (Michiyo Aonuma)
• Spirited Away and Castle in the Sky (Daiki Imai)
• Differences in Expression in Animation between Japan and America (Azusa Ohkawa)
• Crime in America and in American Crime Dramas (Anna Suzuki)
• American Indian History and History Textbooks in America (Satoko Arakawa)
• Fantasy School Life in Japan and America (Mami Saito)
• Television Dramas and Society: Social Circles in the Lives of Women (Yuka Matsumoto)
• School Dramas in Japan and the United States (Miki Kobayashi)
• Howl’s Moving Castle: From British Novel to Japanese Anime (Hitomi Iwasaki)
• Fukushima: Lies of the Government and TEPCO (Ryo Yoshiike)
• Wolves in Media and in Nature (Fumiya Suzuki)