Introduction to Japanese Economy
IMAI Ryoichi, Associate Professor, International Student Center

The course is designed to provide some introductory knowledge of Japanese economy. Students will learn the essence of historical and institutional background of Japanese Economy. In this course, we will focus on the structural issue of Japanese economy as a background of the 10 year depression since the crash of the bubble economy in 1990.
Key words of this course: Corporate organization and governance, financial system and corporate groups, competition and business strategies, exchange rate regimes and international capital flows, productivity gap across industries, aging society, education and meritocracy, economic development and class stratification, and others.

Asian-Pacific Political Economy
Lee, Hong Pyo, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law

The objective of this course is to help students understand Japan’s relations to the developing world by examining the nature of Japanese international aid to education development. The course starts with a review of the major trend in development paradigm. The paradigm includes economic development, Basic Human Needs approach and social development. The introductory session is designed to enable students to conceive education development from wider development perspectives. The next few sessions offer an overview of education development in Japan. Japan itself has experienced such challenges as modernization and democratization of education that many developing nations are facing today. The course will explore relevance of Japanese experience, particularly policy and administration, to educational development in the developing world. Subsequent sessions will examine current issues of Japan’s education aid from various viewpoints as responsiveness and efficiency. Actors involved in Japan’s international education cooperation include central government agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and local government bodies. A new synergy of these “actors” is explored. The course concludes with discussion on future perspective of Japan’s international education aid.

Modern History of Japan
IMAI Ryoichi, Associate Professor, International Student Center

The course is designed to provide some introductory knowledge of Japanese history. The course will cover the history of Japan's political and economic system from Edo era to the early Showa era.

Representations of Crime and Justice in Japan
Mark Fenwick , Associate Professor , Faculty of Law

The media have a significant influence on the portrayal of crime in society. The images & representations that permeate popular awareness of crime are mainly generated by, and reflected in, the mass media. As such, the media have a tremendous impact in terms of how crime is generally defined & understood within contemporary society. Fictional representations of crime (films, TV series, novels), in particular, both mirror cultural understandings about crime and help to mould them.
In contrast, detailed knowledge and understanding of the realities of criminal law and criminal justice tends to be confined to police, lawyers, prosecutors, judges, academics and law enforcement professionals. It is perhaps not surprising to find a “gap” emerging between fictional representations of crime and the realities of crime and criminal justice.

Japanese Cultural Patterns
Jordan Pollack, Professor, International Student Center

This course examines salient cultural patterning—conventional principles and everyday practices—in contemporary Japanese life.  The approach is multidisciplinary, applying mostly anthropological, but also sociological, psychological, historical, and other perspectives.  Lectures, readings, and class discussions will explore a range of topics, including social identity and nationalism; population dynamics; cultural ecology; kinship, descent, and marriage; gender; enculturation and education; social stratification and consumption; production, labor, and management; governance and social control; and religion and ritual.  Connections between and consistencies across different cultural domains are a particular focus.  The goal is to deepen appreciation of how Japanese create, understand, organize, evaluate, and otherwise function in their present world.

Gender in Comtemporary Japan
NAKAMURA Tamah, Professor, Chikushi- Jogakuen University

This course examines issues related to the analysis of gender in the Japanese social context such as role definition, employment and marriage trends, care of children and aged. Required student readings by Japanese and non-Japanese scholars offer varied perspectives on government policies, social issues, the construction of masculinity and femininity, and alternative lifestyle choices. We will see that the concept of gender changes over time (history) and place (culture/society), therefore the definition of gender shifts across cultural and historical boundaries.

HALF TERM COURSES

1st half : Miyazaki Hayao's World
NAKAMURA Tamah, Professor, ChikushiJogakuen University

This course initially looks at the development of manga and anime through focus on Miyazaki Hayao’s work in these media prior to the founding of Studio Ghibli. After that the development of the Studio Ghibli company is outlined, including analysis of some of the productions. Following this introduction to manga and anime, the course focuses on a deeper interpretation of one work (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi/Spirited Away). To create this method of analysis, the class will view and discuss the anime through concepts reflected in Miyazaki’s anime world. Such modes include the apocalyptic, festival, elegiac, fragmentation, loss, possibility, ‘shūkyō asobi’ to explore the questions:  What is traditional? What is Japanese? What is global? Student-generated concepts, questions and contributions are required to collaboratively create a method of analysis.

Syllabus

1st half : Progress in Life Science Made by Japanese Researchers
NAKAMURA Mako, Ph.D., Senior Assistant Professor, Faculty of Agriculture

This course introduces significant topics in Life Science field. We are always curious about a life such as virus, microorganisms, insects, plants, animals etc. So many researchers in the world have tried to find how its body is organized and how each part functions as their curiosity pushed them studying on it. Japanese researchers are not exceptions and have made big steps  in the history. I would like to focus on one or two Japanese researcher(s) in each session and show you what he/she found and how important the findings are. The course also provides a small project that you search and introduce one scientist from your home country. The course welcomes your participation.

Syllabus