User:Skywhales/Choose an Article

Article Selection
Please list articles that you're considering for your Wikipedia assignment below. Begin to critique these articles and find relevant sources.

Option 1

 * Article title
 * Wa (Japanese culture)


 * Article Evaluation
 * In its current state, this article gives a very brief overview of wa (harmony) in Japanese culture, talking briefly about its meaning and its application in Japanese society. Business and family structures are alluded to in regards to wa, but ultimately the article leaves many details out and could use more information along with section headers. However, what is present does not appear biased in any way. Each major claim does have a citation, and the citations that are present all reference published books (some on Japan and some on more general topics like business), so they seem reliable at first glance. I wouldn't consider this article to cover an equity gap, but expanding upon it could serve to give readers a better understanding of a traditionally stereotyped culture in the West. Currently, no activity has been recorded on the talk page.


 * Sources
 * https://search.lib.umich.edu/articles/record/FETCH-LOGICAL-c4214-a909978a24d6dfa2c5d0c5267d22232da50d191344cd4104013b8eceae5546953
 * https://search.lib.umich.edu/articles/record/FETCH-LOGICAL-b2359-b3547669b5360b74408f9c2563fc9df5811fd1587384f562a729b3dd61d1c02a3

Option 2

 * Article title
 * Kantō Massacre


 * Article Evaluation
 * The article details the massacre and its immediate aftermath by dividing its sections into specific periods of time, creating an understandable timeline of events for readers. Each section isn't extremely extensive though, so I'd imagine that some sections could be combined under a different title, as well as be expanded upon. There are a plethora of sources used, covering American, Japanese, and Korean sources, which gives the article a very factual basis with all perspectives equally represented. I attempted to see if previous editors included people of these three nationalities, but it is unclear based on usernames. Given the article discusses a massacre involving the killing of ethnic minorities, that many people still deny in fact, I think this article does cover an equity gap, and it certainly deserves to be revised given the current state of Zainichi Koreans in Japan. No activity has been recorded on the talk page.


 * Sources
 * https://search.lib.umich.edu/articles/record/FETCH-LOGICAL-c1035-590d49b13f05b35fada2f752687fddae5d8930b56a58d99739409af158888acf3
 * https://search.lib.umich.edu/articles/record/FETCH-crossref_primary_10_18496_kjhr_2020_02_67_2673

Option 3

 * Article title
 * Japanese blue collar workers


 * Article Evaluation
 * I think this article could be heavily expanded by upon by discussing more of the stigma against blue-collar workers in Japan and relaying more specific information about sectors of the Japanese labor market like factory work, agriculture, and construction. The article discusses some aspects of blue-collar work briefly, along with comparisons to white-collar work, but ultimately leaves a lot to be desired. Some of the facts presented are a bit simple as well, so I think the article should be revised to include more nuance. There doesn't seem to be any bias present in the article, but more sources should be included to expand upon the various perspectives presented (i.e. the stigma against blue-collar work by others). This article seems like a great opportunity to discuss more about economic inequality in Japan, and how blue-collar workers can often do the most dangerous work even as part-timers (one such example might be workers who cleaned up the Fukushima nuclear incident). The only discussion on the talk page is about this article being full of assumptions and not having enough statistical backing, which I agree with. If I work on this article, I'd definitely want to expand upon what's here with a lot more research to fix this.


 * Sources
 * https://search.lib.umich.edu/articles/record/FETCH-pubmed_primary_260180473
 * https://search.lib.umich.edu/articles/record/FETCH-gale_infotrac_5608900543
 * https://search.lib.umich.edu/articles/record/FETCH-LOGICAL-c2899-ee6d896c575fd2fd001ee545edb6bc378a81a9cf71ec31a3d49e3f5b36771bb13

Option 4

 * Article title
 * Office lady


 * Article Evaluation
 * Based on my previous knowledge of OLs (which is almost entirely from the Ogasawara reading), I found this article to be severely lacking in terms of depth. The reality of being an OL is deeply connected to stigmas around women in Japan, and the dynamic of OLs in the workplace is much more complex than is led on in the article, so I think it could be expanded to include more about these subjects. Although it's relevant to discuss depictions of OLs in Japanese media like manga or anime, I don't think that section deserves to be nearly as long as the actual history and social context in which they OLs actually exist, so this article needs to be worked on. There are only two sources at the bottom, though oddly there is a section for further reading (which includes the Ogasawara book); perhaps these sources could be added to the article's actual content in a bigger way. Women in Japan are definitely stigmatized in the workplace, so I would say this article definitely constitutes filling an equity gap. As of right now, there are no discussions on the talk page.


 * Sources
 * https://search.lib.umich.edu/articles/record/FETCH-LOGICAL-g1877-c9559d0254990a4527d51b5607fc300b45d84cfdcebfb4fe4424c2bcc44503ad3
 * https://search.lib.umich.edu/articles/record/FETCH-LOGICAL-g1212-5f5157c519c4b5828b928f3e8b8b9770201c3f5b98bc1fcd9c5127fd09c377743
 * https://search.lib.umich.edu/articles/record/FETCH-LOGICAL-p594-bed14ae3e7589bdd5c5c53da46757626db302be1e019556d9834cfbe897df9ba3

Option 5

 * Article title
 * Kodokushi


 * Article Evaluation
 * This article isn't very long, though it does include a variety of information on kodokushi, including its history, its causes, and the responses that Japanese communities have had to the issue. Besides the "causes" section, the others are very short and could use a lot of revision to expand upon them, especially the history section. Some of the information presented is a little confusing as well, such as when it is mentioned that kodokushi first made the news in 2000 in Japan, but statistics of it were recorded back to the 1980's. I think by expanding upon this issue's growing relevance in Japan in the history section, readers would gain a much better understanding of the issue itself. Citations and sources seem to be properly implemented, and there doesn't seem to be any particular bias in the writing, but a lot of revision could be done. The talk page only includes discussions of the sources, which haven't been updated since 2017 it seems, so there may be new statistics to report.


 * Sources
 * https://search.lib.umich.edu/articles/record/FETCH-crossref_primary_10_18631_jalali_2015__65_0233
 * https://search.lib.umich.edu/articles/record/FETCH-LOGICAL-c2491-b2d7883583747e3d7b10c13013d96878021bc85194550e23cfe382e94d137b7a3