Faculty Profile
Alex Bates
Associate Professor of Japanese Language and Literature (2006)
Contact Information
on sabbatical Spring 2023
Stern Center for Global Educ Room 105E
717.245.1127
Bio
Professor Bates is a specialist in modern Japanese literature and film. In addition to survey courses in these areas, he has taught courses in Japanese youth culture, war in fiction and film, ecocriticism, East Asian film, and cinematic adaptations of Japanese literature. Professor Bates's book on representations of the 1923 earthquake that destroyed Tokyo was published by the University of Michigan, Center for Japanese Studies Press in 2015. His research in this area has continued into other natural disasters in modern Japanese culture, including Japan's 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster. Other research interests include ecocriticism, urban modernism, and early post-war Japanese literature and film.
Education
- B.A., Brigham Young University, 1998
- M.A., University of Michigan, 2001
- Ph.D., 2006
2022-2023 Academic Year
Fall 2022
JPNS 201 Intermediate Japanese
The aim of this course is the mastery of the basic structure of Japanese language and communicative skills. The student will have an opportunity to get to know more of Japanese culture.
Prerequisite: 102 or permission of the instructor.
EASN 205 Japanese Literature Into Film
Cross-listed with FMST 210-01.This course introduces students to major figures in the cinematic and literary history of Japan, along with some more recent additions, while exploring the issue of film adaptation. Each week we will read a book or short story and watch a film made from that source. At the same time, we will be reading key theorists in adaptation theory and participate in their scholarly conversation. Rather than discuss questions of a film’s fidelity, we will examine how different techniques are used in the source and the adaptation to explore similar or even diverging themes.
FMST 210 Japanese Literature Into Film
Cross-listed with EASN 205-01.This course introduces students to major figures in the cinematic and literary history of Japan, along with some more recent additions, while exploring the issue of film adaptation. Each week we will read a book or short story and watch a film made from that source. At the same time, we will be reading key theorists in adaptation theory and participate in their scholarly conversation. Rather than discuss questions of a film’s fidelity, we will examine how different techniques are used in the source and the adaptation to explore similar or even diverging themes.
JPNS 361 Advanced Japanese II
The emphasis in this course is placed on polishing and refining the students' language skills. Emphasis is placed on covering more sophisticated materials such as newspapers, magazine articles, film and literature.
Prerequisite: 232 or permission of the instructor.
