Japanese Courses Spring 2009

JPN 102: Elementary Japanese II
Section 000 Takeda MW 10:40-11:30 and TT 10:00-11:15 Limit 25
Section 001 Takeda MW 11:45-12:35 and TT 11:30-12:45 Limit 25
Section 003 Takeda MW 12:50-1:40 and TT 1:00-2:15 Limit 25

Content: This course is a continuation of JPN101. Students will learn vocabulary, expressions, and sentence structures to become able to meet basic communication needs in Japanese. All four skills, speaking, listening, reading, and writing, will be incorporated, and accurate and appropriate language use will be emphasized. Approximately 90 kanji characters will be introduced.

Required Texts: Genki I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese, The Japan Times; Genki I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese Workbook, The Japan Times; Course Packet (TBA)

Particulars: Prerequisite is JPN 101 or consent of the instructor. There will be four tests and mid-term and final exams, in addition to homework assignments and quizzes.

JPN 202: Intermediate Japanese II
Section 000 Menjo MW 10:40-11:30 and TT 10:00-11:15 Limit 20

Content: This course is a continuation of JPN 201. The course is designed to complete the introduction and practice basic sentence structures and vocabulary in Japanese. More authentic langugae materials will be introduced.

Required Texts: Genki II: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese, The Japan Times; Genki II: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese Workbook, The Japan Times Course Packet (TBA)

Particulars: Prerequisite is JPN 201 or consent of the instructor.

JPN 232: Language Usage in Japanese Society
Section 000 TT 1:00-2:15 Nishi Max 12

Content: How do the use of Japanese language or the communication pattern reflect its culture? How do socio-cultural aspects of the Japanese language interact with how children learn Japanese as a native language? What
are the factors that determine the success or failure of learning Japanese as a second language? This course explores the relationship between language and thought through the study on the use and acquisition of Japanese.

Texts: A collection of articles, which will be available electronically.

Particulars: Japanese language student or permission of the instructor.

JPN 302WR: Advanced Conversation and Composition II
Section 000 TT 11:30-12:45 Menjo Max 10

Content:This course is a continuation of Japanese 301, with emphasis on mature conversational style and written assignments on a range of topics, including individual jibun-shi (autobiographies).

Required Texts: Akira Miura &Naomi McGloin, An Intergrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese

Prerequisites: JPN 301 or consent of the instructor

JPN 361WR: The Genji: Sensuality and Salvation

Section 000 Crowley TT 1:00-2:15 Limit 8
Cross List as ASIA 361WR Limit 2
Cross List as EAS 361WR Limit 5
Cross List as WS 361WR Limit 3
4 credits

Content: Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari), has been called the world's first psychological novel. Written by a noblewoman in the 11th century, it provides a sensitive, poetic portrait of life in the imperial court in the Heian period -- Japan's classical age -- and in subsequent generations served as a primary source book for literature and culture in Japan. The work is central to the genre of "literature in the women's tradition" (joryû bungaku) and as such provides rich ground for investigation of gender issues in Japanese art and life. This course will use the text of Genji as a center point from which to explore various issues in poetry, aesthetics, the visual arts, and cultural memory in Japan.

Texts:
The Tale of Genji, trans. Edward Seidensticker, Murasaki Shikibu
The Bridge of Dreams: A Poetics of the Tale of Genji, Haruo Shirane
The Splendor of Longing in the Tale of Genji, Norma Field
Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji, Richard Bowring
The Tale of Genji (videorecording), Asahi Publishing Co., Asahi National Broadcasting Co. Ltd., and Nippon Herald Films, Inc.
The Illustrated Handscroll Tale of Genji (videorecording), Video Champ
Emaki: Narrative Scrolls from Japan, Miyeko Murase

Particulars: No Prerequisite

JPN 362WR Samurai, Shoguns and Women Warriors
Section 000 TT 2:30-3:45 Crowley Max 10
cross-list as EAS 362WR max 8

Content: This course will examine the image of the warrior, bushi, in Japan through literature. The earliest Japanese chronicles and poems recount the stories of the heroic deeds of warrior gods and mortals. War tales, or gunki monogatari, were a major literary genre in the medieval period, as blind jongleurs called biwa hoshi traveled the countryside, singing of the deeds of heroes of the wars that plagued Japan during the period as a way of comforting their restless, vengeful ghosts. Warrior plays were a major subgenre of the nô theater. Stories of samurai valor and self-sacrifice were an important theme in the fiction and drama of the early modern period, and the values and practices of the samurai class were very influential for modern writers as diverse as Natsume Sôseki and Mishima Yukio. By reading selections of Japanese literature from the Nara period through to the modern era, we will find that the bushidô that has so fascinated people throughout the world is actually not one "Way of the Warrior" but many "Ways" that have shaped the lives of priests, artists, poets, and politicians - commoners as well as members of the samurai class.

JPN 397R: Directed Study
Section 00P (Permission Only)
VC

JPN 402: Advanced Language and Cultural Studies II
Section 000 Nishi TT 11:30-12:45 Limit 10

Content: The objective of this course is to utilize the previously acquired vocabulary and structures to read, discuss, and write reports on aspects of contemporary Japanese society and culture. Students will deepen their cultural understanding and insights through topics discussed in class.

JPN 495B/WR: Honors Study
Section 00P (Permission Only)
VC

JPN 496R: Japanese Language Internship
Section 00P (Permission Only)
VC

JPN 797R: Directed Studies in Japanese Language and Culture
Section 00P (Permission Only)
VC

This page last revised October 3, 2008