Asian Studies

This course is an in-depth survey of the traditional Chinese philosophies, mainly the “three teachings” -- Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. This survey focuses on the distinctive concepts of Humanism and Nature in these traditions, which accept “the unity of Nature and Humanity." Based on traditional Chinese ideas of "the Unity of Nature and Humanity," this survey course also explores the possibility that these traditions offer intellectual support for ethics of the environment and climate change, two major issues facing humanity today.  

This course is for international students gain a better understanding of Taiwan. Local students also participate to reassess their understanding of local history and culture and compare it with view of students from foreign countries. The course focuses on four themes: cinema of Taiwan, history and social change in Taiwan, religious and folk culture in Taiwan, and population and gender issues in Taiwan. Through in-class lecture, video screening, seminar discussion and field trips, students go through a succinct yet thorough introduction of how the Island of Formosa became modern Taiwan, and look into some traditional beliefs, customs and local lives in Taiwan. They are led to appreciate films produced in different periods and explore how various issues or events are presented in those films, as well as study Taiwan's demographic transition, marriage transformation and stalled gender relationship.

This course provides an understanding of Southeast Asian cultures and peoples, by explaining the general historical change from the 19th century to the 1990s by focusing on cultural change. This course is not meant to be a memorization of detailed names and times, but a creation of soft thinking for cultural change in this complicated wide area. The course looks the following important historical waves: Early Colonization (the period of mercantilism: before 18th century); Imperialism (19th century); birth of Nationalism (first half of the 20th century); Decolonization (the 1940s and 50s); Cold War (the 1960s); and New Change Period (the 1970s and 80s). This course focuses on material cultural elements or pictorial data in each period.

The course introduces students to transdisciplinary ways of viewing and examining modern Australia's relationship with the broad Asian region. It examines the conflicting perceptions, images, and emotions that Australians have towards their region and the various themes and events that have impacted upon them. Materials examined include historical accounts, literature, art, blogs, documentaries, and movies. Topics covered include: Asia and the formation of Australian identities, the rise of Asia and Australia’s shifting strategic relationships, the impact of Asian migration and multiculturalism, the transformations of urban spaces, Asian Australians speaking out, educating about and for the Asian Century, military adventures into Asia, tourism to Asia, economic ties with Asia, and cultural integration with our region.

This course provides an overview of the traditional media and the newer technology-oriented media in Korea. The course is divided into three main parts: examining the role of the traditional media in the social and political development and change of the Korean society; examining the influence of the newer media such as the Internet and social media that have brought about further changes in Korean society; and examining the content and Influence of the Korean entertainment media. The first part of the course starts by examining the general media landscape and then looks at the various factors in the development of Korean media. Since the development of Korean media is closely linked with various social and political factors in the development of democracy in Korean society, a critical aspect of is and understanding of Korean political history. We watch the movies “Peppermint Candy”and “Tae Guk Gi: Brotherhood of War” to this effect. Factors that affect the characteristics of Korean newspapers are examined in the first part of the course. In the second part of the course, we examine the extent of the influence of traditional media such as newspapers and broadcasting and compare it with the influence of newer forms of media that are being offered through the Internet such as Blogs, SNS, youtube videos, and podcasts. We try to understand the influence of these newer media in changing the Korean political and social culture. The third and last part, we look at the Korean media audience and try to understand the “Korean Wave”(Hanryu, Hallyu) not just in Asian countries but also around the world.

This course explores a cultural history of Korea through tangible and intangible heritages registered with UNESCO. Special emphasis is placed on the interplay between performance and tangible texts, trans-national interactions with neighboring states, and the construction of the cultural identity of Korea.

This course studies short stories depicting different aspects of the postwar period (roughly from 1945 until 1968) to provide an insight into the postwar period as a whole: how it shaped Japanese society at the time and how that process of shaping still bears upon the present. One short story at a time is studied. The texts will be made available to the class a week in advance on the Keio website, and all students will be expected to have read the relevant story before each class and to come prepared with comments and questions. All texts will be discussed on the basis of their English-language translations and the language of discussion will be English. However, the original Japanese texts will also be made available and native speakers of Japanese are particularly encouraged to use their knowledge of the original language to contribute to the discussion.

The course provides a survey of the modern Korean novel from its beginnings to 1945 but focuses on major works of fiction written after 1960. The course also demonstrates why and how Korean writers have tried to achieve "national literature" while trying to dispense with the limitations of nationalist discourse, which often suppresses the issues of gender and minorities, and even democracy itself. The course also provides a brief mapping of the contemporary literature of North Korea. 

The course is divided into three parts: the first part addresses the Chinese political economy in the time of reform and opening out. Topics include some of the momentous shifts in China's socio-economic order from Maoism to the present day, with a particular focus on the rising and declining social groups and the distribution of power resources across society; the key stages and (re)orientations of Reform and Opening; economic policies with an eye to the social and political tendencies and tensions that it encapsulates; Chinese socio-economic landscape of today in a critical discussion of notions such as state capitalism and China model; and the diversity of Chinese development through a focus on the contrasts between several competing regional models. The second part addresses Chinese culture and religion. Topics include cultural foundations of ancestor worship and its contemporary practice; the meaning of guanxi (relationship) and its application and transition in Chinese society; the Five Relationships, the core of Confucian ethics; the culture of Shanghai, including themes such as nostalgia and consumerism, as well as the value system and lifestyle of Shanghainese; and an introduction to Chinese policy of religious freedom, to the historical background and contemporary situation of Chinese folk religion, and to the phenomenon of mass conversion to Christianity in China. The third part focuses on Shanghai studies as a means to offer a distinct localized illustration of the Chinese experience.