Waseda University

This advanced Japanese course is designed to develop overall language skills with emphasis placed on literary and newspaper readings. Students learn advanced kanji characters and their compounds, grammar patterns, and vocabulary. The goal of the course is to be able to read technical articles, essays and newspaper articles, and to communicate with Japanese people in real situations by improving listening and speaking ability. 

This course facilitates an understanding of the dynamics of the political environment through which public policy is formulated, adopted and implemented.  The course introduces key concepts, theories and analytical approaches in public policy studies.  At the end of this course, students will examine contemporary challenges to public policy and the role of government.

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.  

This Japanese course is designed to improve listening 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.  

Strong design cultures have proven to be a source of resilience and prosperity for nations, cities and enterprises. As recent AI developments portend disruption of industries, work, and familiar career paths, this course aims to equip students with a solid understanding of design principles and practice. Once associated with the built environment, physical products, and corporate illustration, design principles are widely applied to experiences, systems and processes, places and identities. In contrast to those familiar with humanities and sciences, the course demonstrates how design thinking represents a distinctive way of seeing and thinking yet complements and strengthens a liberal arts education. Design is optimistic, aims to make a difference through problem-finding and solving, and is inherently multi-disciplinary. By exploring the evolution of design practice through historical and contemporary examples, and a group project of design inquiry, students will begin to cultivate a design mindset. 

This course offers an intermediate (and a bit advanced) level of the study of welfare economics.   

Welfare economics is a particular branch of microeconomics with an intensive focus on equity issues of resource allocation problems. The course starts by reviewing and examining general equilibrium analysis using the model called exchange economy then onto the two fundamental theorems of welfare economics, which are concerned with the efficiency and equity of a Walrasian equilibrium. Then, it moves on to studying two basic concepts of equity: envy-freeness and egalitarian equivalence, in the context of exchange economy. Theoretical analysis of inequality and poverty measurement is also covered. Empirical data of income inequality and poverty will be shown to familiarize students with standard inequality and poverty measures. 

This course studies the fundamental concepts of phonetic and phonological theories. The course begins with a review of classical taxonomic phonology and then moves on to the study of modern phonological theories.  

The course also covers practical phonetics, and students will practice producing speech sounds from languages spoken around the world, using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Examples will be presented mainly from English and Japanese to help students understand the theories, but examples from various other languages will also be used to further explain the theoretical concepts. Students are expected to have a basic knowledge of phonetics and phonology. 

This course explores the complex relationship between pluralism and community. This course defines pluralism as the existence of multiple races, ethnicities, cultural groups, religions, factional interests, political persuasions, etc. in society.  “Community” in this course refers to the existence of what we can broadly call a ‘sense of togetherness’ among members of society.   

Can pluralism and community exist side-by-side? The course explores three broad responses to this question. First, it considers perspectives that maintain to varying degrees that pluralism and community are compatible. Second, it considers perspectives that cast doubt on the compatibility of pluralism and community.  Third, the course considers perspectives that share the skepticism of the second broad response, but for opposing reasons.   

This course  explores how law and justice function in Japanese society. Beginning with the process of how the law was established, the course covers not only the court system, which is the core of dispute resolution, but also the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) system; the legal profession; access to justice issues; the family and the law, and law and gender issues.  The course examines the Japanese legal system from a critical perspective and seeks an understanding of the characteristics of the Japanese legal system and its function in Japanese society. 

Each class will include a student discussion session and students will be asked to write brief comments during or at the end of each lecture. 

The goal of this course is to acquaint students with the basic history, philosophy, methodologies, and practice of drama in the field of Education. Through the study of history, philosophy and practice of each practitioner, the course explores the potential of drama as a tool of diverse learning. Along with theoretical study, students will be exposed to hands-on exercises and techniques of “Educational Drama.” By the end of the course, a widened knowledge and perspective of the possibility of educational drama will be acquired.  

During the first four weeks, students will be exposed to many readings and a variety of drama techniques and methods to prepare for the design, implementation, and evaluation of drama activities. After this period, students will be divided into groups where they will be assigned a drama practitioner; create a lesson plan and conduct a drama. The whole class will reflect upon this activity at the end of the course.