Waseda University

This course takes a historical approach to understanding Korea's popular culture, by tracing and chronicling its development from the early modern period till today. The first part covers the colonial period, when popular culture appears in its nascent form; the second part concentrates on its development after liberation and through industrialization and democratization; the third part examines the contemporary popular culture scene. The objective is to build an in-depth understanding of Korea's popular culture through both diachronic and synchronic approaches. The course also discusses the global appeal of Korean pop culture in recent years, often referred to as Hallyu or the Korean Wave, and critically analyzes the characteristics of its content, find reasons for its popularity, its impact in the formation of a new cultural identity of the Koreans, and its implications to the broader global community. Assessment: final exam, papers, group presentation, reading assignment, attendance and participation.

This course introduces probability theory. It covers a standard set of topics, such as random variables, condititonal probability, and conditional exception. The course is lecture style, followed by exercises. Each lecture focuses on illustrating key concepts and results by examples, rather than fully developing the theory.

This course introduces global economic history from the eighteenth century to the present. It mainly focuses on economic interactions between the West (namely, Western Europe and the United States) and other parts of the world. The course traces European activities in extra-European worlds in the process of economic globalisation, but it also sheds light on non-European actors in Africa and Asia to make it easier to understand that their agencies formed a part of the emergence and remaking of the modern global economy. Topics include industrialization, de-industrialisation, slavery, colonialism, tropical development, energy, and the environment. Assessment: exam, class participation.

This course explains the roles of financial systems. The keywords, risk and liquidity, are major parts of this course as well as those of the recent financial/banking theory. Topics covered in this course include; role of financial systems, time value of money, risk measurement, and portfolio selection. Assessment: midterm and final exam.

This course provides a theoretical understanding and computational methods of statistical tools for analyzing discrete choice and categorical data. More specifically, this course covers discrete choice econometric models and machine learning techniques for classification problems. The statistical software R is used throughout the course. Assessment: attendance, papers, other.

The course presents an overview of current economic issues in the field of development economics. The first part pays attention to contemporary theories. The second part touches upon various domestic issues and policy aspects. The last part covers international problems in development. The course material is built upon concepts of intermediate microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics. Also, it encourages debates based on critical thinking and evidence. Assessment: final term paper, class participation, and presentation.

This course offers an advanced introduction to the European Union (EU), including its history, institutions, decision-making processes and policies. An honest appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses of the EU is offered. The EU has been referred to as the most successful peace experiment in history, and the most successful international organization in history. The bases for both of these claims are examined. However the EU is also experiencing several interlocking and enduring crises, which some claim are a threat to the very future of the organization. These crisis include; the migration crisis, the Ukraine crisis, a democratic deficit, and Brexit. Each of these crises is considered in some detail. We also consider some of the key aspects of the EU's international relations, with a focus on the role of the EU in the Asia-Pacific. The course exmines the EU's relations with key state actors such as Japan, China, Russia, South Korea and Thailand, and also analyzes how the EU has tried to promote several human rights norms in the region, using a variety of norm diffusion methods. The course takes a look at the EU's attempts to engage with other governance projects in Asia, including ASEAN, the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, and the Free and Open Indo-Pacific promoted by the US, India and Australia, as well as Japan.

This basic Japanese course is designed to improve writing 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. The program offers various theme courses and students may take multiple sections. Assessment: attendance, participation, quizzes, and a final exam.