Waseda University

This course focuses on words in Japanese and English -- how these words are made, where new words come from, how the meanings and sounds of words change over time, and how individual words fit into the overall system of a language. This course introduces the basics of morphology-- the way words are built from parts such as roots and affixes. It also considers some of the other interesting aspects of words, including etymology (the history of words); patterns of semantic change; phonological aspects of words (such as stress in English and pitch accent and rendaku in Japanese), and recent trends in word creation, including the rise of blends, acronyms and use of characters in electronic communication.

This course examines one of the most complex products of society- the city, with the focus on the city of Tokyo. It takes a multidisciplinary approach to study the phenomenology of Tokyo at the meeting point between the built city and the personal urban experience. The course also looks at the creation and recreation of the city's physical texture, architecture, urban landscape, infrastructures and technology while at the same time, observing it as a social product determined by everyday life and habitual practices, the organization of the immediate surroundings, personal rites and the micro-politics of life in the city. In the same manner, the course looks at buildings and neighborhoods per se, as a material construct guided by geometry and legal code, while also recognizing how the pragmatics of this built environment interrelate with cultural systems such as literature and film, and with culture as a whole. The course also looks at how the city is not merely a reflection or expression of politics, but rather an intricate political apparatus in and of itself, influencing relationships and encouraging change.

This course focuses on understanding and analyzing the main changes and important aspects of American culture, society, politics, and history in terms of its influence on Japanese society.  Featuring Japanese academic writings, this course focuses on how Japanese academics have analyzed American cultural and literary topics. 

The first half of the semester features texts written before 1900 while the latter half focuses on stories published after 1900. The analysis of each text, along with its history and social context, fosters an understanding of several aspects of American society and culture.