Japan

This advanced Japanese course is designed to develop overall language skills with emphasis placed on literary and newspaper readings. Students learn advanced kanji characters and their compounds, grammar patterns, and vocabulary. The goal of the course is to be able to read technical articles, essays and newspaper articles, and to communicate with Japanese people in real situations by improving listening and speaking ability. 

This course must be taken simultaneously with CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE ECONOMY A. The course addresses important economic problems that emerged in Japan within the last few decades and aims to deepen understanding of contemporary Japanese economy and its relations to the world economy. It covers the following topics: the Bubble Economy in the 1980s, Recovery in the 2000s, Aging society, Social security, etc.

This class focuses on travel writing from English and German speaking countries after 1945.  From the 1970s onwards, travel writing has displayed a strong tendency towards hybridity. The course covers works such as Bruce Chatwin's "In Patagonia;" The Middle Passage" by V. S. Naipaul, and W. G. Sebald's "The Rings of Saturn." 

The course also deals with some eminent representatives of German-speaking travel writing like Roger Willemsen and Christoph Ransmayr, whose works will be read against the background of the aforementioned classics. Last but not the least, this course will give a short overview of the history of travel writing, discussing the role of ethnology and topics like orientalism, primitivism and postcolonialism.

This course is designed for beginners who have learned hiragana, katakana, and basic Japanese grammar. The purpose is to acquire upper-level basic grammar, vocabulary, and kanji so that students will be able to express themselves in both spoken and written forms to communicate effectively in ordinary life. Students will receive integrated training in reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

This course introduces Japan’s global political and security role, starting with the pre-1945 and Cold War era legacies, and then focuses on the Post-Cold-War era. It examines Japan’s shift from security isolationism during the Cold War to security engagement, its championing of regional multilateralism in East Asia, its emergence as a global power in development aid, its contributions to UN peacekeeping and non-traditional security in areas such as humanitarian and disaster relief (HaDR), counter-piracy, maritime security, and counter-pandemic measures. It focuses on Japan’s relationships with the US, China, Korea, ASEAN, and Europe, and considers how Japan’s foreign policy institutions, including those making security and development aid policy, have changed during the Abe administration. The course concludes with a summary looking at Japan’s trajectory as a middle power.

This course facilitates an understanding of the dynamics of the political environment through which public policy is formulated, adopted and implemented.  The course introduces key concepts, theories and analytical approaches in public policy studies.  At the end of this course, students will examine contemporary challenges to public policy and the role of government.

This basic Japanese course is designed to improve writing skills. A different theme concerning Japanese culture and society is chosen for each course and students are split into groups to engage in activities, discussion, and group work concerning the selected topic. The overall 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 explores key concepts and theories in media, communication, and cultural studies to connect them to matters of cultural politics and power. It focuses on language and how it is used to represent the world we live in. The course covers semiotics, discourse, power/knowledge, speech act theory, performativity, and queer theory. Using these theoretical/methodological perspectives, it critically examines media representations of gender, sexuality, race, and nation.  

This Japanese course is designed to improve listening skills. A different theme concerning Japanese culture and society is chosen for each course and students are split into groups to engage in activities, discussion, and group work concerning the selected topic. The overall 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.  

Mechanics of materials is a branch of applied mechanics that deals with the basic behavior of solid bodies subjected to various types of loading. The knowledge of the stress and strain set up within the bodies and resulting deflection is a prerequisite for the structural design of industrial products and infrastructures such as buildings, roads, bridges, and various equipment. In this course, the basic idea of structural design is provided based on the quantitative evaluation of mechanical stress and strain fields in various structures.