Special Japanese History and Culture Lesson by Professor James Rogers

A special class by Professor Rogers on Japanese history and hagoita culture was held on October 21 for foreign exchange students studying at Meijo University. This class was organized by Japanese language Professors Kamiya and Ramadan.

In this lesson, students learned about the Japanese year system and the names of each era. Games were played to help students learn the era names. Then, Professor Rogers delved deeper into the Showa era to explain why this era is especially associated with various things from the 1960s and 1970s. This served as an introduction to the day's topic, Showa hagoita. Details about the various types of hagoita and the history of the culture were explained. A few very rare, special hagoita were also shown, including one of the rarest in the world, a Tokyo "lost Olympics" commemorative hagoita.

Students then had a chance to ask questions and, finally, to view a display of approximately 100 Showa hagoita from Professor Rogers' personal collection, which is probably the largest in Japan. Professor Rogers also explained his efforts to curate the art of Showa hagoita by introducing an art book and a coloring book he has published on the subject.

By attending this course, it was hoped that students could deepen their knowledge of Japanese history, culture, and language, and perhaps find some aspect that could pique their interest and encourage them to learn more about Japanese history and culture.