Japan

This course is designed for students with no or little previous contact with the Japanese language. It provides a balanced grounding in grammar, vocabulary and oral/written expressions.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to (1) : Express thoughts on very familiar topics with simple Japanese; (2) Turn their Japanese skills into actual communication for immediate needs; (3) Read and write Japanese words or simple sentences, and (4) Deepen knowledge of Japanese culture.

There is wide consensus that Asia is a major engine of recent global economic growth. Does this mean that Asia is a new economic power, or that the current growth indicates the resurgence of Asia? The answer to this question requires good historical knowledge of Asian economy in a global perspective. This course aims to provide such knowledge. 

The course focuses especially on Southeast Asia from the early time to the mid-twentieth century, discussing the following themes: natural environment; economic foundation of early states; changing demands in the global markets where consumption cultures were constantly changing; production development of particular products; regional and global trade; movement of labor; economic and social impacts of colonization, and struggles for economic decolonization. 

To prepare for this course, it is recommended to enroll in the course offered in the fall semester, "Economic History of Southeast Asia," which focuses more on the developments in the post-WWII period.

A workshop in writing based on the reading excerpts from world literature, this course aims to practice writing skills while deepening communication with literature while engaging with peers. Readings consist of short and medium-length excerpts (no whole books) from writers including James Baldwin, Edna O’Brien, Patrick MacGill, Naguib Mahfouz, and Émile Zola. Writing will be shared with the class and discussed. Students will be encouraged (not required) to keep a journal for building on ideas they began in class, sharing excerpts only if they wish to do so. In their final paper, students will be asked to write a short work based on anything in class that affected them—in a personal, aesthetic, political, or any other way.

This course examines the long-term perspectives of environmental and climate change policies in France and Japan, considering historical developments, current challenges, and future prospects. It engages with a range of sources in French, English, and Japanese to develop a comprehensive understanding of the policies, strategies, and frameworks implemented in the context of environmental and climate change.  The course provides an opportunity to develop one's ability to analyze and compare the approaches and effectiveness of environmental and climate change policies between France and Japan.

This course will be essentially taught in English and, depending on the students' proficiency level in French, will use some or many documents in French. 

The course brielfy introduces ethics and the history of computing and the Internet. It focuses on a number of areas in which computers and information technology impact society, including work, the environment, privacy, freedom of speech, and intellectual property. 

*This course has been offered as an optional summer intensive course at Hitotsubashi, meaning that the course meets for only one week after the UCEAP program end dates. 

This course is designed to provide students with a fundamental understanding of international political theories while engaging them in practical analysis of political scenarios using data science methodologies. While no prior knowledge of data science is required, a certain level of information literacy is expected to assimilate and interpret data-driven insights effectively.

This course introduces the history of American literature between 1492 and 1865.  

In 1620, John Winthrop pictured the Massachusetts Bay Colony as “a model of Christian charity.” In 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote down the principles of a new American nation, declaring “all men are created equal.” In 1837, Andrew Jackson ended his presidency celebrating that America was “honored and respected by every nation of the world.” 

To readers living a few centuries later, it is impossible to ignore that American “freedom” has gone hand-in-hand with the capture and enslavement of Black people, indigenous genocide and land dispossession, and inequality before the law and in the labor market for the vast majority of people. Importantly, the irony of Winthrop, Jefferson, or Jackson’s words was not lost on those living when they spoke them: political struggle has attended the development of American society, culture, and economy at every step.  Literature is a key window into the debate and bloodshed surrounding this struggle. Studying the development of language and narrative helps us to highlight the contradictions between American ideals and American reality, to understand the historical forces that produce these contradictions, and to study how everyday people try to build a better world, in the past as today.  

Working within the bounds of 1492 (the year Christopher Columbus “discovered” America) and 1865 (when the US Civil War ended), this course examines the early colonial period in the northeast and Virginia; the war for independence from Britain; the removal of the Five “Civilized” Tribes from the southeast; and the establishment, expansion, and abolition of slavery as US colonization crept westward. The course examines a range of primary source documents -- letters, journals, myths, speeches, sermons, laws, poems, songs, memoir, autobiography, confessions, and more -- to explore the early centuries of the United States. 

This course provides fundamental knowledge of media history in Japan and Asia from the late 19th century to the early 21st century, discussing the historical process of the transformation of relations between media, governments and peoples. The focus is to promote historical understanding and analysis of media development with influences in political process.

This course is mainly aimed at students who have never studied Japanese, or who have studied it only a little, and who will be staying in Japan for about one semester (six months). The aim is to learn kana, basic grammar, and vocabulary, focusing on conversation situations for daily life in Japan, and to develop comprehensive Japanese language skills in the four skills of reading, listening, speaking, and writing.

Students acquire listening skills necessary to university life through viewing lectures and videos on a variety of topics. Students will learn to take notes/memos and ask the instructor questions. 

Eligibility: B2 level in the CEFR/JF Standard for Japanese-Language Education (approx. N1 in the JLPT). 

Learning Objectives 

• Understand lectures and conversations that are fairly complex in terms of both content and language. 
• Synthesize audio and written/visual information, and take notes recording important information.
• Explain heard information in their own words using materials and notes as reference.