Japanese

An exploratory culture course for foreign students, Japanese Culture C offers insights into various aspects of the living culture of Japan. The course comprises of three basic approaches: Discussing certain cultural characteristics of the nation; reading some representative literature and conducting fieldwork at venues of cultural significance. Students can also enroll in Japanese Culture C; the course contents of both classes alternate between fall and spring semesters. Fall-only students can enroll in one class but may join fieldwork activities of the other class if there are openings available. 

This course examines the interconnection between the history and culture of the Tohoku Region, including the rebuilding efforts from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. It also addresses the variety of ways people have expressed themselves at different periods of history. 

This advanced Japanese course is designed to further develop oral communication skills placing a special focus on honorific expressions. A 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 goal of the class is to widen perspectives and deepen knowledge regarding various issues related to Japan and Japanese society. The program offers various theme courses and students may take multiple sections.  

This basic Japanese course is designed to improve reading 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 intermediate A2 level Japanese course focuses on the four skills of listening comprehension, spoken expression, reading comprehension, and written expression to enable students to use documentation in Japanese and to practice the language in a non-specialized context. The listening comprehension section focuses on understanding common greetings common greetings and work instructions; more elaborate questions on non-specialized topics; an everyday discussion on topics from ordinary life; the overall meaning of an authentic text (listening); and differences in levels of language (polite or familiar style). The spoken expression section practices greetings, thanks, and apologies with more nuance; making requests and offering responses with a richer vocabulary and level of expression, depending on the degree of politeness; using different conversational techniques to conduct a natural conversation (incomplete sentences, attenuation); producing a structured narrative of an event and be able to describe an unfamiliar visual document (on a theme explored in class); expressing your opinion in a simple way; expressing obligation and interdiction; expressing ability; describing a past experience; using two levels of language according to a given situation; using ageru, kureru, and morau with another verb in -te form. The reading comprehension section builds an understanding of around 300 kanji in context; a text on a topic discussed in class; and an overall understanding of a document using a bilingual dictionary and a kanji dictionary. Finally, the written expression section practices writing 110 new kanji; produces a homogeneous text in terms of style (neutral or polite) according to the type of text; writes a more detailed text on a simple theme, based upon a visual (graph, image); and writes a non-specialized letter.

The goal of this course is to develop the ability to use advanced Japanese constructions and expressions through reading articles helpful in understanding Japan and Japanese people. Students will extensively learn sentences and vocabulary used in academic material, and thus develop the ability to read scholarly Japanese writing accurately and at sufficient speed. Furthermore, students will deepen their understanding of Japan and the Japanese people as a part of their liberal arts education. 

Demons, ghosts, and monsters have populated the cultural landscape in Japan for centuries. Appearing in anime, manga, games, and movies, mysterious creatures continue to form the core of contemporary popular culture, sparking a global obsession with Japanese monsters. This course explores the cultural history of the strange and supernatural in Japanese literary, visual, and performing arts. Engaging with primary and critical sources from the eighth century to the present, it considers the social roles that representations of “the weird” have played in Japan.

This course is designed for beginners of Japanese or those who have only studied Japanese for a very short time. Students learn basic expressions to interact in Japanese to carry out conversations about familiar everyday topics. The course covers language revolving around greetings, introductions, family members, food, home, daily routines, making appointments, hobbies, holidays, shopping, and asking for directions.

In addition to the 160 basic kanji characters taught in K150, this course instructs how to read, write, and type 160 new characters, aiming to provide various methods of kanji learning, thereby expanding students' vocabulary of words that contain kanji. It focuses on teaching kanji for food, hobbies, family, school, adjectives, verbs, works, etc. 
 

Eligibility: Students who have learned about 160 kanji characters and are at least A1 level in the CEFR/JF Standard for Japanese-Language Education (N5 in the JLPT).
 

The course is designed for students to improve their reading and writing skills focusing on variety of patterns of simple and compound sentences applying basic writing skills. The goal is to improve clarity and cohesion in sentence writing.

This advanced level course instructs logical dialogue and conversation about abstract topics through reading, listening, writing, and viewing materials that deal with social themes. The course aims to improve Japanese expression, information analysis, and logical thinking skills through presentations, discussions, and writing.