Bachelor of Arts (BA)

BA Sociology and Japanese

Study sociology alongside Japanese language and culture.
  • Duration: 4 years
  • Year of entry: 2025
  • UCAS course code: TL33 / Institution code: M20
  • Key features:
  • Study abroad
  • Study with a language

Full entry requirementsHow to apply

Fees and funding

Fees

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,535 per annum (subject to Parliamentary approval). Tuition fees for international students will be £26,500 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

Policy on additional costs

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

Scholarships/sponsorships

Residence abroad support

We offer dedicated financial support packages of up to £2,000 for residence abroad students, based on household income.

You will be automatically assessed for this, based on your Student Finance financial assessment - you just need to make sure you apply for a financial assessment in the academic year in which your residence abroad will take place.

RWS Brode Scholarship

You may be eligible for this scholarship if you fulfill the following conditions:

  • your qualifications were achieved at a state-funded school in the UK;
  • your total household income does not exceed £60,000 (as verified by the Student Loan Company);
  • you achieve high marks in your A-levels (or equivalent qualifications), usually AAB or above;
  • you apply to (and remain on) either a single honours Language course, or a dual-language course.

Awards will be made according to a sliding scale, benefitting those who have achieved the highest marks relative to backgrounds.

You will be automatically assessed for this after you have registered on your degree.

You simply need to make sure you allow the University access to your records when applying for your student lLoan (we cannot otherwise assess your eligibility).

Bursaries and Scholarships

Course unit details:
Introduction to Japanese Studies

Course unit fact file
Unit code JAPA10030
Credit rating 20
Unit level Level 1
Teaching period(s) Full year
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

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.

 

Pre/co-requisites

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

Aims

  • 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.

Syllabus

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.

Below is a list of topics that may be covered during the course. This is an indicative list and the exact topics and their order may change.

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  

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

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

Teaching and learning methods

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. 

Knowledge and understanding

  • 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.

Intellectual skills

  • 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.

 

Practical skills

  • 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.  

Transferable skills and personal qualities

  • 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.

Employability skills

Other
Project management: Students taking this unit will be learning to work towards deadlines, work independently and to manage their time effectively. Written communication: Students on this unit will develop their ability to communicate a coherent and critical argument of depth and complexity in written form and to write in a way that is lucid, precise and compelling.

Assessment methods

Assessment task  

Formative or Summative 

Weighting within unit (if summative) 

Short essay 

Summative 

40% 

Long essay 

Summative 

60% 

 

Resit Assessment:

Essay

 

Feedback methods

Feedback method

Formative or Summative

  • Written feedback on bibliography exercise

Formative

  • Written feedback on two essays

Summative (and formative in the case of the short essay)

  • Oral feedback on class participation and available to all students during office hours and by arrangement

Formative

Recommended reading

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.

 

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 40
Independent study hours
Independent study 160

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Yuki Asahina Unit coordinator
Sharon Kinsella Unit coordinator

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