Lippit wasn't necessary a stupendous professor, but by no means was he bad. He's very soft-spoken...in other words, if you're not sitting in the first three rows, you'll catch every other sentence. It's that bad. Sometimes I couldn't write notes, not because I didn't want to, but because I couldn't hear him! Aside from that fact, he often spends the majority of lecture talking about the backstory of a novel or movie, then only a few minutes about the actual work (which is the part he tests on). Sometimes it can get pretty boring, so bring a Sudoku book or something, and just write down the occasional thing he says. His tests often reflect exactly what he says in lecture or on his reading notes for the week, so study those.

All in all I would say that after taking this class I definitely saw some interesting pieces of Japanese film. I liked one so much that I bought the DVD. I read about half the books, which weren't bad, but I'm not much of a bookworm so whatev.

Bottom line, the class isn't that hard and I thought was pretty interesting. If you need to pick up a Japanese class, take this one. The tests weren't hard, I'm sure most people got an A or B.

I think Lippit thrives in small-class environments. Like others have said, he is soft-spoken, but during discussions, he will give deep feedback and real comments instead of just saying \305gAlright, that was very interesting\305c\305h and move on. He knows his stuff down to the T, so you can ask or talk to him about anything regarding the material. His choice of films and novels will not bore you, so look forward to fun and excitement. I\305fm not particularly a hardcore bookworm, but every single work I\305fve had to read for the class, I chopped through in one sitting (by choice!) He grades at a fair to slightly difficult level, so as long as you describe things to your best ability and include lots of details on the tests, all should be fine.

This is an interesting class with excellent materials. I really enjoyed Lippit's choice of novels to read, and the topic choices that he used to discuss the works were excellent as well. The reading is not heavy at all, most of the novels are very short. And, of course, there are a couple films as well (which are well-chosen, interesting films). His midterm exam questions were very pertinent to what we discussed in class, which I feel is a fair method of testing. The topic for the main paper of the course is fairly open, so you can choose to work with something you particularly enjoy (even if it is not Japanese Literature, he only asks that you tie it in to the works from class). I highly recommend Lippit as a teacher. Lippit has a great amount of knowledge about the subject, so I truly advise going to his office hours for paper ideas and the like. I feel like Lippit was an incredibly fair grader as well. I feel that if you answer all the questions that he asks on the essays/tests with a reasonable amount of logic and supporting arguments, he is more than willing to give you an "A". I highly recommend Japanese 154 as an introductory course to post-war Japanese Lit and culture.

This is a great class and neither the topic nor the lectures are ever dull...well maybe sometimes when the students are rambling on and on but that's a good thing - he engages the class to an extreme. So much so that I would say nearly half the lecture consists of students answering his questions. There are 5 easy reading short novels and several films. A lot of writing though, and he seemed to grade papers strictly but still fair. I got an A- and that is the lowest grade I have received here so far. You'll notice that professor Lippit has some funny little quirks (such as using the words "kinda" and "sorta" like 3 times in every sentece) but he's an interesting guy and knows a lot about what he's teaching. If you go to his office hours you'll find him very kind and receptive.