Waseda University

This course introduces students to the interpreting industry of Japan, covering legal and court interpreting; news and broadcast interpreting; medical and hospital interpreting, and sign-language interpreting. The course also covers the concept and framework of community interpreting, analyzing the role of interpreters in the Japanese community through their own experience of living in Japan. 
 

The course provides the opportunity to research fields in Japan where community interpreting is still lacking and how a proper framework may be established to meet these societal needs. 

This basic Japanese course is designed to expand students' vocabulary. 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 while building up basic vocabulary used in daily life. The program offers various theme courses and students may take multiple sections. 

Laws have deeply affected the lives of minority groups in the U.S., and have been a source of both empowerment and deprivation. This course examines some of the U.S. laws and legal issues surrounding minorities, with attention to historical, political and social contexts, focusing on African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics, women, and LGBTQis.

This course examines the link between history and music. Opera, which was born and developed in Italy, went through the Golden Age of Opera when it became the major entertainment for Italian aristocracy. The course closely examines elements that Opera consists of: orchestra, conductor, state, lighting etc., and compares western opera based on Belcanto method with oriental traditional arts. 

This course discusses the main intellectual movements in the search for a modern Japanese identity. Since the Meiji period, Japanese intellectuals have devoted themselves both to introducing Western thought and to creating a Japanese identity in response. This course emphasizes the complicated interplay between Japanese traditions and modern Western thought. Following a discussion of the complex issues of tradition and reception, the course discusses Buddhism, Confucianism and Nativism (Kokugaku) and their impact on modern Japanese thought; then, the course explores liberalism and socialism in modern Japan.