Japanese Studies

Elements of the Japanese Language

Japanese 2A

Japanese 2B

Reading and Writing 2B

Reading and Writing 2A

Classical Arts of Japan

English Language Teaching to Adults

Manga, Anime and Contemporary Japanese Cinema

The Making of Modern Japan

Personhood, Gender and the Body in Contemporary Japan

This module will introduce anthropological perspectives on personhood, gender, and the body, and will examine these with reference to ethnographic material from Japan. This will also include a discussion of some issues relating to medical anthropology, including medical systems in Japan, and beliefs and practices surrounding reproductive technologies, the end of life, and organ donation.

Japanese Oral Skills

This module helps students develop oral and aural skills and knowledge necessary for effective communication at upper beginner's level. It allows students to be creative while learning essential conversation strategies and skills.

Placement year

Students of Japanese language and contemporary society spend an entire academic year in Japan. They will attend one of our partner universities with whom we have established links.

Language Studies in Japan

Students of Japanese language and contemporary society spend an entire academic year in Japan. They will attend one of our partner universities with whom we have established links.

Academic Studies in Japan

Autonomous Learning in Japan

Japan: Myth and Reality

This module provides a historical overview and critical analyses of 'Western' discourses concerning the exceptional status of 'Japan' and 'the Japanese'. As an instructive counterpoint, it will also look briefly at Japanese self-images.

Japanese Cinema and Contemporary History

Develops students' understanding and awareness of Japanese cinema in its historical context. It will enable students to relate the style and content of films to social and political developments in Japan during the twentieth century, and to situate films in the context of scholarly debates about the classical Japanese Cinema. The focus on the cinema of the six decades up to 1989 will complement the focus on contemporary Japanese film.

Japan through Contemporary Texts

An advanced language study in which students will gain insights into current affairs and current events in Japan through a wide range of contemporary literary texts. Students will be introduced to contemporary Japanese writing via a novel, scholarly books, journals, newspapers, magazines and so on. Students will also explore the internet to seek additional sources to supplement/complement discussion points.

Japanese Literary Texts

Japanese Translation: Theory and practice

This module covers some of the fundamental concepts in translation, such as translation briefs, textual functions, cohesion and coherence, and information structure. These are introduced with examples (not limited to Japanese) and subsequently applied in translation from Japanese to English or English to Japanese. This module also focuses on the linguistic differences between Japanese and English, and the difficulties that they pose for translation.

Japanese 4: Culture and Society or Communication and Citizenship

This module provides further knowledge and skills in Japanese focusing on reading and writing. Students will experience reading in a variety of texts in such genres as description, review and reports, using authentic materials. They learn kanji from the texts they read. Also, students practise writing in the genres introduced in the texts.

Tandem Language Learning

Researching Cross-cultural Experiences

Minorities and Marginality

This module closely examines the historical and contemporary experiences of Japan's ethnic minorities and marginalized groups, which pose important problems for (our understanding of) a Japanese society that is commonly conceived as ethnically and culturally homogeneous. Detailed discussion of minorities and marginality in Japan will be related to broader concerns with ethnic and cultural identity and conflict, class structure, (trans)nationality, hybridity and diaspora as these are now discussed in anthropology.