Japan

This course provides essential skills to write college-level reports approximately 1,500 words in length in Japanese. It provides techniques for the efficient organization of Japanese compositions as well as the presentation and citation of different types of illustrative and descriptive information. The course examines the style, tone, and diction expected of Japanese academic papers and emphasizes developing self-sufficiency in the writing process to be able to outline, edit, and revise writings. 

This course studies short stories depicting different aspects of the postwar period (roughly from 1945 until 1968) to provide an insight into the postwar period as a whole: how it shaped Japanese society at the time and how that process of shaping still bears upon the present. One short story at a time is studied. The texts will be made available to the class a week in advance on the Keio website, and all students will be expected to have read the relevant story before each class and to come prepared with comments and questions. All texts will be discussed on the basis of their English-language translations and the language of discussion will be English. However, the original Japanese texts will also be made available and native speakers of Japanese are particularly encouraged to use their knowledge of the original language to contribute to the discussion.