Courses

A comprehensive introductory course in modern Japanese develops the four basic skills: aural comprehension, speaking, reading and writing. The two beginning courses will concentrate on correct pronunciation, an active vocabulary of 500-1000 words as well as basic grammatical patterns.

A comprehensive introductory course in modern Japanese develops the four basic skills: aural comprehension, speaking, reading and writing. The two beginning courses will concentrate on correct pronunciation, an active vocabulary of 500-1000 words as well as basic grammatical patterns.

Prerequisite(s): JAPN 111 or consent.

This course introduces students to 1000 years of Japanese storytelling tradition in diverse mediums: epic tales, drama (bunraku/kabuki, and noh), fiction, and film. Students will engage with such representations of Japanese culture as: - Imperial court life of the 10th century, the role of spirit possession as women's "weapon," and a 20th-century novel that builds on these traditions. - A war between two clans in the 12th century that is the setting for a key duel between unevenly matched opponents retold over the centuries in three different mediums: epic tale, bunraku/kabuki theater, and noh drama. - In the same war, the tragic defeat of one of the clans is reimagined as the source of a famous ghost story written in the 19th century...by a European with connections to Cincinnati! - Postwar short stories that retell Japanese fairy tales to situate them in a Japan struggling to cope with the devastation of the Pacific War. - A mystery novel about government corruption, and a master director’s film from the same period that treats the same subject - The possibilities – and horrors – of dreams as depicted by a 20th-century novelist, a master director, and an animator.

Comprehensive grammar will be the core of the course, along with further development of reading ability and more extensive oral practice.

Prerequisite(s): JAPN 112 or consent.

This course builds on the material covered in JAPN 211. Students will continue to practice speaking using ever more complex grammatical structures, write short paragraphs, and continue their study of Chinese characters used in Japanese (kanji) in earnest.

Prerequisite(s): JAPN 211 or consent.

This course provides students an introduction to the written cultural products (available in translation) from Japan, and two countries – China and Korea – occupied by Japan during the Pacific War (1931-1945). Although Japan’s occupation of Korea began in 1910, this course will begin its consideration of this topic in 1890 because the Japanese political and social mechanisms that led to fascist militarist control in the 1930s have their origins at least as far back as 1890. This course fulfills the Modern Core requirement for the East Asian Studies major/minor.

This course is designed to provide an introduction to modern Chinese and Japanese fiction for the student who has little or no background in the language, history, or culture of these countries. No prerequisite.

Crosslisting: EAST 235.

Genre fiction (sometimes called “commercial fiction”) around the world has been broadly categorized as less-refined, or less literary. Postmodern thinkers have demonstrated, however, that popular fiction can serve as a fascinating lens through which to read place (society, race, gender, etc.) and time (historical period). This class will serve as an introduction to Japan’s long, rich tradition of genre fiction. In addition to reading recent criticism of the genres discussed, we will consider representative works, primarily by twentieth-century authors, in three genres: historical/period fiction, mystery/detective fiction, and horror fiction. This course is taught in English. No Japanese language required.

Crosslisting: EAST 239.

Special topics in Japanese.

This course uses film and modern literature to consider responses to political, economic, and sociological changes in Japanese society over the course of the twentieth century. This course is taught in English.

In this course we will read extensively from the works of four twentieth-century Japanese authors who have been elevated to the status of canonized writers, that is, whose works are regarded both in and out of Japan as essential in the history of Japanese letters. Note that readings will vary from semester to semester. This course is taught in English.

The two Advanced Japanese courses introduce students to a number of complex, essential grammatical structures, notably sentence modifiers (relative clauses), and verb categories (transitive and intransitive verbs) that allow students to create longer, more complex culturally coherent utterances. Students will also learn 200 Chinese characters.

Prerequisite(s): JAPN 212 or equivalent.