I'm really not sure how I missed this:
Japanese Visual Anthropology is a six-week program that focuses on the central theme of human visuality and, specifically, visual culture in modern Japan. Based at Temple University, Japan Campus, the program is designed for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students interested in Japan, Asian studies, visual anthropology, visual sociology, media studies, or inter-cultural communication. Students enroll in two courses carrying three credits each for a total of six credits.Through the program, students examine the breadth of public and vernacular visual culture as seen and practiced within the Japanese context. While such questions used to be relegated to the world of art history, now all visual forms — professional and non-professional, mass media and home media, public and private — are amenable to visual analysis. The topic is addressed through a framework of culture and visual communication, with primary attention given to sociological and anthropological perspectives. All lectures and production laboratories are offered in English, and there are no prerequisites, although some background in social science would be beneficial.
Tokyo, one of the world’s most vibrant cities, provides students with an extraordinarily rich environment for the discovery and examination of visual culture in contexts of business enterprises, popular culture, architecture and art, as well as the presentation of everyday life. Field trips include several art museums in Tokyo (calligraphy, screens, prints, paintings, photography) and locations dedicated to popular culture—television and/or film production sites, mural art settings, Print Club Galleries, and graffiti sites, among others. In short, participants are exposed to “high, middle and low” visual culture.
Student participants will be encouraged to understand, participate in, and produce an ethnographic visual record in the form of either still photography or videography. Students are required to either bring with them one or more cameras, still and video, or to explore soon after arrival the vibrant world of inexpensive consumer imaging shops in Tokyo. More information about equipment requirements will be provided in one of the pre-departure mailings sent to all accepted students.
Sounds like a great curriculum. The cost ranges from approx US$4000 - $6200, depending on your undergrad/grad status and residency, plus about $2400 in living expenses in Japan. So it isn't exactly cheap.
More info here: http://www.temple.edu/studyabroad/programs/summer/japan/visual-anthro.html
