| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|
| JAPANSE 1B | FUNDAMENTALS | SITHI-AMNUAI, E. | The objective OF Japanese 1A-1B-1C is to guide students in developing facility in basic Japanese. Students will be introduced to the fundamentals of the language needed to survive in Japan in basic daily life situations. Students will learn most of the basic grammar of Japanese and to read and write Hiragana, Katakana, and about 250 Kanji (Chinese characters). Prerequisite: Japanese 1A or equivalent. |
| JAPANSE 2B | INTERMEDIATE | SITHI-AMNUAI, E. | The objective of the Japanese 2A-2B-2C series is to help students to improve their communication skills in more complicated situations and on more abstract topics. Students will learn more advanced grammatical patterns and useful expressions in Japanese and expand their vocabulary. Students will learn about Japanese culture and society, and are expected to express their thoughts orally and in writing. About 400 more Kanji will be introduced. Prerequisite: Japanese 2A or equivalent. |
| JAPANSE 3B | ADVANCED JAPANESE | KIMURA, J. | In the Japanese 3A-3B-3C series, students learn more sophisticated expressions and Kanji compounds needed to work on more complex materials in Japanese. Students are exposed to more authentic materials in preparation for their further studies in Japanese. Various facets of reading and listening will be introduced through materials concerned with Japanese society, culture, tradition, history, economics, politics and current trends. Students will learn to read about and discuss these topics, and to express their thoughts in writing. About 300 new Kanji characters will be introduced, along with Kanji compounds formulated from both new and previously learned Kanji. |
| JAPANSE 100A | CLASSICAL JAPANESE | KLEIN, S.B. | This course is designed to introduce the student to classical Japanese grammar through the reading of selected literary works, such as poems from Kokinshu and Shin Kokinshu, tales from early vernacular collections, and essays by Sei Shonagon and Kamo no Chomei. Emphasis throughout will be on reading comprehension, with special emphasis on a thorough understanding of traditional grammar and syntax, with some attention also given to figurative language and literary conventions. Students will be quizzed regularly and will take at least two midterms and a comprehensive final examination. |
| JAPANSE 101B | 4TH YEAR JAPANESE | FOWLER, E. | The fourth year Japanese course 101A-B-C builds on the foundation of linguistics skills and knowledge on the language and culture that students have acquired in their first three years of language courses. In Japanese 101B students will read a variety of authentic texts: magazine articles, short stories, and other material. As the primary goal of this class is to train students to be self-sufficient as a reader of Japanese texts, they will be expected increasingly to look up vocabulary and kanji on their own, and to come to class with reading assignments well prepared. Student’s participation in the classroom activities is also emphasized. |
| JAPANSE 115 | TOPICS VARY | FOWLER, E. | A reading course designed for students with near-fluency in written Japanese. Texts will include both fiction and non-fiction by important writers, and may be supplemented and contextualized where needed by literary criticism and cultural-studies texts in English. Prerequisite: Japanese 101C or consent of instructor. May be taken for credit three times as topic varies. |
| JAPANSE 213B | OCCUPIED JAPAN | FUJII, J. | The objective of this seminar is to re-engage the U.S. Occupation of Japan—through literary works, as well as a film or two, together with recent scholarly examinations of the Occupation and its representations—as a moment that mutates according to how the horrors of past aggression and the contingencies of the present press together. Revisiting Japan’s postwar, and more specifically its years under U.S. occupation will require us to challenge the myth of objective scholarship. A mere decade or so earlier, only unabashedly “leftist” scholars studied Japan as an imperialist nation, whereas these days everyone from committed critics of capitalism-and-imperialism to “centrist” and even right wing scholars who conveniently ignore the simultaneous roles of British and U.S. imperialism (not to mention, French, Dutch, or German varieties) have joined the colonial-postcolonial academic bandwagon in Japanese studies. I make note of this because any inquiry of modern Japan must address the contours of contemporary academic fashion at the same time that it examines the interplay of Japan’s history of aggression in the Asia-Pacific and the subsequent U.S. occupation that served to help mute the horrors of that legacy at the same time that it assumed the pose of a benevolent democratizing mission. The Bush Administration’s recent invocation of the U.S. occupation of Japan (that took place almost sixty years ago from 1945-1952) as a positive model for the current occupation of Iraq adds yet another inflection to the study of transnational subjugation. And just as the myth of the U.S. role in World War II as good and necessary persists (e.g., a war between good “allied” powers against Nazis and fascists, instead of conflict between competing imperialist powers), a kind of extended “victor’s justice”—embraced not simply by the U.S., but also Japanese industrialists and other well-placed citizens who have come to look upon the U.S. occupation with nostalgia—has helped make it a benign, humanitarian event. Topics include Okinawa, war and women (foreign and native comfort women), debates on responsibility and subjectivity in postwar Japan, Hiroshima-Nagasaki, and the Tokyo tribunal (crimes against humanity/victor’s justice).
Requirements: This course can be taken as a two-quarter sequence (213A-B) or as a course alone. (1) For those choosing the two-quarter option, two short review papers, and a working bibliography for one’s chosen paper topic will be due during Finals week. Second quarter will consist of several seminar meetings to supplement the material covered in 213A, as well as individual meetings to work on completion of a seminar paper that will count toward fulfillment of writing requirements for the Ph.D. (2) For those choosing the one-quarter option, three short review papers will be required. In either case, those able to read Japanese language materials will be asked to include some Japanese references in their work.
Class Format: To provide common ground, John Dower’s book Embracing Defeat will serve as a kind of textbook that we will interrogate throughout the quarter. The other reading materials are organized around specific topics that will be the basis for further individual reading, research, and joint exploration in class. You will be asked to choose a topic from the course syllabus to help lead class discussion. |
| JAPANSE 299 | DISSERTATN RESEARCH | FOWLER, E. | For students who have been admitted to doctoral candidacy. Satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading only. May be repeated for credit. |
| JAPANSE 299 | DISSERTATN RESEARCH | FUJII, J.A. | For students who have been admitted to doctoral candidacy. Satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading only. May be repeated for credit. |
| JAPANSE 299 | DISSERTATN RESEARCH | KLEIN, S.B. | For students who have been admitted to doctoral candidacy. Satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading only. May be repeated for credit. |
| JAPANSE 299 | DISSERTATN RESEARCH | WILLIAMS, D | For students who have been admitted to doctoral candidacy. Satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading only. May be repeated for credit. |