BA Chinese 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.

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 workshops and practical orientations in Japan-specific study skills.  

The local Japanese experience of religion, language, and nation - from Ssamurai 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; and Understandings of Person, Society and Cosmos in Japan.

Semester 1

Section 1: Geography, Language, History (including ways to understand Japan and its history, through topics such as samurai and orientalism/self-orientalism).

Study Skills 1: Navigating the Library, Using the Library and online resources, Compiling a bibliography, How to Reference essays, Approaching Essay writing.  

Semester 2  

Theme 2: The Making of Modern Japan’s Economy and Society: including family, gender, and class.

Study Skills 2: Engaging with material critically, planning and composing an essay, incorporating Japanese names and transliterated sources.

Theme 3: Understandings of Person, Society and Cosmos in Japan.

Lectures and pre-reading will set out the key topics and issues and provide the fundamental information required for students. Discussion sessions on required readings and questions will follow lectures, especially in Semester 2. Study Skills sessions taking the form of practical workshops and some presentations will guide students through the basic study skills required to use library and online facilities and study Japanese society and materials. Students will be expected to come to seminars prepared to discuss readings and screenings on themes and ready to explore these through skills-based activities.

Language of Teaching: English. Key words are generally translated into Japanese script, romaji and English in lecture powerpoints. 

• 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:

Essay

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.