Japanese

This course provides a broad overview of the many topics in psychology: evolutionary, developmental, personality, cognitive, and social psychology. By the end of this course, students are expected to: (1) Understand psychological concepts, theories, and research methods and (2) Understand the relationship between psychological findings and everyday life.

This course discusses the oldest work in Western Literature, the Iliad, focusing on its historical and cultural background. It then examines the themes and the poetic techniques of early Greek heroic epics. 

This course considers the thoughts and way of life during the Edo period, focusing on the ideas of the samurai. The course provides an opportunity for students to improve their Japanese reading ability by reading classical Japanese literature.

This basic Japanese course chooses a different theme concerning Japanese culture and society to discuss each week. Students are split into groups to engage in activities, discussion, and group work concerning the selected topic. The goal of the class is for students to widen their perspectives and deepen their knowledge regarding various issues related to Japan and Japanese society. The program offers various theme courses and students may take multiple sections. 

This course discusses Media Law, focusing on defamation; hate speech law; freedom of the press, and State secrets, etc. 

The course is designed to expand kanji and vocabulary at low intermediate level and increase vocabulary written in kanji.

This course enhances communication skills focusing on interview, discussions and debate. The goal is "to communicate without reading," and by summarizing each activity in a conversational format, students are trained to listen carefully to what the other person is saying; confirm what they are saying, and naturally respond by agree or disagreeing.  The second half of the course develops the ability to speak at paragraph level with reasons and specific examples, while expanding vocabulary, to state one's opinions.

Note: Intermediate Japanese language levels at the host university are comparable to UC upper-division language courses.

By the completion oft his course, students are expected to read, write and type 160 basic kanji characters. They will become familiar with the basic methods of kanji learning and expand their vocabulary of words that contain kanji.  

Eligibility: Those who are learning kanji for the first time and are currently taking a C1 class or have Japanese proficiency of C1 class or above. 

Learning Objectives:

• Learn the meanings and readings of 160 kanji and words using those kanji. 
• Write the 160 kanji vocabulary words with the help of example models.
• Type short sentences containing the 160 kanji on a smartphone or PC. 

This course includes critical and sociological considerations on various social problems related to contemporary families in Japan. 

It is sometimes difficult to discuss or even think about marriage and family because it is too close, too natural or too emotional. This course aims at acquiring basic skills and knowledge to discuss family issues through lectures and group discussions in class.

Relatively new approaches and concepts including modern family, gender studies, queer theories and dependency theories are expounded to address controversial family problems such as Konkatsu (spouse hunting), Ikumen (active fathering) and Shoushi-ka (fertility crisis), etc.

This course examines the significance and issues of gender differences, sexuality in society from the perspective of human rights theory. It studies the current status and issues of gender equality in Japan and discusses gender issues in terms of politics,  employment, family, health, and academia.