Japan

The theme of this course is social entrepreneurship. Such enterprises are established with the primary purpose of finding a solution to a social problem or creating social value by reaching out to underserved sections of the society. The course is conducted with a combination of lectures and case discussions. This course aims to introduce the concepts, theories and real cases in social enterprises. An increasing number of talented, ambitious individuals around the world, out of their concern for the varied problems faced by humanity are trying to solve these problems, some at a local level, some at an international level. Through real world examples and case study analysis, students will learn how such enterprises are organized, what their challenges are and how exactly they try to solve social problems. Units: The regular version of this course is worth 3.0 UC quarter units. The Q version of this course is worth 4 or 4.5 UC quarter units. Students must submit a special study project form which outlines the requirements for the additional units. This is typically an additional paper graded by the instructor of the course.

This course provides an understanding of the workings of an international macroeconomic model, and examines, by the model, how changes in international economic conditions affect the exchange rate, the interest rate, and the output. The course provides an international macroeconomic model developed in Krugman et al. (2011). Students construct three models: a model describing the exchange rate determination in the FX market, a model of asset market describing the interest rate behavior, and a model of goods market, where the national output is determined. Later students integrate the three models into one and describe the “simultaneous” determination of these variables. Assessment: midterm exam, final exam, and quizzes.

This course improves the ability to communicate through a content based language environment. This class is a combined class with international study abroad students and Japanese students. The focus of the class is on intercultural communication through a content based language learning approach and the theme of the class is Karate and martial arts. The class aims to help students learn about the differences and similarities of their cultures. This is done through looking at how Karate is viewed internationally and the concepts, philosophy behind.

This course analyzes the works of a selection of contemporary Western writers and film directors (both those of Asian descent and those of non-Asian descent), and explores the answers to the following central questions: how do these works present East-Asian people and cultures to the readers and viewers? Are there correct and incorrect ways to present East-Asia in works of film and literature?

What can we learn about Japan through its popular culture? How do we shape our identities through what we watch, wear, read, listen to, create and where we go? What happens when we translate and localize Japanese popular culture for a foreign audience? This course serves as an introduction to contemporary Japanese popular culture. The primary focuses are on how we define ourselves through engaging with pop culture, and on its translation/localization. We draw on theories from literary, media, translation, and gender studies. The course is a mix of lecture, discussion, and group work. Units: The regular version of this course is worth 3.0 UC quarter units. The Q version of this course is worth 4 or 4.5 UC quarter units. Students must submit a special study project form which outlines the requirements for the additional units. This is typically an additional paper graded by the instructor of the course.

This course examines religion from a social science perspective. Whether easily recognizable or not, many phenomena in our modern society are closely connected to religion. This lecture provides students with the necessary skills to analyze the relationship between societal phenomena and religion. In the first half of the lecture, we learn basic knowledge about religious sociology. In the second half, we will consider actual events. In this course, we neither support nor criticize any religion. The course discusses religion purely from an academic point of view. Through this course students learn sociological perspectives on religious beliefs, practices, and institutions. This course examines how religion influences society and culture and how society and culture in turn influences religion. Language of instruction differs by year. Assessment: class participation (20%), midterm exam (40%), and final exam (40%).

Nuclear physics is a field in physics which describes and understands quark many-body systems governed by strong interaction including hadrons and atomic nuclei. The mission of nuclear physics is to answer the basic questions on how the hadrons (nucleons) are created from quarks and how atomic nuclei are formed from hadrons in the history of the universe. The course introduceS an overview of nuclear physics nowadays together with recent topics in cutting-edge researches.

This course reads works of leading modern Western and Japanese novelists. The course discusses modern fiction in terms of writing styles and narrative techniques and presents some different critical approaches (e.g., biographical, psychoanalytical, archetypal, philosophical, religious, feminist, post colonial, and reader-oriented). By comparatively examining the creative process of writing, the course attempts to analyze the validity of utilizing western methods of analysis to understand modern Japanese fiction. The course uses various works by such authors as D.H. Lawrence, James Joyce, S. Freud, C. Jung, T.S. Eliot, Rymei Yoshimoto, and Ken Hirano.

Qualitative research means research that concentrates on acquiring a subtle, in-depth understanding of a relatively small group of subjects, as opposed to quantitative research, which emphasizes large sample-size and acquisition of statistical data. Qualitative methods are often used by social for anthropological fieldwork, but also for market research, opinion polling and customer satisfaction surveys. This course shows how to acquire high-quality data on social behavior and attitudes. Topics: introduction to social science methods; what is fieldwork; choosing a topic and planning research; writing a research proposal; interview techniques; focus groups; participant observation; alternative methods; from field notes to data; and writing up and interpreting qualitative data.