Meiji Gakuin University

This course studies important economic problems that emerged in Japan in the last few decades as well as their causes. The goal of the class is to deepen an understanding of contemporary Japanese economy and its relations to the world economy.

This course explores how labor markets work and analyzes a wide range of labor issues within Japanese and US economies. Each class begins with the theoretical background of labor economics, then students analyze a related research article to understand how and whether the standard, neo-classical model is applied to real economic life. 

The regular version of this course is worth 3.0 UC quarter units. The Q version of this course is worth 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 consists of ethnographic studies on Japanese popular culture, focusing on an academic understanding of Japanese popular culture through weekly meetings but also extracurricular team investigations of sociocultural phenomena that signify Japanese popular culture. 

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.

This course teaches how economic and psychological factors affect economic decisions of individuals, focusing on their bounded rationality. Each class is composed of two parts. The first half of the class explains the basic concepts and principles of Behavioral Economics; the second half introduces a few research articles to bolster student discussion of related research questions. 

The course provides an overview of the Chinese economy: Chinese economic history; the rise of the Chinese private sector; pressing economic issues; the financial system, and economic relationships with other countries in the globalized economy. etc. The course consists of lectures, interactive discussion, real case studies, and presentations. 

Combining images, words/texts, audio, infographics, and art works, this course instructs on how to create short films/documentaries, photo-stories/essays, sound slides, and multimedia research/contents. An overview of the theories, principles and practices related to visual media methods is provided. Furthermore, the course provides exposure to basic scriptwriting, interviewing, photo and video editing, subtitling, photo/video journaling, typography, page and poster designing. Data citation and ethics in media production are also addressed. 

This course reviews the fundamental theories and contemporary practices of innovation and entrepreneurship, with students learning how to identify innovation and entrepreneurship opportunities; how to develop a business plan, how to acquire resources for their ventures and create and capture value from the ventures.

This course is designed for students with advanced proficiency to improve their reading and writing skills. Students learn the appropriate writing style for the person, situation, purpose, and content. Students will be expected to read and write about topics that interest them, as well as give presentations on books, tourist spots, everyday items, etc. that they recommend.

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.