Keio University

This course presents the history and main current characteristics of the Japanese legal system. The first part of the course presents the historical background of the Japanese legal system, focusing on the reception of Western law in the Meiji period and on the consolidation of the legal system in the 20th century. The second part presents several key aspects of current Japanese constitutional law, private law, criminal law, and procedure. The course may include a field trip to an institution of law covered during the semester.

This is a Japanese language course for non-JLP students designed for students learning Japanese for the first time. The aim of the course is to obtain oral communication skills utilizing basic vocabulary and sentence structure as well as enhance basic listening and speaking skills. The course design is based on sentence structures and grammatical patterns learned in the class “Essential Japanese 1M-1 & 1M-2”.  It is recommended to take “Essential Japanese 1M-1 & 1M-2” together with this course.

To communicate well with others, especially in cross-cultural settings, it is crucial to have a good vocabulary and grammatical knowledge of the language used, but this is not enough. We still misunderstand each other unless we correctly understand what they mean through their speech, which is sometimes not so easy. This course explores Japanese everyday interaction from various socio-cultural aspects that may affect speakers' ways of interacting with others. By analyzing it in detail, comparing it to practices in other languages, and sharing expressions and opinions with classmates, insight into how people select their words and expressions and thereby perform social actions is provided. The course examines socio-cultural phenomena of Japanese communication from a wider perspective, while observing and analyzing language use and its possible impacts on others. 

This advanced course introduces Japanese politics and demonstrates how the study of Japanese politics can contribute to an understanding of broader issues in comparative government and comparative politics. It examines how Japanese politics has developed and what has been key, referring to the relevant scholarly debates. It covers modern political history since 1945 and the structures and key actors of contemporary politics such as political parties, bureaucracies, and policy making. The course also studies a number of contemporary policy issues in depth, including industrial policy, regulatory policy, foreign and defense policy, and welfare policy. It looks at policy issues at a micro level and links them to broader political contexts of Japanese politics and beyond.