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2013 Course Offerings

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Basic Japanese I
Basic Japanese II
Intermediate Japanese II
Mad Monks and Machiya: A Cultural History of Kyoto
Geisha & Other Icons: Exploring Japanese Culture
 Ghosts, Monsters, and Spirits: Horror and the Uncanny in a Japanese Context

Each student is required to enroll in exactly 2 courses.
Please note that some are cross-listed and therefore offered at the same time.
You will be expected to indicate your preference when you fill out the online application.

 

 
 

Proposed 2013 Class Schedule

First period: 9:00 - 10:30 am
Class: Mad Monks and Machiya: A Cultural History of Kyoto

Second Period: 10:45 am - 12:15 pm
Class Choice 1: Geisha & Other Icons: Exploring Japanese Culture
Class Choice 2: Japanese 1002

Tomodachi Program (during lunch) 12:15 - 1:10 pm

Third Period: 1:10 - 2:40
Class Choice 1: Ghosts, Monsters, and Spirits: Horror and the Uncanny in a Japanese Context
Class Choice 2: Japanese 1001 or Japanese 2002

All classes meet Monday through Friday unless a special program event is scheduled. Our schedule follows the Doshisha University class schedule, as their academic term is in session. So our students are going to and coming from classes at the same time as the "regular" Doshisha students.

 
 

Basic Japanese I

JAPN 1001 (Click here for syllabus)

Instructor: Noriko Lastrapes

Description: Practice of Japanese language for four basic skills: beginners, reading, writing, listening and speaking.  Reading and writing words, phrases, simple sentences and passages in hiragana, katakana and some kanji; Engaging in simple conversations about topics introduced in Lessons 1-5 of Genki I, An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese.

COURSE MATERIALS

  1. Textbook: Banno, Eri et al, Genki I, An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese, Tokyo: The Japan Times, 2011 (1st edition in 1999 is fine if you already have one).  (Required)
  2. CDs*: Banno, Eri et al, Genki I, An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese, Tokyo: The Japan Times, 2004. ISBN4-7890-1162-3 (Optional) (This CD goes with the 1st edition.  If you already have one, please bring it with you.)
  3. E-textbook may also be an option:
  4. Computer:  It is strongly recommended that students bring their own laptop computer.  Because computers in student labs and facilities on Doshisha campus are all formatted totally in Japanese, it may not be easy to use them.

 

 
 

Basic Japanese II

JAPN 1002 (Click here for syllabus)

Instructor: Noriko Lastrapes

Description: Continuing practice of Japanese language for four language skills: reading and writing, listening and speaking for students who have basic grammar and about 50 kanji knowledge and are fluent with hiragana and katakana: Reading and writing hiragana, katakana and about 100 kanji; Engaging in simple conversations about topics introduced in Lessons 6 -10 of Genki I, An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese.

COURSE MATERIALS

  1. Textbook: Banno, Eri et al, Genki I, An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese, Tokyo: The Japan Times, 2011 (1st edition in 1999 is fine if you already have one).  (Required)
  2. CDs*: Banno, Eri et al, Genki I, An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese, Tokyo: The Japan Times, 2004. ISBN4-7890-1162-3 (Optional) (This CD goes with the 1st edition.  If you already have one, please bring it with you.)
  3. E-textbook may also be an option:
  4. Computer:  It is strongly recommended that students bring their own laptop computer.  Because computers in student labs and facilities on Doshisha campus are all formatted totally in Japanese, it may not be easy to use them.
 
 

Intermediate Japanese II

JAPN 2002 (Click here for syllabus)

Instructor: Noriko Lastrapes

Description: Continuing practice of Japanese language for four language skills: reading and writing, listening and speaking for students who have basic grammar and about 200 kanji knowledge and are fluent with hiragana and katakana: Reading and writing hiragana, katakana and about 80 new kanji; Engaging in simple conversations about topics introduced in Lessons 16-20 of Genki I, An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese.

COURSE MATERIALS

  1. Textbook: Banno, Eri et al, Genki II, An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese, Tokyo: The Japan Times, 2011 (1st edition in 1999 is fine if you already have one). (Required)
  2. CDs*: Banno, Eri et al, Genki II, An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese, Tokyo: The Japan Times, 2004. ISBN4-7890-1163-1 (Optional) (This CD goes with the 1st edition.  If you already have one, please bring it with you.)
  3. E-textbook may also be an option:
  4. Computer:  It is strongly recommended that students bring their own laptop computer.  Because computers in student labs and facilities on Doshisha campus are all formatted totally in Japanese, it may not be easy to use them.

 

 

 
 

Mad Monks and Machiya: A Cultural History of Kyoto

HIST 2991 (Click here for syllabus)

Instructor: Michael Wood

Description: Kyoto served as the political capital of the Japanese archipelago for more than 1000 years (until 1868) and continues to serve as an important cultural center and major urban area.  In this course, we will explore how this urban space first evolved into arguably the most important city in Japan and how the city’s importance and meaning came to be defined vis-à-vis Edo/Tokyo, once the political center shifted to the east.  As a cultural history course, we will consider representations of the old capital and its inhabitants in literature, painting, theater, food, religion and other cultural categories. However, we also examine the intersections between culture on the one hand, and political, social, economic, and international exchange developments on the other.  Finally, we will take advantage of our proximity to numerous artifacts discussed in class with planned field trips to particular sites such as the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, Shôkokuji Temple, and perhaps a museum.

 
 

Mad Monks and Machiya: A Cultural History of Kyoto

HIST 4991 (Click here for syllabus)

Instructor: Michael Wood

Description: Kyoto served as the political capital of the Japanese archipelago for more than 1000 years (until 1868) and continues to serve as an important cultural center and major urban area.  In this course, we will explore how this urban space first evolved into arguably the most important city in Japan and how the city’s importance and meaning came to be defined vis-à-vis Edo/Tokyo, once the political center shifted to the east.  As a cultural history course, we will consider representations of the old capital and its inhabitants in literature, painting, theater, food, religion and other cultural categories. However, we also examine the intersections between culture on the one hand, and political, social, economic, and international exchange developments on the other.  Finally, we will take advantage of our proximity to numerous artifacts discussed in class with planned field trips to particular sites such as the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, Shôkokuji Temple, and perhaps a museum. This course will require additional work above and beyond the requirements for HIST 2991.

 

 
 

Geisha & Other Icons: Exploring Japanese Culture

ENGL 2090 (Click here for syllabus)

Instructor: Linda Lonon Blanton

Description: Through memoir and biography, we will explore iconic themes of Japan’s cultural past and the degree to which these themes thread their way into the present.  An ethnographic approach will extend our study to the wider community.  This allows us to integrate class work with field observations and lived experience, to be gained through interviews, walking tours, dance performances, and visits to historic gardens. Reading, writing, and in-class discussion will serve as tools to inform individual learning: what emerges as significant may differ from student to student. Journal keeping will also prove useful to our exploration.  Students will be required to write three papers, each 4-5 pages in length, on topics to emerge through class discussion.  The third paper, summative in scope, will serve in lieu of a final exam.

Required Texts:

  • Dalby, Lisa.  Geisha.  Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.  
  • Iyer, Pico. THe Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto. NY: Vintage Books, 1991.  

Geisha & Other Icons: Exploring Japanese Culture

ENGL 4391 (Click here for syllabus)

Instructor: Linda Lonon Blanton

Description: Through memoir and biography, we will explore iconic themes of Japan’s cultural past and the degree to which these themes thread their way into the present.  An ethnographic approach will extend our study to the wider community.  This allows us to integrate advanced class work with field observations and lived experience, to be gained through interviews, walking tours, dance performances, and visits to historic gardens. Reading, writing, and in-class discussion will serve as tools to inform individual learning: what emerges as significant may differ from student to student. Journal keeping will also prove useful to our exploration.  Students will be required to write three papers, each greater in depth and 2-3 pages greater in length than required for 2090, on topics to emerge through class discussion. The third paper, summative in scope, will serve in lieu of a final exam.  4391 students will also be expected to prepare a class presentation of their research findings.  

Required Texts:

  • Dalby, Lisa.  Geisha.  Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.  
  • Iyer, Pico. THe Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto. NY: Vintage Books, 1991.  

Ghosts, Monsters, and Spirits: Horror and the Uncanny in a Japanese Context

ENGL 2090 (Click here for syllabus)

Instructor: Michael Wood

Description: Japan has a rich history of ghosts, spirits, demons, monsters, and otherwise “supernatural” beings.  In this course, we will focus on the stories and visual imagery related to these beings from both a historical, as well as psychological perspective, with a particular emphasis on early modern and modern manifestations of the supernatural (roughly 17th c. to present).  We will explore a variety of prose narrative, painting, theater and film, as well as short theoretical readings that attempt to make sense of 1) the nearly universal human endeavor of imagining a realm of spirits and the dead, and 2) the particular iconography and manifestations of other-worldly spirits in a Japanese context. In doing so, we will consider just how these stories and images allow or fail to allow us a means by which to confront otherwise uncomfortable aspects of life and death, materiality and immateriality, and the chains of memory, psychological repression, and karmatic retribution. In doing such, we will ultimately consider why these ghosts, monsters, and spirits simply don’t disappear under the regime of a rational, scientific worldview. Students will be evaluated in terms of how well they participate in class discussions, how well prepared they are for class, an in-class presentation, and three short writing assignments based on guided, out-of-class assignments such as internet research on visual images of Edo –period ghosts, interviewing fellow students regarding their beliefs in the immaterial and metaphysical, and a film analysis.  

Ghosts, Monsters, and Spirits: Horror and the Uncanny in a Japanese Context

ENGL 4391 (Click here for syllabus)

Instructor: Michael Wood

Description: Japan has a rich history of ghosts, spirits, demons, monsters and otherwise “supernatural” beings.  In this advanced course, we will focus on the stories and visual imagery related to these beings from both a historical, as well as psychological perspective, with a particular emphasis on early modern and modern manifestations of the supernatural (roughly 17th c. to present).  We will explore a variety of prose narrative, painting, theater and film, as well as short theoretical readings that attempt to make sense of 1) the nearly universal human endeavor of imagining a realm of spirits and the dead, and 2) the particular iconography and manifestations of other-worldly spirits in a Japanese context. In doing so, we will consider just how these stories and images allow or fail to allow us a means by which to confront otherwise uncomfortable aspects of life and death, materiality and immateriality, and the chains of memory, psychological repression, and karmatic retribution. In doing such, we will ultimately consider why these ghosts, monsters, and spirits simply don’t disappear under the regime of a rational, scientific worldview.  This course will require additional work above and beyond the requirements for ENGL 2090. Students will be evaluated in terms of how well they participate in the class discussions, how well prepared they are for class, an in-class presentation, and three short writing assignments based on guided, out-of-class assignments such as internet research on visual images of Edo–period ghosts, interviewing fellow students regarding their beliefs in the immaterial and metaphysical, a film analysis, and a final paper of 8 to 10 pages on a topic approved by the instructor.  

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