Asian Studies

The purpose of this course is for students to learn about Japanese communication behaviors and culture, using a comparative approach with other cultures. Students are to learn through their own experiences--very interactive and practical.

Students will also learn intercultural communication and get to practice communication cross-culturally.

The course aims to:
1, Provide knowledge about Japanese communication behaviors, and increase students’ appreciation toward Japanese culture. Students will also come to understand how Japanese communication behaviors are greatly influenced by Japanese values.
2, Compare different cultures of the other foreign students through peer discussion.
3, Apply student learning in real life.

Two teachers, Takagishi and Paie, teach this course in an omnibus format.　
　
In Takagishi's classes, "Japanese culture around me," "pop culture," and "language" are the main pillars. "Festivals and events in Kyoto" as "Japanese culture around me", "The founding spirit of Doshisha" while tracing the life of Jo Niijima, the founder of Doshisha, "Japanese kimono culture" to learn about the history and patterns of kimono ” is discussed. "Pop culture" deals with "Japanese manga/anime" that considers Japan's manga and anime culture, and "Japan's popular songs" that traces the history of popular songs from the postwar era to the present. By studying the Kansai dialect and young people's language, which are used in the city and on campus as "languages," students will notice the differences from the standard language; learn about the mechanism of young people's words and the way of thinking of young people in Japan. By learning the various aspects of Japanese culture mentioned above, the course aims to deepen understanding of modern Japanese culture.　
 

In Paie's classes, the class revolves around Shinto and Zen Buddhism, which are the background of the Japanese way of thinking and spirituality and learn them as one of the entrances to those cultures. The course instructs on the Shinto religion – its origin, relationship with Japanese lifestyle, and tradition of festivals as its characteristics. In addition, the course connects Shinto and the martial arts, teaching Sumo and Aikido as Shinto martial arts. Next, the class provides an overview of Japanese Zen Buddhism and its culture: the history and thought of Zen words and Zen paintings. Students will be exposed to a zen experience with a priest from Rinzai, and learn the characteristics of Japanese culture through these experiences.

This seminar provides students with an introduction to the study of contemporary Chinese political economy. The early sessions of the course will place China’s economic development in global historical context before examining the characteristics of the Maoist command economy as well as reformers’ approach to marketization after 1978. Later sessions will focus on current issues relating to the state’s efforts to establish a sustainable, equitable and innovative economy. The final sessions examine China’s role in an increasingly turbulent global economy. Working closely with the instructor, students will write a research paper on a topic related to the contemporary Chinese political economy.

This course is an introductory study of contemporary Sino-Japanese relations, covering the historical period from 1972 to the present day. It examines the prominent issue in the bilateral relations and explores several major factors that shape the change and continuity of the relationship from the perspective of international relations theory (IRT) in the discipline of political science. It aims at training students to understand Sino-Japanese relations with both basic historical knowledge and analytical capability.

Berlin is a multi-cultural city with a diverse cultural life. The seminar presents this transcultural landscape connected to Asia. Starting with the fascination of collectors and travelers to Asia in the Barock period of the 18th century and the establishment of cabinets of curiosities, collections and material culture has lend contemporary relevance to ethnography, art history and anthropology. Asian collections and architecture presented in Berlin are confronted with the very colonial contexts from which substantial parts of them hail, giving contemporary relevance to the history of their origins. As issue today are questions of cultural heritage, cross-cultural methods and opening-up to non-western research, discourses, Arts and Asian communities.

A distinctive feature of Japanese cultural tradition is an aesthetic that favors the subtle, the condensed, the pure, and the ephemeral. This contrasts with the West, which finds beauty ideals in things that are large, rich, powerful, and rationally ordered. From bonsai to figurine, it is said that this characteristic has been passed down through repeated exchanges with China in ancient times and with the West in modern times.　

This course considers the factors behind Japan's unique sense of beauty, centered on plastic arts, and what the results were, through comparison with those of the West and China. Taking advantage of the geographical advantage of studying in Kyoto, which has nurtured Japanese aesthetic traditions and produced excellent art, the course also includes a tour.　

This course addresses various issues that constitute citizenship and non-citizenship in the process of transmigration, settlement, and creation of communities (or nation), as well as identity formation, cultural hybridization, and cultural/knowledge productions ‒ all of which are informed by race, gender, sexuality, class, religion, language, and others.

The course aims to:

1) Familiarize students with some fundamental concepts of reconciliation, peace, and coexistence in a range of historical contexts;
2) Analyze and interpret historical theories and case studies in the local and global context of East Asia (China, Japan, Korea(s), and Taiwan) to ensure a transnational perspective;
3) Help students develop an in-depth understanding of national, regional, and global dimensions in the makings of modern East Asia and interactions by illuminating human agency, nongovernmental organizations, and local dynamics in East Asia to think critically about historical narratives;
4)  Explain the concepts as nationalism, citizenship, identity and belonging;

5) Explain historical and contemporary issues faced by various displaced people categorized as “immigrants,” “refugees,” and “adoptees” in their process of transmigration, settlement, and creation of diasporic communities;
6) Analyze various data sources including policies, legislations, historical facts, popular cultural production, and personal narratives; and
7) Use intersectionality as a lens of analysis to discuss issues pertaining to identity formation.

This course is designed to assist students who seek to bring cross-cultural theory and research into their business practices in order to develop the intercultural competence necessary to interact confidently and successfully with Japanese businesspeople. Theoretical discussions and intercultural sensitivity workshops are included in this course to achieve these goals. The comparative approach allows for examining how people practice business differently, depending on explicit and implicit sets of general cultural assumptions, rules, norms, and values. The course aims to understand cultural differences in businesspeople’ s attitudes towards work, companies, and the relationship between individuals (colleagues or co-workers and clients/customers) and organizations (counterparts or partners). The course also seeks to understand possible cultural roots of Japanese business practices and behavior, highlighting phenomena that are only indirectly observable, such as harmony, loyalty, discipline, patience, respect for senior staff, and the importance of moderation.

A good mixture of lectures, class discussions, and workshops comprise the activities of this course.

The course focuses on Japan`s Environment and Energy Policies, especially its policies toward renewable energy. From a comparative perspective alongside other East Asian nations and Northern Europe (Norden), it analyzes Japan's role in global climate negotiations and its policies toward renewable energy in the context of its traditional reliance on fossil fuels and nuclear power.

By the end of the course, students should be well-versed in global environmental issues as well as Japan's policies for combating climate change and promoting a shift toward renewable energy. An understanding of the current state of Japan's transition toward using renewable energy for energy generation; the further electrification of transportation, and the shift toward a hydrogen economy, is also an expected outcome.

This course explores the complex relationships underlying Chinese music, language and literature. It focuses on Chinese music from the perspective of popular music produced in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. These four economies have developed different strands of popular music in Mandarin and various Chinese dialects, due to different linguistic and ideological environments. Students will learn how Chinese popular music draws upon the aesthetics of Chinese literature and traditional Chinese music, and how the music has hybridised influences from foreign musical genres, thus expressing different versions of “Chineseness”.