Japanese Classes

Introduction to Japanese language and culture. Practice in basic sentence patterns and conversational expressions to enable students to speak and write Japanese.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Introduction to Japanese language and culture. Practice in basic sentence patterns and conversational expressions to enable students to speak and write Japanese.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Introduction to Japanese language and culture. Practice in basic sentence patterns and conversational expressions to enable students to speak and write Japanese.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Introduction to Japanese language and culture. Practice in basic sentence patterns and conversational expressions to enable students to speak and write Japanese.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Introduction to Japanese language and culture. Practice in basic sentence patterns and conversational expressions to enable students to speak and write Japanese.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 102. While the emphasis is placed on listening and speaking skills, students continue their study of kanji and begin to work with short texts. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 102 or its equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 102. While the emphasis is placed on listening and speaking skills, students continue their study of kanji and begin to work with short texts. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 102 or its equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 102. While the emphasis is placed on listening and speaking skills, students continue their study of kanji and begin to work with short texts. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 102 or its equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 102. While the emphasis is placed on listening and speaking skills, students continue their study of kanji and begin to work with short texts. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 102 or its equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 102. While the emphasis is placed on listening and speaking skills, students continue their study of kanji and begin to work with short texts. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 102 or its equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This course surveys the history of Japanese film from the "golden age" of Japanese cinema to the contemporary transnational genre of anime. While introducing methodologies of film analysis and interpretation, it develops knowledge of how major works of Japanese film and animation have expressed and critiqued issues of modern Japanese society. In doing this, we trace the development of two related archetypes: the middle-class salaryman and the adolescent girl (shojo). These figures - as well as their incarnations as cyberpunks and mecha-warriors, sex workers and teen rebels - help us explore Japanese film's engagement with the strictures of middle-class society, the constrained status of women, fantasy and escapism, sexuality and desire. Weekly screenings and discussion will be supplemented by readings in film theory and cultural criticism. Directors include Ozu Yasujiro, Akira Kurosawa, Oshima Nagisa, Miyazaki Hayao, Anno Hideaki, and Hosoda Mamoru. No prior knowledge of Japanese required.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course aims to investigate the complex relationship between language and identity in Japanese, Asian American, and other diasporic communities. Language plays a significant role in conveying one's identity, as do other semiotic means such as clothing. By exploring scholarship that considers language as it relates to identity, students will discover how speakers/writers use their agency in expressing their identity and how identity emerges as a social and cultural phenomenon. They will learn about multiple interrelated factors that affect how speakers/writers view and use language such as race, ethnicity, nationality, and multilingualism. No knowledge of Asian languages is required.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

When it comes to gender and English, people often think about third-person pronouns (they, she, he, ze, etc.), what others call you. In contrast, Japanese language speakers choose from a variety of first-person pronouns, what you call yourself. Some follow societal norms while others subvert them. This course examines how individuals and media creators make such linguistic choices (not just pronouns, but other expressions as well), and how these choices are fluid and based on such diverse factors as age, region, trend, rhetoric, and ideology. A very basic knowledge of Japanese is required, but all readings will be in English. Prerequisite: JAPA102 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 204. Emphasizes continued development of conversation skills, while not neglecting the development of reading skills. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 204 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 204. Emphasizes continued development of conversation skills, while not neglecting the development of reading skills. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 204 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 204. Emphasizes continued development of conversation skills, while not neglecting the development of reading skills. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 204 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This course aims at the acquisition of advanced level proficiency in speaking, listening, reading and writing. Students are given opportunities to develop abilities to narrate and describe, to understand main ideas and most details of connected discourse on a variety of topics, to read prose several paragraphs in length, and to write routine social correspondence and join sentences in simple discourse of at least several paragraphs in length on familiar topics. In addition, students will practice language that is sociolinguistically appropriate in specific situations. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 306 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 101. Spring semester. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 101 or its equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 101. Spring semester. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 101 or its equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 101. Spring semester. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 101 or its equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 101. Spring semester. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 101 or its equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 101. Spring semester. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 101 or its equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 203. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 203 or its equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 203. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 203 or its equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 203. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 203 or its equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 203. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 203 or its equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 203. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 203 or its equivalent.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

From notions of the "pure self" to teenage ganguro ("face-blackening"), Japanese culture is rife with instances of ideology and performance that reflect a deep complexity in its engagement with issues of identity and foreignness. This course traces the roots of this complexity back to Japan's beginnings as a modern nation and examines its cultural development into the present day. Works of fiction will be paired with readings in history and criticism to explore the meanings of identity, race, and ethnicity as they are expressed and contested in Japanese culture. The course will cover the literature of Korea and Taiwan, the experience of domestic minorities, and the contemporary cultures of cos-play ("costume-play") and hip-hop. No prior knowledge of Japanese required.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 305. Emphasizes strong development of reading and writing skills. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 305 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 305. Emphasizes strong development of reading and writing skills. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 305 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Continuation of JAPA 305. Emphasizes strong development of reading and writing skills. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 305 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This course is a continuation of Fourth Year Japanese I. It continues work on the acquisition of advanced level proficiency in speaking, listening, reading and writing. Students are given opportunities to understand the main ideas of extended discourse, to read texts which are linguistically complex, and to write about a variety of topics. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 306. (JAPA 407 and JAPA 408 are not sequenced courses. Therefore, students may choose to enroll in JAPA 408 without having been enrolled in JAPA 407.)

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This workshop for advanced students of Japanese explores the craft and cultural implications of Japanese-to-English literary translation. While developing facility and sophistication in translating literary Japanese, the course also gives you a closer familiarity with the Japanese language itself. In the first part of the class, weekly translation assignments will give you practice in a dynamic translation methodology while allowing you to explore expressive qualities of the Japanese language and trace major developments of prose style in the modern period. The second part of the course is devoted to helping you set up and complete a final translation project focused on a writer and text of your choosing. Prerequisite(s): JAPA 305 - Third Year Japanese I or higher.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WP
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials