Keio University

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." 

In the 1950s, Noam Chomsky revolutionized the study of linguistics by treating language as something produced by the human brain. From this change in perspective, the study of language became an indirect way of studying the human mind. In addition to opening up new ways to approach the subject, this change also built a foundation for doing linguistics as a science. Grammar is seen not as a known set of rules that people need to study in order to learn but rather as the rules that result from the human mind trying to make sense of the language it is exposed to. In this class we will look at two sub-areas of linguistics from this perspective: syntax (the study of phrase structure in language) and semantics (the study of linguistic meaning).