Note: The Department Waitlist policy for all courses is 2 - Go to the department office to get on a waitlist, and then attend the first class meeting. Policies and procedures for handling the waitlist will be explained there.
Students wanting to begin language study, at a level other than first year, must take a placement exam to be held on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, from 1pm to 3pm. Students can call ALC (4-8286) at the end of August to find out where the tests will be given.
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Culture Courses/Literature Courses
250/Asian Studies 252.
Undergraduate Seminar in Japanese Culture. No knowledge
of Japanese language is required. (3). (HU). May be repeated with
department permission.
Section 001 – An Introduction to Japanese Theater. The aim
of this seminar is to identify and explore characteristic aspects
of theater as it has been practiced in Japan. As a set of diverse
performance traditions shaped by cultural history, Japanese theater
will be approached in terms of a number of unifying problems, among which are performance contexts and staging, audiences and reception, thematic concerns, authorship and production, use of
music and dance, innovation and renewal of tradition, and training
procedures. Representative theater traditions such as noh
drama, bunraku puppet theater, and kabuki will
be considered in both historical and modern day forms. Forms of theater that emerged in response to engagement with Western culture
and performing arts during the late nineteenth and early twentieth
century, and select developments from the latter half of this
century, such as butoh dance-theatre, will also be introduced.
As there is no more effective gate to understanding of a performing
art than first-hand experience, the seminar will include some
practical study of the basic techniques of chant used in noh
drama. A workshop in the music and dance of noh, to be
led by a Japanese colleague, is also under negotiation. Class
preparation will include readings and the viewing of assigned
videos. Student assessment will be done on the basis of written
reports, contributions to discussion, and the results of two exams.
WL:2 (de Ferranti)
Section 002 – Reading "Japan" Using textual
and visual media like literature, film (Japanese and Hollywood), newspapers, Japnese animation, and Japanese toys, this course
will interrogate the ways in which "Japan" is understood
in a transnational context. Focusing first on Japanese animation
and Japanese monster toys, these will be shown to function in
inter-textual networks with high-culture texts such as the Old
Testament, Shakespeare's Hamlet, and Japanese classical
literature. Next, the course will explore the ways in which films
like Godzilla are understood and experienced differently
in regard to gender, ethnicity, and national identifications.
The last part of the course will treat canonical texts of Japanese
literature to show how these too are participating in "crossings"
of high and low culture, and "crossings" between and beyond nation-states. Students will be introduced to the critical theories of cultural studies, psychoanalysis, and Marxism, and will read Japanese (in translation) and English texts emphasizing
queer theory and critical theories of race and ethnicity. WL:2 (Driscoll)
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Times, Location, and Availability
401/Asian Studies 401.
Japanese Literature in Translation: Classical Periods to 1600.
A knowledge of Japanese is not required. (3). (HU).
Reading in Japanese literature in English translation from the
eighth century through the eighteenth. The aim is to examine great
works of the classical literary tradition as manifestations of
Japanese culture and thought prior to the opening to the West
in the nineteenth century. Historical and thematic emphases will
vary from year to year, but will include selections from the Man'yôshû, the eighth-century anthology of native poetry; The Tale of
Genji, the eleventh-century novel of course life and manners
by the woman writer Murasaki Shikibu; Buddhist-inspired essays
and epic war tales from the medieval period; Nô
and Kabuki plays; and liked poetry and haiku through the period of Bashô. This course, together with
its modern sequel (Japanese 402), is recommended to all students
with a general interest in literature or in Japanese culture.
Classes are in a lecture and discussion format. Requirements are
a midterm and final examination, a final 8-10 page paper, and discussion participation. WL:2
(Ramirez-Christensen)
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Times, Location, and Availability
475. Japanese Cinema.
A knowledge of Japanese is not required. (3). (Excl).
Laboratory fee ($50) required.
This course will survey the history of Japanese cinema with the
aim of understanding a vital aspect of twentieth-century Japanese
culture. While structured chronologically, students will develop
sophisticated approaches to understand what a national cinema
is, how it relates to national identity, and how it fits into the global film scene. All aspects and genres of Japanese film
come under consideration, including both the art film and more
popular forms. We will start with the early cinema, and proceed through the silent era sword films, the classics of the 1950s, documentary, the avant-garde, ending with the recent explosion
in animation art. Course requirements include outside screenings, papers, and a final. WL:2
(Nornes)
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Times, Location, and Availability
Language Courses
101. Beginning Japanese.
Native or near-native speakers of Japanese are not
eligible for this course. (5). (LR).
The goal of the course is the simultaneous progression of four
skills (speaking, listening, writing, and reading) as well as
becoming familiar with aspects of Japanese culture which are necessary
for language competency. Recitation sessions are conducted in
Japanese emphasizing speaking/reading in Japanese contexts at
normal speeds. Analyses, explanations, and discussions involving the use of English are specifically reserved for lectures. It
is expected that, by the end of the year, students will have basic
speaking and listening comprehension skills, a solid grasp of
basic grammar, reading and writing skills in Hiragana
and Katakana, and will be able to recognize and produce
approximately 140 Kanji in context. Texts: Situational
Functional Japanese Vol. 1-2. Tokyo: Tsukuba Language Group, 1991. WL:2
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Times, Location, and Availability
201. Second-Year Japanese.
Japanese 102. Native or near-native speakers of Japanese
are not eligible for this course. (5). (LR).
Further training is given in all four language skills (speaking, reading, listening, and writing) for students who have acquired
a basic language proficiency. The introduction to basic Japanese
grammar items will be completed around the fourth week of the
second term of second-year Japanese. The aim of the oral component
is to provide the student with the speaking and comprehension
skills necessary to function effectively in more advanced practical
situations in a Japanese-speaking environment. In the reading
and writing component, emphasis is on reading elementary texts, developing an expository style, and writing short answers/essays
in response to questions about these texts. Approximately 500
of the essential characters are covered. Discussions on the social
and cultural use of language are provided through various video
tapes. Students are required to attend five hours of class per
week: two hours of lecture and three hours of recitation. Recitation
sessions emphasize speaking/reading in Japanese at normal speed
with near-native pronunciation, accent, and appropriate body language
and are conducted entirely in Japanese. Analyses, explanations, and discussions involving the use of English are reserved for
lectures. Texts: Situational Functional Japanese Vol. 2-3.
Tokyo: Tsukuba Language Group, 1991. WL:2
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Times, Location, and Availability
225(250). Calligraphy.
Japanese 101. (1). (Excl). May be repeated for a
total of three credits.
The goals of the course are to help you learn how to practice
Japanese calligraphy and cultivate your mind through the practice.
Six subjects, including Kanji and Hiragana will
be introduced with the focus on basic skills such as the manner
of using brushes, balancing characters, etc. Throughout the course, students will work on clarity of thought through the
writing of characters in a tranquil setting, concentrating on
maintaining correct posture and behavior throughout the writing
process. WL:2
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Times, Location, and Availability
405. Third-Year Japanese.
Japanese 202. Native or near-native speakers of Japanese
are not eligible for this course. (5). (Excl).
Advanced training is given in all four language skills. Practice
in the use of spoken Japanese is contextualized within simulated
Japanese social settings. A variety of selected modern texts (essays, fiction, and newspapers) are read, with emphasis on expository
style. The goal is to produce self-sufficient readers who can
read and discuss most texts with the aid of a dictionary. Recitation
sessions are conducted all in Japanese with an emphasis on speaking
and reading Japanese at normal speed with near-native pronunciation, accent, intonation, and appropriate body language. Lectures will
also be conducted in Japanese, with occasional English explanation
if necessary, and will focus on Japanese grammar and culture.
Texts: Selected reading materials. WL:2
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Times, Location, and Availability
416. Communicative Competence
for Japan-Oriented Careers. Japanese 406, 411; and permission of instructor. (3). (Excl).
This course stresses the effective use of the Japanese spoken
language in contexts likely to be encountered by a career-oriented
professional in Japan. Topics include: Organization, Business
Travel, Meetings, Bureaucracy, Distribution, Expansion, Annual
Reports, Business Ritual, and Socializing. In addition, the course
will include practice in rapid reading and transcription/dictation
of moderately difficult texts, newspaper articles, and news broadcasts.
Students are expected to practice with audio tapes for a minimum
of two hours for each class hour. WL:2
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Times, Location, and Availability
461. Social Science Readings
in Japanese. Japanese 406. (4). (Excl). May be repeated
for credit with permission of instructor.
This course helps students to develop reading skills necessary
to conduct research in Japanese social science topics. Readings
are assigned from newspapers, books, and journals in a variety
of fields. The emphasis is on the acquisition of kango
vocabulary that arises in understanding these readings. Class
attendance is mandatory. Homework includes a minimum of two hours
of preparation per class hour. Students are expected to prepare
for the readings and for frequent quizzes so that they can participate
actively in discussion in Japanese in class. Japanese essays will
be assigned. WL:2
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Times, Location, and Availability
541. Classical Japanese.
Japanese 406 and 408. (4). (Excl).
An introduction to the classical language aimed at mastery of the basic vocabulary, grammar, and syntax necessary to read all
Japanese writing, literary or otherwise, before the twentieth
century. A reading knowledge of modern Japanese (equivalent to three years of study) is a prerequisite. Class meetings are devoted
to close syntactic analysis and translation of samples from various
classical texts, with particular emphasis on poetry and narrative
from the Heian and medieval periods. This course is required of
all graduate concentrators in Japanese and is a prerequisite (with
Japanese 542) to advanced work in pre- and early modern Japanese
texts. It is also highly recommended to graduate students of premodern
Japanese history, art history, Buddhism, etc. It may
also be taken by undergraduate students with sufficient preparation
in the modern language. WL:2
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Times, Location, and Availability
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