Waseda University

This course surveys realism and formalism in cinema by focusing on key realist and formalist texts; leading formalist and realist filmmakers, and major realist film-making movements. The course introduces film theories and the philosophical debate between realism and formalism. The course focuses on theoretical investigation, but examines realist and formalist theories by closely observing films to which such theories are applied. 

From the Meiji period onward, literature may be read as double translation of Western modernity and pre-Meiji cultural forms. Literary translation plays a central role in the construction of modern Japanese language and modern national literature. This course considers relations among language, culture, gender, race and ethnicity, power, nation and empire. The class is designed to give a greater understanding of Japanese history, Japanese literature, and postcolonial and gender theory, and to rethink institutions and systems of knowledge created within modernity. 

Why do we need social security? Will the private sector be able to provide them? This course emphasizes the criteria of efficiency and equity, as government plays an important role in performing the function of income redistribution through the social securities. The course also studies the theories and practices of social securities related to income distribution and redistribution. Hence, this course also tries to analyze social security from the viewpoints of welfare economics. In Japan, social security is composed of social insurance and social welfare. There was a huge increase of social security expenditures in Japan with the aging of society following the drastic increase of issuances of national bonds in the early 1990s. We discuss Japanese current systems of social securities, including annuity pensions, health care, and other social welfare programs.

This course is an introductory study of contemporary Sino-Japanese relations, covering the historical period from 1972 to the present day. It examines the prominent issue in the bilateral relations and explores several major factors that shape the change and continuity of the relationship from the perspective of international relations theory (IRT) in the discipline of political science. It aims at training students to understand Sino-Japanese relations with both basic historical knowledge and analytical capability.

This basic Japanese course is designed to improve speaking skills. A different theme concerning Japanese culture and society is chosen for each course and students are split into groups to engage in activities, discussion, and group work concerning the selected topic. The overall goal of the class is for students to widen their perspectives and deepen their knowledge regarding various issues related to Japan and Japanese society. Meeting three times a week, the program offers various theme courses and students may take multiple sections. Assessment: attendance, participation, quizzes, and a final exam.

This course is the gateway to becoming an individual who can function in a global society as stated in the diploma policy by acquiring fundamental knowledge and skills of the Japanese language. In this course, students will learn vocabulary, simple grammar, expressions, and writing system necessary for daily life, thereby establishing a solid foundation for further study. In addition, students will familiarize themselves with the sound patterns of the Japanese language.

This course offers a whirlwind survey of European history from the French Revolution to the present - it considers the political, economic, social, and cultural transformation of the continent during this 250-year period of dramatic change. At the beginning of the course, most Europeans were illiterate, impoverished farm laborers; by the end of the course, most had become well-educated, prosperous democratic citizens. The overarching theme for the course is the “revolutions ”－political, economic, and intellectual and their attendant ideologies. This includes the various “isms” that shaped Europe in this period: liberalism, nationalism, imperialism, communism, fascism, and feminism. Furthermore, the course addresses tensions between liberalism vs. Illiberalism; universality vs. particularity, and modernity vs. tradition. The course concludes with a reflection on the challenges that Europe faces today and in the future.

This course is designed for pre-advanced students to explore sentence structures, vocabulary, and kanji via newspaper articles and a textbook. After reading articles, students discuss topics related to the text and write an essay which is revised numerous times as to grasp the Japanese style of essay-writing. Students explicate the articles read in class, dissecting various grammar-points and creating example sentences and sharing them with the class. The various topics covered in the textbook provides students means to expand their Japanese abilities and enables them to think critically about such topics with newfound abilities. 

This course covers classic macroeconomic issues such as inflation, unemployment, interest rates, growth, and technological progress. The course also provides the foundations needed to understand how the macroeconomy operates and presents various solutions to economic problems.

Cognitive psychology is a branch of psychology that regards humans as information processing systems and aims to study its mechanism by the scientific method of measurement and observation. This course instructs on how basic human cognitive activities (e.g. perception, memory, learning, language comprehension, attention, etc.) are examined, from classic research methods to the latest research technology, such as functional magnetic resonance brain imaging.