This will give the students a feel for the art and story of Japan before they begin their more formal investigations. Once they have seen the slides, the following introduction may be used to set up the first assignment. Before beginning these activities that focus on Japan, let s look at the story of Japan from its earliest known history to the present day. Storytelling is important in Japan, just as it is in the rest of the world. Japanese storytellers sometimes use special paper drama cards, called kamishibai , as they tell their stories.
Instructions Divide the students into five groups.
Distribute copies of the five kamishibai cards and the history narratives to each student. Each group will concentrate on a single era, but the cards will be useful references for the suggested extension projects at the end of this section. The eras should correspond to the list below and to the kamishibai cards and histories in the Overview of Japanese History section of this notebook. Assign one time period to each group. Give the groups about five minutes to divide the report into five sections.