Waseda University

This course covers the molecules that constitute living organisms and their control mechanisms, as well as biotechnologies and the principles of aging and disease. Students are expected to acquire the abilities to understand and explore biological systems at the molecular and cellular level.

Course topics include:

• Cells: The Fundamental Units of Life and Chemical Components of Cells
• Protein structure and function
• DNA and Chromosomes
• DNA Replications and Repair
• From DNA to Protein: How Cells Read the Genome
• Analyzing the Structure and Function of Genes 
• How Cells Obtain Energy from Food and Energy Generation in Mitochondria and Chloroplasts
• Cell Signaling
• Cytoskeleton
• The Cell-Division Cycle
• Cell Communities: Tissues, Stem Cells, and Cancer

This advanced Japanese course expands vocabulary. A different theme is be chosen to discuss each week. Students are split into groups to engage in activities, discussion, and group work concerning the selected topic. The goal of the class is not only to increase vocabulary, but also to widen perspectives and deepenknowledge regarding various issues related to Japan and Japanese society. The program offers various theme courses and students may take multiple sections.

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. The program offers various theme courses and students may take multiple sections. 

This course examines the history of Japanese film and television animation, or what the English-speaking world refers to as “anime.” It proceeds chronologically through Japanese animation history to see how the industry, culture, and various styles of Japanese animation developed and crystallized, particularly in the postwar era. Students view and discuss a range of animated works from a variety of angles and contexts germane to the particular work at hand. The course topics examine anime as 1) expressive of particular artistic merit, techniques, and themes relating to the components of the animated medium, and 2) relating to the business, management, and promotion of animation in the Japanese contents industries. Style and production are not separate categories within animation development, but mutually reinforce one another. 

Video games have become one of the world's most lucrative media entertainment forms, grossing more as a global industry in the 21st century than film or television. However, the mass acceptance of video games and the industry's growth into an economically powerful business has also affected us socially, culturally, and aesthetically. This course examines the dynamics of video games from a variety of perspectives, including its historical and technological origins; ontological debates about the nature and necessity of games and play; the flexibility of game aesthetics; types of game genres and narratives; the people who play games both casually and actively; transmedial dimensions of games (particularly in Japan); and how games function in and represent society and culture at large. In addition to readings, students play a sample of video games throughout the semester in order to understand a variety of game genres, designs, and intersections with culture and society.