Waseda University

The objective of this course is to understand the basic mechanism of business cycles and price developments (inflation) in Japanese economy particularly after the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008. The course also discusses structural changes in the economy affecting recent patterns of business cycles. The course also instructs on practical ways of obtaining Japanese economic data and how to use it effectively to make graphs or tables.  

Accounting is the process of identifying, recording, and reporting economic activities and serves a vital role in our economy. It is a language that presents the financial condition of a business, non-business or other entity as well as how an entity performed financially in a given period. There are many people who rely on accounting information for their decision making, including investors, creditors, regulators as well as executives and managers who run businesses.  

This course presents a fundamental framework and concept for financial accounting, which is used by for-profit business enterprises mainly in their external reporting. In any business, financial accounting is imperative; it is simply impossible to understand a business without understanding accounting. The objectives of this course are to 1) Understand the basic concept of financial accounting; (2) How it is processed, and (3) How it is used.  

There are no prerequisites for this course. An accounting background or any specialized knowledge is not required.  

A topic-based survey class of American Literature, this course focuses on understanding and analyzing the main changes and important aspects of American culture, society, politics, and history by exposing students to the works of various kinds of American literature authors. Class readings include not only prose writings but also letters, diaries and several official documents written by American influential writers from the 15th century to the 19th century. From time to time, the course will also analyze rare photographs, musical CDs, and films. Students are expected to be interested in basics of modern literary theory which are widely associated in American literary studies. As we challenge the process of creating the notions such as “America,” “American History/Literature,” “race,” “class,” and “borders,” our readings will sometimes go beyond narrowly-defined “American” texts. Through these readings and analyses, students will learn various cultural aspects to approach social issues seen in American society, past and present. This course is conducted in a mixed style of lecture/seminar, and research works at the main library; therefore, participants will be assigned to make presentations, discussion, research and other activities. In the library survey sessions, students are expected to write and submit 2-3 page long paper each time during the class hours. 

Pragmatics is the study of the meaning of linguistic expressions in context (linguistic and otherwise). Speakers of any language need to grasp different kinds of meaning other than the so-called “literal” one (i.e. propositional meaning) to express what they wish to convey. Pragmatics is also necessary to understand what other people have said or written. Most of the time, people perform this task without much effort, but explicating how it is done is no simple task. This course explores how meaning interacts with structure.
 

The course addresses meanings of the predicate (including thematic roles); functions of nominal expressions (including deixis); politeness, and viewpoint. The special focus is on expressive meanings. Some of these issues are universally found whilst others are salient only in certain languages. 
 
Students who enroll in this course must understand basic concepts in theoretical linguistics. If most students have not taken a pragmatics course, the first few classes will be spent discussing basic concepts in syntax and morphology so that they can later explore multifaceted aspects of "meaning" and apply them for analyses of actual language use.