Japanese

This course covers the minimum, basic abilities in conversation and reading/writing necessary for everyday life in Japan. 

Eligibility: Students who have studied no Japanese. Students who will be eligible for C250b/c after taking C150.  

Learning Objectives: A1 level in the CEFR/JF Standard for Japanese-Language Education. 

By the end of this course, students are expected to: 

 ・ Understand and correctly use basic greetings and set phrases.

 ・ Speak about things around you and interact with others using combinations of simple phrases.

 ・ Understand simple informative texts and brief passages about familiar topics.

In the Heian period, stories such as "The Tale of Genji" are often set in the harem, deep within the Heian-kyo Imperial Palace, and often feature the empresses and the crown prince who lived there. Knowing the life of the women who lived in the harem is very useful for interpreting Heian period stories. 

This course aims to deepen one's understanding of works depicting the harem of the Heian period, such as "The Tale of Utsubo" and "The Tale of Genji," after learning basic knowledge about the harem of the Heian period. This course focuses the life of the princess after entering the palace and compares historical examples found in "The Tale of Eiga" and "Okagami" as well as descriptions of stories mainly in "The Tale of Genji."  Furthermore, the course focuses not only on the women but also on the parental affections and political intentions of the aristocratic male fathers who acted as their guardians.

This course surveys the basic content and methodology of contemporary psychology. While psychology as a scientific and humanistic enterprise is the underlying theme of the course, the field of psychology is approached from the perspective of its contribution to solving many problems facing society at large.  

"I want to make people laugh, but it's too difficult." "Everyone else is laughing, but I don't find it funny."... Are these difficulties related to "humor" due to personal preference, language ability, or socio-cultural background? This course explores thinking about the Japanese language and culture using funny stories, learning about the differences and commonalities between Japan's and other countries' senses of humor through comparing with other cultures and translation activities. (This course is conducted in Japanese.) 

Eligibility A2.1 level in the CEFR/JF Standard for Japanese-Language Education (N3 in the JLPT). 

Learning Objectives 

-Deepen understanding of the Japanese language, culture, and values. 

-Deepen understanding of the language, culture, and values of the students' home countries and regions. 

-Cooperate with Japanese and international students in group work and group presentations. 

-Improve communication skills in Japanese. 

To learn about the fundamental properties of life, this course addresses concepts in macroscopic (Ecology, Evolution and Ethology) and microscopic (Cells, DNA) aspects of biology. The purpose of this course is to deepen an understanding to the question of “What does it mean for an organism to be alive?” and to use this understanding as a starting point for expanding one’s thinking about their own existence as a living thing.  

The course covers the following topics:
1) What is science, and what is biology?
2) Cells, the basic unit of all organisms
3) The world of DNA and the mechanism of heredity
4) How does DNA research and analysis technology relate to us?
5) Evolution and Diversity of Life.
6) Life around us - Can we live on Earth with other living things?

This course provides training to acquire skills necessary for writing academic reports and papers. In class, each student chooses a theme, writes a report, and conducts peer review of these reports. 

This course is taught in an omnibus format. Lectures and practical training will be provided on anime and video games. 
 

This course features host directors and producers who work on the front lines of animation production as guest speakers. Video materials are utilized to learn the origins of Japan's unique animation. 

Video games are now a major pillar of Japanese subculture. Thirty years have passed since the first video game, PONG, which started in the United States, achieved commercial success.  This course discusses the history of how American-born video games developed in Japan. 
Next, it looks at the current scale and trends of Japan's game industry, including some of its challenge, as well as how games are made; what kind of tasks are involved; the development process, and different jobs in game development. 

This course is designed for students who have mastered intermediate kanji to expand knowledge of kanji compound words and idiomatic expressions. While examining the structure of kanji compounds, students study kanji systematically by learning opposite and similar meanings of kanji as well as by applying suffixes and prefixes. By expanding their kanji vocabulary, students will be able to select the most appropriate kanji based on the context.

This course explores the history of early modern Japan, approximately from the 16th to the 19th century. It studies examples to understand the views and mentalities of ordinary people during the Edo period as well as discusses whether their way of thinking changed during the late Edo era and early Meiji period. Please note that this course will not always examine topics in chronological order; it will move back and forth between the 16th and 19th centuries, depending on the topics.

This course introduces oil painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture that arrived in Japan and developed uniquely with modernization since the Meiji period. It also examines the history of modern art, which was a complex mix of old techniques and traditions amid the influx of new Western ideas, technologies, and systems, with a focus on the Meiji period.