Canadian studies in Japan

Abstract

“Quebec’s declaration of war on Canada,” observed a Japanese colleague wryly, “is about the only thing that would really boost my enrolments.” In a decade dominated by Monica, Milosevic, and the American economic miracle, Canadian Studies programs in Japan struggle to attract students and encourage interest in an ambiguous place known mainly for Whistler and Céline Dion. Asked their impressions of Canada, students in a graduate seminar looked at each other blankly until one ventured bravely that “it must be a good place, because I don’t know any thing about it- it’s never on the news.”