Asian Studies

While deepening exchanges between Japanese students and international students, this lecture provides a comprehensive overview of the relationship between Japan, China, and other Asian countries from both historical and contemporary perspectives. It aims to provide an understanding of global society in the 21st century. Among them, as clues for thinking about how two countries face each other; real-life culture shock experiences; misunderstandings due to expressions in Japanese, Chinese, and other foreign languages, and social and cultural differences.  This course aims to think of international relations based on misunderstandings and grassroots forces that are not the logic of international politics, but ta the individual level, such as what can a person living between Japan and China do?  The main format of spring semester classes is expected to be (1) group discussion, (2) group work for research assignments, and (3) group activities for reading. The language used is a combination of Chinese and Japanese, and the Chinese level of Japanese students does not matter. The main topics for the spring semester are cultural diversity and recognition of others.

This course introduces students to South Korean sexuality issues through the lens of sexuality, addressing topics such as colonialism and migration; industrialization, family, and sexual harassment; popular culture, media, and masculinity; militarization and conscription; and South Korea’s blooming LGBTQ+ movement. The methodology to approach these issues in the class is not to judge the phenomena only with one standard, but to articulate the multi-layers intersecting each issue. The course examines how historical change from liberated Korea in 1945 to the present-day was both motivated by and determinative of various gender dynamics, using secondary critical readings by scholars to better understand the relationship between society and sexuality in a chronological fashion. Students will learn about how Koreans have recognized diverse sexual orientations and gender roles over time.

Globalization and Japan is usually connected with the oft researched policy of “Cool Japan, ” which emphasizes popular culture, particularly anime and manga. Courses on anime and manga tend to focus on an analysis of the object, whether it is a particular anime or manga title. This course aims to fill the gap, by shifting the focus to the industries as popular culture cannot exist without the complex structures of business, form and application of anime and manga.

The course aims: 

1. To introduce the student to the “behind-the-scenes” aspects of anime and manga.
2. To introduce the student to research on anime and manga from a case study.
3. To engage students in critical approaches towards familiar topics.
4. To encourage students in think critically through their own projects of a chosen case study.

This course explores selected topics in the art and visual culture of Asia from Neolithic times to the tenth century CE. A wide range of objects from diverse media, including sculpture, painting, and architecture from India, China, Korea, and Japan, are examined within their respective historical, cultural, social, and religious contexts. Attention is also given to the transcultural paradigm of Asian art history. Topics include Indus Valley Civilization, Neolithic China, Shang Dynasty China, Zhou Dynasty China, Qin Dynasty China, Han Dynasty China, Early Culture and Art in Korea/Japan, Introduction to Buddhism, Early Buddhist Art and Architecture in India, Kushan Dynasty, Gupta Dynasty, and Buddhist Art in China/Korea/Japan.

If a child born to Japanese parents were raised by a Chinese national in China, legal issues aside, could the child really be called Japanese? Also, if a child born to an American couple were raised in a Japanese family in Japan, would that child have American characteristics? Therefore it can be said that people shape themselves through culture, which includes family relationships, language, eating habits, bodily movements, annual events, weddings, and funerals. This course focuses on traditional Japanese culture from the perspective of education and human development.

This course introduces a revisionist fashion history that decenters the West (Europe and North America) and places the East as its equal counterpart. Sartorial cultures in Asia are studied in their own right and on their own terms. It explores the history of global cultural exchange through the lens of fashion, covers the differences and similarities between Eastern and Western sartorial cultures, and provides critical insights into contemporary fashion consumption and industry. The course follows a chronological and thematic approach that examines fashion’s intersection with other domains of social life such as class, identity, and politics.