Keio University

This class is aimed at intermediate level students. It focuses on listening practice, and increases knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, while improving listening comprehension and oral expression. Through this class, students also gain a deeper understanding of Japanese society.

Textbook: Teacher-created materials. 

This is a Japanese language course for non-JLP students designed for students who have a fundamental knowledge of Japanese honorifics. It aims to improve students’ ability of using Japanese honorifics in both spoken and written language. By practicing polite Japanese in various situations or contexts, students learn the relation between Japanese culture and Japanese language, Japanese way of thinking, and Japanese communication. 

This course introduces main functions of governments, and explains some features of central and local governments in Japan. It course examines basic theories of public finance and the fiscal activities of governments, related to efficiency and equity criteria. It explores the issues of provision of public goods, externality, income (re)distribution, economic effects of taxation, some topics of intergovernmental fiscal relations, and some fiscal decision-makings of central and local levels. While the course mainly uses the framework of traditional public finance theory, if necessary, it introduces public choice approach.

Education offers a useful lens for looking at Japan’s society (or societies), for it pertains to becoming a functioning member of society. It focuses on issues such as what one needs to know to act properly; whom to respect; when to speak, and who to become. Education is also a critical site of the ongoing debate surrounding globalization, bringing the spread of English along with an increased presence of ethnic and social minorities. Education also aids in understanding Japanese family structure, food, fashion, and the culture of the everyday, all of which reflect (and construct) culture, social structure, and worldview.  

This course critically explores Japanese education with a multidisciplinary perspective and a balanced objective so that one can gain a deeper understanding of contemporary Japan.  

This course is aimed at students who have completed the beginner level. It provides a comprehensive study of the first half of the intermediate level of Japanese language: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Through in-depth reading of textbooks, the course increases one's knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, and kanji, while improving their reading comprehension, writing, and expression abilities. Similarly, the course improves one's oral expression skills to explain and discuss what they have understood.  
 

Textbook: "Minna no Nihongo Intermediate I."