Keio University

This course is designed for students who have some experience learning Japanese, enhancing their listening and speaking skills.  The course design is based on sentence structures and grammatical patterns learned in the course, ESSENTIAL JAPANESE 2M, which is recommended to take simultaneously with this course. 

This course is designed for students at the intermediate level. The course provides opportunities to increase vocabulary and grammar through reading newspaper articles as well as developing speech techniques necessary to state one's opinions about the articles. Through this course, students also gain a deeper understanding of Japanese society. 

Textbook: Instructor-created materials. 

During 2022 last year, Japanese economy recovered from the Pandemic Shock. But almost simultaneously it faced many uncertainties. Global wave of inflation made Japanese Consumer Price Index rise by 4% compared to the previous year in December 2022, the highest pace for four decades. As many economists have seen long-lasting low inflation or even deflation in Japan as a signal of its stagnated economy, an emerging interesting question is what can result from this external price shock? After all, do firms and working people in Japan change their static mindset of many years and move towards surge of wages, ultimately leading to higher spending and hence, higher growth? On the other extreme, we cannot rule out the concerns of stagflation. 
Higher inflation has triggered rapid interest rate hikes by central banks globally. While this makes economic slowdown inevitable in 2023, how much it will be is still unpredictable. Looking at China, its sudden loosening of corona restrictions from the end of 2022 is likely to mean higher growth for the world. At the same time though, faster demand expansion of China may offset the impact of anti-inflation measures by other countries and force their central banks to tighten even more. Also, no one is sure which way yen’s exchange rate goes. 
These are just examples of the uncertainties for Japanese economy at the time of this writing (January 2023). However, underlying structural problems for Japan do not go away, either. Japanese population leads the world in terms of aging while its size continues to shrink. This poses strains on social security such as pension and healthcare. Geopolitical tension does not seem to subside as well, continuously making firms to rethink and restructure their cross-border supply chains. 
Many industries are under pressure for transformation. Digital innovations such as AI are the source of business creation by many startups, while they disrupt established business models everywhere. Recently the shockwave is reaching finance and automobile industries, bastion of the modern economy as we know it. In addition, environmental concerns require the whole economy to shift towards carbon-free. While this generates many business chances, it can become another source of industrial disruption. 
Observations mentioned above force us to ask a lot of questions for Japanese economy. What is the impact of monetary policy under a new governor of BOJ? Do we have reliable economic-fiscal scenario to deal with fiscal burden increased by the massive spending to respond to the pandemic as well as the need to sustain social security? 
What policies can improve the prospect of economic growth for Japan? What are reforms most urgently needed? Are they labor market reforms, immigration reforms, or strengthening assistance for families to have more kids? How can Japanese private sector grow more vigorously – more risk-taking by corporations or more fast-growing startups, for example? Can we upgrade Japanese manufacturing sector? Is export-oriented agriculture sector possible? 
These are urgent and crucial issues of our day. Drawing on lecturer's experiences at government, international organization as well as in business, the course tries to deepen our understanding of today's economic problems with the help of economics and through interactive discussion based on data. 

This course discusses the key concepts of human resource management in an Asia Pacific environment (HRM AP). It discusses how HRM is a key function of organizations, especially within the context of HRM AP. The course also examines the nature of HRM inter-relationships and principles for HRM AP, as well as the significant differences in HRM AP external and internal environments for various economies and cultures. 

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.