Asian Studies

This course explores a specific theme of a broad range of topics in Japan Studies representing humanities, social science, natural science, and environmental science perspectives. The course involves substantial out of classroom work, including fieldwork, interviews, and first-hand observation.

This course is taught by three instructors, Takahashi, Nakato, and Kajiwara, in an omnibus format. 
 

Takahashi's class introduces the themes, 'Japanese culture around oneself' and 'language.' This covers topics such as 'temples and shrines in Kyoto;' 'food culture,' 'Japanese houses; 'Japanese people and animals,' etc. In the 'language' section, students learn about 'onomatopoeia,' 'kanji, tongue twisters, and proverbs,' as well as 'Folktales,'  aiming to deepen their understanding of Japanese culture and language.　

Nakato's class focuses on 'Japanese makeup culture and color sense' and 'Japanese innovation and pop culture,' deepening one's understanding of Japanese culture through a comparison of past and present. 

Kajiwara's section revolves around the instructor's own experience revolving around 'Japanese rice,' 'the charm of the countryside,' and 'hot springs.' Additionally, the class aims to enhance understanding of Japanese culture through comparisons with other countries.

Students will use brushes, washi paper, mineral pigments, and gold leaf used in Japanese paintings, as well as the brushes and glue used for mounting, and finish their works. You can learn about the texture of paints and base materials, the fun and difficulty of classical techniques, and the structure of works, which cannot be learned just by looking at art works at galleries and museums. 
In the first half of the class, students will complete ink reproductions of classic Japanese paintings. In the second half, you will complete your original work on a fan using various paints used in Japanese paintings. Let's have fun learning together and creating works that are full of originality using variety of Japanese painting materials.

This course focuses on the biographies of individuals intimately connected to Japan who through choice and circumstance have come to lead extraordinary lives. The course, through analysis of numerous life histories and a range of theories that help us understand them, offers insights into the nature of cultural homogenization and social differentiation and the particular ways these processes are defined and reinforced in the Japanese context.

Since ancient times, people have traveled to sacred places in search of sacred power, listened to the legends of these places and the miraculous experiences of the gods and Buddha. Particularly in the Middle Ages, engi-e, paintings of the origins and history of a temple or shrine, which glorified miraculous experiences and visualized the stories of the gods and Buddha; and pilgrimage mandalas, which skillfully depicted the past and present of sacred places, were actively produced, and were sometimes displayed in front of people. This course discusses religious paintings such as engi-e and pilgrimage mandalas, as well as related stories and legends, to decipher the beliefs in sacred places and the stories that support them. The course aims to acquire the ability to read narrative pictures while exploring the origins of power spots that attract even modern people and the spiritual culture of the Japanese people, and examining methods of picturing sacred places and the specific aspects of faith.

Students focus on contemporary forms and practices of Malay families and households, the underlying concepts in family studies, and prevalent notions of the Malay family and household. A major focus is the changing nature of Malay family and household structures and their diverse forms. Students analyze the dynamic social relationships in households from different perspectives. The course explores how Malay families design family styles in a context of changing societies and is targeted for students interested in family studies.

What is the Chinese poetry? Why is it called “shige (literally, song-word)”? How does it imagine a lyrical way to express the individual feelings or the collective narrations about the body, life, nature and the universe of the Chinese people? Through a cross-cultural perspective, this course is intended to help foreign students understand, appreciate and experience the beauty of classical Chinese poetry, especially its unique tradition of musicality. This is a taught course over 16 weeks through the spring term. Class time will consist of lectures, poetry readings, seminars, discussions, with a workshop and a poetry recital where appropriate. Students are asked to join all the activities.

The course will lead you to explore Shijing (The Book of Songs) & The Lyrics of Chuci (The Lyrics of Chu) in pre-Qin peroid, Yuefu (Music Bureau Poems) in the Han Dynasty, “Nineteen Old Poems”, Shi Poetry in the Tang Dynasty, Ci Poetry in the Song Dynasty, and Qu Poetry in the Yuan Dynasty.

The course creatively combines poetic criticism with poetry performance by integrating the theoretical methods of Chinese poetics, musicology and vocal performance. The course aims to help students enjoyably and engagingly overcome language and cultural barriers, to experience the charm and the profundity of the Chinese language and culture by reciting and chanting the classical Chinese poems.

This undergraduate lecture course is designed to survey major topics of the international relations of the People’s Republic of China with a specific focus on Chinese perspective. With a brief introduction of major theoretical perspective on foreign policy studies, the main body of the course is organized around special topics of Chinese foreign policies, including the Chinese historical legacy and its impact on China’s foreign policy, nationalism and public opinion in contemporary China, mechanism of China’s foreign-policy decision-making, leaders and their styles, China’s attitudes towards global governance, the economic dimension of China’s interactions with the outside world, public diplomacy and China’s soft power and China’s policy towards peripheral countries, (in particular, the Northeast Asia and the South China Sea). This course pays attention to the application of different international relations theories to the problems under study. The course aims to acquaint students with knowledge of China’s involvement in world affairs in historical and contemporary perspectives and train them with an analytical understanding of the dynamics of China’s foreign policy.

This course is designed to introduce students to the main currents of Chinese ancient spiritual traditions, tracing into literary and philosophical texts the inner experience that they carry and interpret. Pondering over a selection of relevant excerpts, the students will navigate throughout Taoist, Confucian, Legist and early Buddhist traditions. Students will be able to understand and compare the structure of the spiritual world as suggested by various schools, mystics and authors, and to approach the journeys that have been undertaken into the inner world. The goal of the course is also to provide students with skills in comparative textural and cultural studies, by drawing their attention to the lived experience that lies behind major texts of Chinese culture.