Courses in Japanese Studies

EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES AND CIVILIZATIONS

EALC 101-102-103. Elementary Modern Japanese I, II, and III

This is the first year of a three year program designed to provide students with a thorough grounding in modern Japanese. Grammar, idiomatic expressions, and vocabulary are learned through oral work, reading and writing, in and outside of class. Daily practice in speaking, listening, reading, and writing is crucial. Students should plan to continue their language study through at least the second-year level to make their skills practical. The class meets for five fifty-minute periods a week. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

201-202-203. Intermediate Modern Japanese I, II, and III

Prerequisite: Japanese 103 or equivalent, or consent of instructor. The emphasis on spoken language in the first half of the sequence gradually shifts toward reading and writing in the latter half. Most work in Japanese. Five fifty-minute periods a week. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

223. Japanese Society and Culture (=Anthro 217, Japan 223, SocSci 223)

This course deals with various topics related to the anthropology of Japan. The goal is not only to provide students with knowledge and analytical tools to understand Japan, but also to examine how Japan has been portrayed by Western anthropologists and sociologists. Dominant concepts and framework used in the poast to analyze Japanese culture and behavior are first reviewed. Then specific topics are covered, such as self and identity, the family and socialization processes, social organizations and the work place, the position of women, ethnic minorities, immigration, and nationalism and transnationalism in Japan. Dominant analytical approaches are discussed in conjunction with detailed ethnographic works. Spring.

225. Tokugawa Intelluctual History (=Hist 148, Japan 225).

Spring.

226/326. Osugi Sakae and the First Twenty Years of the Century in Japan.

PQ: Reading knowledge of modern Japanese. Spring.

238. Popular Music in Modern Japan (=Japan 238, Music 238)

PQ: Knowledge of Japanese not required. This course investigates the position of popular music in modern Japan, moving historically from Meiji period military music to contemporary Japanese urban popular musics. We examine genres of popular music with a specific interest in interrogating the process of modernization, and the relationship with Western music and musical practice. A portion of each class is devoted to examining the lyrics, visual imagery, and music itself as reflections of the continued modernization process in Japan. Spring.

241-341/251-351. Geisha, Samurai, and the Imaginary.

Interpretations of sex and sword play and other (orientalist) imaginings of and in Japanese history. Winter.

246/346. Japanese History through Film (=Hist 246, Japan 246/346).

This course examines the intersections between cinematic and historical interpretations of Japan's past. Spring.

285/385. Fetishism, Gender, Sexuality, and Capitalism (=GendSt 295, Hist 289/389, Japan 285/385).

PQ: Open to students third and fourth year standing and consent of instructor. This course analyzes transformations in the cultural construction of gendered and sexed identities in Japan, Europe, and the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Starting with the readings from Marx and Freud on the commodity form and fetish, we read critiques and re-uses of these concepts from feminist and queer theory. We then analyze a series of case studies from our three geographic areas. Possible cases include advertising and display strategies; kleptomania as a diagnosis and theft as a political gesture; and style and political mobilization in feminist, gay, lesbian, and queer politics. Autumn.

297-298-299. Senior Tutorial I, II, and III.

PQ: Consent of instructor and EALC director of undergraduate studies. Students are reuired to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. This course may substitute for one of the coures in the concentration. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

301-302-303. Advanced Modern Japanese I, II, and III.

PQ: Japan 203 or equivalent, or consent of instructor. Must be taken for a letter grade. The third year marks the end of the basic modern language study. The purpose of the course is to help students learn to understand authentic written and spoken materials with reasonable ease. The texts are all authentic materials with some study aids. All work in Japanese. The class meets for three ninety-minute periods a week. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

348-349-351. Pre-Modern Japanese I and II.

PQ: Japan 313 or equivalent, or consent of instructor. This course is designed to help students whose research includes materials before World War II. The Materials used in class cover biography, newspaper articles, governmental documents, journals, and essays. Most are written in Kanbun Kundoku Style from the fourteenth to the twentieth century. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

360. Mori Ogai and Natsume Soseki Revisited at Century's End.

PQ: Knowledge of Japanese not required. This course centers on the writings, both fiction and nonfiction, of the two traditionally acknowledged "greats" (taika) of early twentieth-century Japanese literature: Mori Ogai and Natsume Soseki. Beyond their legacies of belletristic fiction and poetry, they exercised large roles as shaer o te modern written language, introducers, and translators of western literature. Spring.

401-402-403. Readings in Japanese Culture, Politics, and Society I, II, and III.

PQ: Japan 303 or equivalent, or consent of instructor. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

480. Public Intellectuals in Japan, 1945 to the Present.

PQ: Fourth-year standing, advanced reading knowledge of Japanese, and consent of instructor. Autumn.

523-524. Seminar: Modern Japanese History I, II (=Hist 756-766, Japan 523-524).

Autumn, Winter.

ANTHROPOLOGY

217. Japanese Society and Culture (=Anthro 217, EALC 223, Japan 223, SocSci 223).

Class limited to twenty-five students. This course deals with various topics related to the anthropology of Japan. The goal is not only to provide students with knowledge and analytical tools to understand Japan, but also to examine how Japan has been portrayed by Western anthropologists and sociologists. Dominant concepts and framework used in the past to analyze Japanese culture and behavior are first reviewed. Then specific topics are covered, such as self and identity, the family and socialization processes, social organizations and the work place, the position of women, ethnic minorities, immigration, and nationalism and transnationalism in Japan. Dominant analytical approaches are discussed in conjunction with detailed ethnographic works. Spring. (T. Tsuda)

BUSINESS

BUS 584. Seminar in International Economics: Understanding the Japanese Big Bang Content.

This seminar is designed for students who want to understand the fallout from the upcoming deregulation of the Japanese financial system. By the end of the course you will be an expert on at least one major firm's strategy for dealing with the Big Bang. Autumn. (A. Kashyap)

GENDER STUDIES

289/389. Fetishism, Gender, Sexuality, and Capitalism (=Hist 289/389, Japan 285/385).

Autumn. (N. Field, L. Auslander). (Description: see EALC.)

HISTORY

148. Tokugawa Intellectual History (=Hist 148, Japan 225).

Spring. (H. Wu). (Description: see EALC 166.)

PQ: Must be taken in sequence. This is a three-quarter sequence on the civilizations of China, Japan, and Korea, with emphasis on major transformation in these cultures and societies from the Middle Ages to the present. This year's sequence focuses on Japan from 1600 to the present, China from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, and Korea from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Autumn--(T. Najita), Winter--(M. Bradley), Spring--(G. Alitto).

246. Japanese History through Film (=Hist 246, Japan 246/346).

This course examines the intersections between cinematic and historical interpretations of Japan's past. Spring. (J. Ketelaar)

289/389. Fetishism, Gender, Sexuality, and Capitalism (=GendSt 295, Japan 285/385).

Autumn. (L. Auslander, N. Field) (Description: see Gender Studies.)

765-766. Seminar: Modern Japanese History I, II (=Japan 523-524).

Autumn, Winter. (T. Najita).

MUSIC

238. Popular Music in Japan (=Japan 238, Music 238).

PQ: Knowledge of Japanese not required. Spring. (R. Kendrick). (Description: see EALC.)

POLITICAL SCIENCE

259/356. Japanese Politics.

This course is a survey of the major aspects of Japanese politics: Party politics, bureaucracy, the diet, and political behavior in post-World War II Japan. Autumn. (B. Silberman).

SOCIAL SCIENCES

223. Japanese Society and Culture (=Anthro 217, EALC 223, Japan 223).

Spring. (T. Tsuda). (Description: see EALC).

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