Keio University

In the face of a challenging business environment where change is the only constant, it is imperative to understand the intricate interplay of forces and factors that shape the business landscape to remain competitive.

This course seeks to provide a comprehensive view and understanding of the world of Marketing. Marketing is beyond the basics of 4Ps. While this course basically is about Marketing, students will not be learning Marketing à la textbook. Rather, different contemporary issues will be introduced and examined each week. The relevance and implications of the issues for all aspects of business, mainly Marketing will be discussed.
 

Students will develop an understanding of the different macro factors that affect decision-making and strategies through extensive readings, case studies and class discussions, as well as develop the ability to think strategically in analyzing and formulating solutions.

This course introduces the theory of financial economics. The major topics of modern finance will be covered in a rigorous way but with no claim to generality. The course assumes standard knowledge of microeconomics, calculus, and probability theory. 

The first part of the course (Weeks 1-2) is a refresher on the basic economic concepts used throughout the course, such as expected utility, choice under uncertainty, or competitive equilibrium. The second part (Weeks 3-6) covers standard portfolio-choice problems and equilibrium asset-pricing models such as the mean-variance model, CARA-normal model and the CAPM. The third part (Week 7) studies a basic market microstructure model with asymmetric information (Glosten-Milgrom model).

Economics can make two possible contributions to our lives. First, it may help us better understand how the economy works, or how its inhabitants --- or “economic agents” --- behave. Second, more importantly from a practical point of view, it may help us find how to influence our economy by means of economic policy, to improve its functioning and thereby our economic welfare as well.

This course is aimed at grasping the link between the first and the second by examining some of the examples of “economic theory used in practice.” The course teaches what kind of economic policies are being implemented for what purposes, and the theoretical basis by which such policies may be justified. The course examines the usefulness of economics, but we will also see its limitations. Knowing the latter is important, because many policies are often advocated without fully disclosing (or even worse, by proponents who cannot, or refuse to, see) their weaknesses or possible side effects.
 

The first part of this course (Week 1-7) covers a broad range of economics, both macro and micro, to give the students an overview of different economic theories and policies. The second part (Week 8-14) builds on the first part of the course and looks at the theory and practice of international economics, including trade policy, how economies relate to one another, and the latest issues in globalization.

This course analyzes the international security environment in Japan, including its new national security and defense policy as well as its challenges. The course is a combination of lectures and class discussion – the instructor provides lectures based on their extensive experience working for the Japanese government in the planning and implementation of national security and defense policy, particularly in the fields of legislation, policy framework, Japan-US Alliance, and international security cooperation. Students are required to prepare for each class session by reading the relevant part of the White Paper in advance.

This is a multidisciplinary course on the economic, political, and social aspects of Asia-Japan relations. It covers both theoretical and practical aspects, such as economic policies; Japan's corporate strategies, and financial markets.
 

Each session is composed of two parts. The first part is based on the latest text written by Japanese scholars. The second part addresses related topics based on comprehensive texts written by Asian and Western scholars. Students are expected to write short comments after each class.  The course will feature Asian policy makers and academics as occasional guest speakers.

This course is designed for students learning Japanese for the first time. The course focuses on the acquisition of grammar and sentence patterns based on the textbook Elementary Japanese for Academic Purposes Vol.1 (Lesson 1 to 6). Students must understand hiragana before taking this course.

This course aims to educate on the theories and concepts relevant to the field of stratification and inequality. The course covers the following topics:  intergenerational social mobility; educational inequality in comparative perspective; institutional arrangements in shaping educational inequality; education and labor market; the role of social capital and labor market; gender inequality, and racial and ethnic inequality.

While the history of Japan as a modern nation begins in the Meiji era, much of what we recognize as typical of 'modern life' in Japan begins in the Taisho period, or more generally in the 'interwar' period which extends into the early years of the Showa era. This course examines several aspects of this new 'modern life' with particular attention given to the new social roles, new gender roles, new lifestyles, and new forms of culture that emerged among the new middle class.

This course will be conducted as a seminar, but short 'mini lectures' will be given from time to time on several of these topics. Our main text will be 'House and Home in Modern Japan' by Jordon Sand; this book will serve as the basis for weekly class discussions. In addition, students will be assigned a book (on reserve in the library) to summarize (in small groups) in the form of a group presentation. Finally, students will be asked to produce an essay, based either on a topic related to our main textbook, or a topic related to the book they have been asked to summarize.

Modern Japanese literature is filled with ghosts and goblins—if you know where to look. This introductory course surveys some of the strangest, scariest, and wildest fiction in modern Japan. The course begins at the “beginning” of modern Japanese literature in the late nineteenth century up through more contemporary works, with the stories ranging from ghost stories and fairy tales to the literary equivalent of the splatter film.

The course addresses the following questions: How did the broad genre of what is today known in Japanese as gensō bungaku (roughly corresponding to supernatural, horror, and fantasy genres), emerge and develop as a set of assumptions about the nature of modern life in Japan? How do these assumptions challenge our way of interacting with the world, with other people, and ultimately with our own sense of self? What kind of new understandings of various boundaries—between the real and the unreal, the present and the past, the foreign and the native, the living and the dead—might these stories suggest? And how are these texts part of a larger global network of weird fiction—what, in other words, does it mean to call a Japanese text “Gothic”?

This class requires a significant amount of reading outside of class.

This course is designed for students learning Japanese for the first time. The course focuses on the acquisition of grammar and sentence patterns based on the textbook Elementary Japanese for Academic Purposes Vol.1 (Lesson 1 to 6). Students must understand hiragana before taking this course.