ASB08001 Urban Culture

Hiroshima University Syllabus

Japanese

Academic Year 2026Year School/Graduate School School of Integrated Arts and Sciences Department of Integrated Arts and Sciences

Lecture Code ASB08001 Subject Classification Specialized Education

Subject Name 都市文化論

Subject Name
（Katakana）トシブンカロン

Subject Name in
English Urban Culture

Instructor YOSHIMOTO KAZUHIRO

Instructor
(Katakana) ヨシモト　カズヒロ

Campus Higashi-Hiroshima Semester/Term 2nd-Year,  First Semester,  First Semester

Days, Periods, and Classrooms (1st) Weds7-8：IAS K205

Lesson Style Lecture Lesson Style
(More Details) Face-to-face

Face-to-face, Lecture, discussion and presentation.
Reading of related texts.

Credits 2.0 Class Hours/Week 2 Language of Instruction J : Japanese

Course Level 3 : Undergraduate High-Intermediate

Course Area（Area） 23 : Arts and Humanities

Course Area（Discipline） 14 : Cultural Studies

Eligible Students

Keywords Urban Culture, Cultural Studies, 19th Century London, Adventure, Gothic, Crime, Science Fiction, British Imperialism and Colonialism, Exhibition, Class, Surveillance, Destruction of the City

Special Subject for Teacher Education 　 Special Subject 　

Class Status
within Educational
Program
(Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students) High-intermediate
Criterion referenced
Evaluation
(Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students) Integrated Arts and Sciences
（Knowledge and Understanding）
・Knowledge and understanding of the importance and characteristics of each discipline and basic theoretical framework.
（Abilities and Skills）
・The ability and skills to specify necessary theories and methods for consideration of issues.
（Comprehensive Abilities）
・The ability to conduct research proactively by combining knowledge,  understanding, and skills for the tasks, based on flexible creativity and imagination.

Class Objectives
/Class Outline This course explores the idea of the city by reading literary works that portray different forms of urban culture related to London, once the capital of the British Empire. Its complex and reciprocal relationship with the colonies had a significant impact on the literature and art of the time. The images created in the adventure stories, Gothic tales, and detective fiction that flourished in this period—as well as in twentieth-century science fiction—continue to shape and inspire contemporary media today. While gaining an understanding of key concepts in English literature and cultural studies, we will think together about how these ideas relate to modern cities, especially to our own lives in Hiroshima.

Class Schedule lesson1 Course overview and an introduction to urban culture in nineteenth-century London
lesson2 The center of the British Empire and its colonial peripheries: the tradition of adventure narratives, focusing on _Robinson Crusoe_ and its later adaptations
lesson3 Reading _Dracula_ by Bram Stoker (1): A story of movement toward the imperial capital, London
lesson4 Reading _Dracula_ (2): Infiltrating urban space and rebelling against the Empire
lesson5 Reading _Dracula_ (3): Its relationship to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
lesson6 Reading the _Sherlock Holmes_ stories by Arthur Conan Doyle (1): Urban space and crime
lesson7 Genealogy of Monster 2: _Dracula_ by B. Stoker. Fear of Invasion into London and Pandemic.
lesson8 Reading the _Sherlock Holmes_ stories (3): The image of the city as cultural reference
lesson9 Reading _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ by George Orwell (1): Totalitarianism and the fear of the surveillance state
lesson10 Reading _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ (2): The urban future imagined in the film _Metropolis_
lesson11 Reading _Ulysses_ by James Joyce (1): Irish history and the city of Dublin
lesson12 Reading _Ulysses_ (2): Wandering through the city as a modern myth
lesson13 London and Hiroshima (1): The Blitz and Hiroshima as an atomic-bombed city
lesson14 London and Hiroshima (2): The intersections between “Grandchildren of the Blitz” and “The Grandchildren of Hiroshima”
lesson15 Preparation for the final assignment

Text/Reference
Books,etc. No textbook

PC or AV used in
Class,etc. Handouts, Visual Materials, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Stream, Microsoft Forms, Other (see [More Details]), moodle

(More Details) YouTube

Learning techniques to be incorporated Discussions, Quizzes/ Quiz format, PBL (Problem-based Learning)/ TBL (Team-based Learning), Project Learning, Post-class Report

Suggestions on
Preparation and
Review lessons 1-13:Sufficient preparations, including close reading of the text, are required.
lessons 14-15:Prepare for the presentation each student is supposed to make.

Requirements Motivation and interest in reading and understanding English literary text is required. Japanese translations can be used as reference.

Grading Method Based on class participation and the report.

Practical Experience

Summary of Practical Experience and Class Contents based on it

Message Final report can be based on literary works introduced in the class or your favored modern works in various media, so please think about the work you are to deal with while taking lessons.

Other

Please fill in the class improvement questionnaire which is carried out on all classes.
Instructors will reflect on your feedback and utilize the information for improving their teaching.

Academic Year	2026Year	School/Graduate School	School of Integrated Arts and Sciences Department of Integrated Arts and Sciences
Lecture Code	ASB08001	Subject Classification	Specialized Education
Subject Name	都市文化論
Subject Name （Katakana）	トシブンカロン
Subject Name in English	Urban Culture
Instructor	YOSHIMOTO KAZUHIRO
Instructor (Katakana)	ヨシモト　カズヒロ
Campus	Higashi-Hiroshima	Semester/Term	2nd-Year, First Semester, First Semester
Days, Periods, and Classrooms	(1st) Weds7-8：IAS K205
Lesson Style	Lecture	Lesson Style (More Details)	Face-to-face
Face-to-face, Lecture, discussion and presentation. Reading of related texts.
Credits	2.0	Class Hours/Week	2	Language of Instruction	J : Japanese
Course Level	3 : Undergraduate High-Intermediate
Course Area（Area）	23 : Arts and Humanities
Course Area（Discipline）	14 : Cultural Studies
Eligible Students
Keywords	Urban Culture, Cultural Studies, 19th Century London, Adventure, Gothic, Crime, Science Fiction, British Imperialism and Colonialism, Exhibition, Class, Surveillance, Destruction of the City
Special Subject for Teacher Education		Special Subject
Class Status within Educational Program (Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)	High-intermediate
Criterion referenced Evaluation (Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)	Integrated Arts and Sciences （Knowledge and Understanding）・Knowledge and understanding of the importance and characteristics of each discipline and basic theoretical framework. （Abilities and Skills）・The ability and skills to specify necessary theories and methods for consideration of issues. （Comprehensive Abilities）・The ability to conduct research proactively by combining knowledge, understanding, and skills for the tasks, based on flexible creativity and imagination.
Class Objectives /Class Outline	This course explores the idea of the city by reading literary works that portray different forms of urban culture related to London, once the capital of the British Empire. Its complex and reciprocal relationship with the colonies had a significant impact on the literature and art of the time. The images created in the adventure stories, Gothic tales, and detective fiction that flourished in this period—as well as in twentieth-century science fiction—continue to shape and inspire contemporary media today. While gaining an understanding of key concepts in English literature and cultural studies, we will think together about how these ideas relate to modern cities, especially to our own lives in Hiroshima.
Class Schedule	lesson1 Course overview and an introduction to urban culture in nineteenth-century London lesson2 The center of the British Empire and its colonial peripheries: the tradition of adventure narratives, focusing on _Robinson Crusoe_ and its later adaptations lesson3 Reading _Dracula_ by Bram Stoker (1): A story of movement toward the imperial capital, London lesson4 Reading _Dracula_ (2): Infiltrating urban space and rebelling against the Empire lesson5 Reading _Dracula_ (3): Its relationship to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley lesson6 Reading the _Sherlock Holmes_ stories by Arthur Conan Doyle (1): Urban space and crime lesson7 Genealogy of Monster 2: _Dracula_ by B. Stoker. Fear of Invasion into London and Pandemic. lesson8 Reading the _Sherlock Holmes_ stories (3): The image of the city as cultural reference lesson9 Reading _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ by George Orwell (1): Totalitarianism and the fear of the surveillance state lesson10 Reading _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ (2): The urban future imagined in the film _Metropolis_ lesson11 Reading _Ulysses_ by James Joyce (1): Irish history and the city of Dublin lesson12 Reading _Ulysses_ (2): Wandering through the city as a modern myth lesson13 London and Hiroshima (1): The Blitz and Hiroshima as an atomic-bombed city lesson14 London and Hiroshima (2): The intersections between “Grandchildren of the Blitz” and “The Grandchildren of Hiroshima” lesson15 Preparation for the final assignment
Text/Reference Books,etc.	No textbook
PC or AV used in Class,etc.	Handouts, Visual Materials, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Stream, Microsoft Forms, Other (see [More Details]), moodle
(More Details)	YouTube
Learning techniques to be incorporated	Discussions, Quizzes/ Quiz format, PBL (Problem-based Learning)/ TBL (Team-based Learning), Project Learning, Post-class Report
Suggestions on Preparation and Review	lessons 1-13:Sufficient preparations, including close reading of the text, are required. lessons 14-15:Prepare for the presentation each student is supposed to make.
Requirements	Motivation and interest in reading and understanding English literary text is required. Japanese translations can be used as reference.
Grading Method	Based on class participation and the report.
Practical Experience
Summary of Practical Experience and Class Contents based on it
Message	Final report can be based on literary works introduced in the class or your favored modern works in various media, so please think about the work you are to deal with while taking lessons.
Other
Please fill in the class improvement questionnaire which is carried out on all classes. Instructors will reflect on your feedback and utilize the information for improving their teaching.

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