Japan

November 2021 TOK essay prescribed title #3 RLE – History education and exams

“Rote memorization has displaced critical thinking and driven young Japanese students away from the study of history, argues the author, who blames the universities’ own fact-driven entrance examinations for the crisis facing the humanities and social sciences in higher education.” https://www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/a05103/exam-hell-and-the-crisis-in-history-education.html The focus on “obvious facts” (i.e. basic rote memorization) is Read more…

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November 2021 TOK essay prescribed title #1 RLE – traditional Japanese art (Kintsugi)

Article: Kintsugi: The Centuries-Old Art of Repairing Broken Pottery with Gold “Poetically translated to “golden joinery,” Kintsugi, or Kintsukuroi, is the centuries-old Japanese art of fixing broken pottery. Rather than rejoin ceramic pieces with a camouflaged adhesive, the Kintsugi technique employs a special tree sap lacquer dusted with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Read more…

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November 2021 TOK essay prescribed title #4 RLE – digital art made with Excel

“77-year-old Japanese artist Tatsuo Horiuchi chooses to work with Microsoft Excel to produce his beautiful works of art. His “paintings” are remarkably intricate works that mimic traditional Japanese paintings that offer scenic views of natural landscapes rich with cultural motifs.” https://mymodernmet.com/tatsuo-horiuchi-excel-spreadsheet-paintings/ Despite stereotypes to the contrary, art quite often makes use Read more…

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November 2021 TOK essay prescribed title #2 RLE –article on traditional Okinawan tattoos

Text: Noah Oskow “Hajichi: the Banned Traditional Tattoos of Okinawa”Unseen Japan. https://unseenjapan.com/hajichi-the-banned-traditional-tattoos-of-okinawa/ Excerpt from the above article: “I actually learned about hajichi before I began my work in body art,” the Okinawa native told Unseen Japan in a recent interview. “It was around 2012, and I was working as an occupational therapist Read more…

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