For the past two days I've had the opportunity to experience Genji in a variety of ways. First, I met two professors from Josai International University to discuss how Genji is used in contemporary Japanese literature classes. Next, I had the privilege of going to a Japanese home (the friend of a friend) discussed the book with a young high school student who recently read Genji in her Japanese literature class; she also mentioned how frequently the book appeared in her literature exams at school. Finally, with the help of a Japanese friend, I did a very quick and simple survey on the streets of Tokyo, asking people about their impressions of the book.
Some of the survey findings are:
1) 10 out of 10 Japanese people correctly identified Genji as being a major work of Japanese literature
2) 8 out of 10 Japanese people correctly identified the era the novel was written
3) 5 out of 10 Japanese people could, without help, identify 5 or more major characters in the novel
4) 3 out of 10 Japanese people recognized that this is the 1,000 anniversary of the novel (which came as a surprise)
5) 0 out of 10 Japanese people claimed to have read the entire work in the original language
When we learned that so few people had read the work in the original language, we asked them how they had knowledge of the book. Many of the people surveyed claimed to have see movie versions or read the manga (comic book) version, which are ubiquitous in Japan.
Upon hearing this, I went immediately to a bookstore to see if I could find the comic. Fortunately, it was right there on the shelf. In my next post, I'll talk a little bit more about the various versions of Genji that can be found around Japan today. In the meantime, consider the following:
YOUR TASK:
1) Find a favorite book or movie. Create questions concerning different aspects of the book or movie. Ask those questions to 10 people you know. Record and analyze the results.
2) What interesting things did you learn about the book from your survey?
