BA English Language and Japanese / Course details

This course lays the foundations of the Japanese Studies major. It will introduce students to the core events and influences in the making of modern Japan taught within a matrix of lectures, workshops, and practical orientations in Japan-specific study skills. The local Japanese experience of religion, language, and nation - from Samurai to ethnic culture, and the basic lineation of post-war and contemporary society, will be taught to ensure that students have a clear grasp of the major compositional and historical facts and issues in readiness for further studies of Japanese history, society, and culture.  The course will be divided into 3 sections: Geography, Language, History; The Making of Modern Japan’s Economy and Society – Family, Education, Class and Gender; and Understandings of Person, Society and Cosmos in Japan.

Available on: Single and joint honours programmes including Japanese or East Asian Studies 

• To provide students with an introduction to the core topics of the Humanities in a Japanese context – revolt, restoration, empire, identity, nation, gender, culture.
• To introduce students to a range of study skills from compiling a bibliography, to skills in reading and assessing academic texts in preparation for essay writing, to accessing and utilizing online and on-shelf library resources in English and Japanese, and accessing and using language materials and media sources provided in the ULC.
• To provide students with a basic understanding of key facts, dates and themes in considering Japanese society, thought, and culture.
• To provide an initial platform and elementary critical tools which will later enable UK-based students to analyse cultural problems and dynamics in and around contemporary Japan in an informed and self-aware manner

• demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of core dates and major events of modern and contemporary Japan

• demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of major influences and topics such as: language systems, modernity and the Meiji restoration, Orientalism, tradition and mythology, and samurai and social class

• engage in informed analysis of core readings on the making of modern Japan  

• research, prepare, and carry out readings for essay writing  

• write informed exam-length essays 

• construct ideas and arguments from own research and apply knowledge to finding solutions to authentic real world problems. 

• have the skills to discover good sources independently  

• demonstrate skills in searching for, compiling, and assessing materials for academic reports in English with appropriate organization of Japanese text inclusion 

       • demonstrate a practical and critical understanding of how to find, use, and approach media materials critically 

Resit Assessment

Articles and Selected Chapters from:

1. Sugimoto, Yoshio. An Introduction to Japanese Society. CUP.
2. Stanlaw, James 2004, Japanese English: Language and Culture Contact.
3. Ikegami, Eiko. 1996. ‘Shame and the Samurai: Institutions, Trustworthiness, and Autonomy in Elite Honor Culture’, in Social Research, Winter 2003, pages 1352-1377
4. Swanson, Paul L. and Chilson, Clark (eds) 2006 Nanzan guide to Japanese religions.
5. Vogel, Ezra. (1961) Japan’s New Middle Class: The Salary Man and His Family in a Tokyo Suburb.
6. Ogasawara, Yuko. 1998. Office ladies and Salaried Men. University of California Press.