
The Center for Japanese Studies does not offer classes or academic programs for credit/degree. Please visit the Berkeley Academic Guide for the most up-to-date information on courses currently available.
Japanese Language Study at Berkeley
Japan Related Courses - Spring 2022
Anthropology Department
Freshman Seminar - Tourism, Heritage and Ritual
ANTHRO 24
This course focuses on anthropological approaches to the two main topics: tourism and cultural heritage. Tourism is a form of secular ritual involving travel, commonly associated with modernity; there is a close relationship between tourism and pilgrimage. Heritage includes tangible and intangible parts of culture, especially forms of art, consciously preserved from the past, often for tourism. We will discuss the topics from participants’ point of view–learning, self-fulfillment, and adventure–and the impacts of these modern movements–such as ‘over-tourism’, commoditization, and co-creativity. The class will focuses on the student’s own experiences in family heritage and social rituals, arts and travel experiences, in relation to ideas discussed in class and in the digitally distributed readings.
Arts and Humanities Division
Compass Course: What is Asia?
HUM 10
As the largest and the most populous geographical and cultural entity, Asia has played a dominant role in the world’s politics, economy, and culture. But what is Asia?
This course approaches this question from three perspectives: the construction of Asia as a cultural space by Europeans from Greek antiquity to modern times; Asia’s own exploration of its identity as a cultural and political sphere; and the imagining of Asia by Americans in the age of Asia’s global economic rise. Linking these perspectives is an investigation of Asianness itself, through which we will explore urgent cultural and political issues in today’s world: race and identity, migration and belonging, cosmopolitanism and geopolitics, and responses to environmental crisis.
We will explore these themes, and many others, through a wide variety of materials, including the first extant Greek tragedy The Persians, East Asian film, literature, and other art forms, and contemporary Asian-American writings and activist documentary, We will engage thinkers, writers, and artists ranging from Hegel and Max Weber in Europe to the novelist Tanizaki Jun’ichirô in Japan, the filmmaker Jia Zhangke in China, and the imaginative writers Amitava Kumar, Mia Alvar and Cathy Park Hong in the U.S.
Group in Buddhist Studies
Buddhism on the Silk Road
BUDDSTD C120
Also offered as: EALANG C120
This course will discuss the social, economic, and cultural aspects of Buddhism as it moved along the ancient Eurasian trading network referred to as the “Silk Road”. Instead of relying solely on textual sources, the course will focus on material culture as it offers evidence concerning the spread of Buddhism. Through an examination of the Buddhist archaeological remains of the Silk Road, the course will address specific topics, such as the symbiotic relationship between Buddhism and commerce; doctrinal divergence; ideological shifts in the iconography of the Buddha; patronage (royal, religious and lay); Buddhism and political power; and art and conversion. All readings will be in English.
Buddhism in Contemporary Society
BUDDSTD C128
Also offered as: EALANG C128
A study of the Buddhist tradition as it is found today in Asia. The course will focus on specific living traditions of East, South, and/or Southeast Asia. Themes to be addressed may include contemporary Buddhist ritual practices; funerary and mortuary customs; the relationship between Buddhism and other local religious traditions; the relationship between Buddhist institutions and the state; Buddhist monasticism and its relationship to the laity; Buddhist ethics; Buddhist "modernism," and so on.
Proseminar in Buddhist Studies
BUDDSTD 200
This seminar provides an opportunity for all students and faculty in the Group in Buddhist Studies to gather together on a regular basis to discuss recent theoretically significant works in the field of Buddhist Studies, as well as pertinent and important works in related disciplines (anthropology, art history, literature, history, philosophy, and religious studies). The content of the course will be adjusted from semester to semester so as to best accommodate the needs and interest of the students, but the focus will be on recent works representing the "state of the field."
Seminar in Buddhism and Buddhist Texts
BUDDSTD C220
Also offered as: SSEASN C220
Content varies with student interests. The course will normally focus on classical Buddhist texts that exist in multiple recensions and languages, including Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan.
Comparative Literature
English Composition in Connection with the Reading of World Literature
War and Its Aftermath
COMLIT R1B 012
In this course, we will explore works depicting war and its aftermath in literature, film, poetry, and drama. Major texts are likely to include Japan’s medieval war epic The Tale of the Heike, Hadji Murat by Leo Tolstoy, Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, and Father Comes Home from The Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3) by Suzan-Lori Parks. Through these and a selection of other short works, we will discuss topics including social upheaval, religion, warrior culture, cross-cultural encounters, trauma, memory, and slavery.
Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
Elementary Japanese
JAPAN 1A
Japanese 1A is designed to develop basic Japanese language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students will learn the Japanese writing system: hiragana, katakana and approximately 150 kanji. At the end of the course, students should be able to greet, invite, compare, and describe persons and things, activities, intensions, ability, experience, purposes, reasons, and wishes. Grades will be determined on the basis of attendance, quiz scores, homework and class participation.
JAPAN 1B
Japanese 1B is designed to develop basic skills acquired in Japanese 1A further. Students will learn approximately 150 new kanji. At the end of the course students should be able to express regret, positive and negative requirements, chronological order of events, conditions, giving and receiving of objects and favors, and to ask and give advice. Grades will be determined on the basis of attendance, quiz scores, homework and class participation.
Introduction to Modern Japanese Literature and Culture
JAPAN 7B
An introduction to Japanese literature in translation in a two-semester sequence. 7B provides a survey of important works of 19th- and 20th-century Japanese fiction, poetry, and cultural criticism. The course will explore the manner in which writers responded to the challenges of industrialization, internationalization, and war. Topics include the shifting notions of tradition and modernity, the impact of Westernization on the constructions of the self and gender, writers and the wartime state, literature of the atomic bomb, and postmodern fantasies and aesthetics. All readings are in English translation. Techniques of critical reading and writing will be introduced as an integral part of the course.
Intermediate Japanese
JAPAN 10A
The goal of this course is for the students to understand the language and culture required to communicate effectively in Japanese. Some of the cultural aspects covered are; geography, speech style, technology, sports, food, and religion. Through the final project, students will learn how to discuss social issues and their potential solutions. In order to achieve these goals, students will learn how to integrate the basic linguistics knowledge they acquired in J1, as well as study new structures and vocabulary. An increasing amount of reading and writing, including approximately 200 new kanji, will also be required.
JAPAN 10B
The goal of this course is for the students to understand the more advanced language and culture required to communicate effectively in Japanese. Some of the cultural aspects covered are; pop-culture, traditional arts, education, convenient stores, haiku, and history. Through the final project, students will learn how to introduce their own cultures and their influences. In order to achieve these goals, students will learn how to integrate the basic structures and vocabulary they acquired in the previous semesters, as well as study new linguistic expressions. An increasing amount of more advanced reading and writing, including approximately 200 new kanji, will also be required.
Japanese Culture
JAPAN 80 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
Introduction to Japanese culture from its origins to the present: premodern historical, literary, artistic, and religious developments, modern economic growth, and the nature of contemporary society, education, and business. Class conducted in English.
Advanced Japanese
JAPAN 100B offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
This course aims to develop further context-specific skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing. It concentrates on students using acquired grammar and vocabulary with more confidence in order to express functional meanings, while increasing overall linguistic competence. Students will learn approximately 200 new Kanji. There will be a group or individual project. Course materials include the textbook supplemented by newspapers, magazine articles, short stories, essays, and video clips which will provide insight into Japanese culture and society.
Japanese for Sinologists
JAPAN 100S offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
Students will be trained to read, analyze, and translate modern Japanese scholarship on Chinese subjects. A major purpose of the course is to prepare students to take reading examinations in Japanese. The areas of scholarship to be covered are: politics, popular culture, religion, sociology and history as well as areas suggested by students who are actively engaged in research projects. Two readings in selected areas will be assigned, one by the instructor and the second by a student participant.
Fourth-Year Readings: Japanese Culture
JAPAN 102 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
This course provides students an opportunity to develop their reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills in order to express their opinions in argumentative discourse. Students read and discuss a variety of Japanese texts to deepen their understanding of Japanese society and people and to improve their intercultural communicative competence.
Classical Japanese Poetry
JAPAN 130
An introduction to the critical analysis and translation of traditional Japanese poetry, a genre that reaches from early declarative work redolent of an even earlier oral tradition to medieval and Early Modern verses evoking exquisitely differentiated emotional states via complex rhetoric and literary allusion. Topics may include examples of Japan's earliest poetry in Man'yoshu, Heian courtly verse in Kokinshu, lines from Shinkokinshu with its medieval mystery and depth, linked verse (renga), and the haikai of Basho and his circle.
Contemporary Japanese Literature
JAPAN 159 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
This course examines the historical production and reception of key Japanese literary and film texts; how issues of gender, ethnicity, social roles, and national identity specific to each text address changing economic and social conditions in postwar Japan.
Introduction to Japanese Linguistics: Grammar
JAPAN 160 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
This course deals with issues of the structure of the Japanese language and how they have been treated in the field of linguistics. It focuses on phonetics/phonology, morphology, writing systems, dialects, lexicon, and syntax/semantics, historical changes, and genetic origins. Students are required to have intermediate knowledge of Japanese. No previous linguistics training is required.
Translation: Theory and Practice
JAPAN 163 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
An overview of the concepts of theoretical, contrastive, and practical linguistics which form the basis for work in translation between Japanese and English through hands-on experience. Topics include translatability, various kinds of meaning, analysis of the text, process of translating, translation techniques, and theoretical background.
Murakami Haruki and Miyazaki Hayao: The Politics of Japanese culture from the Bubble to the Present
JAPAN 178 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
This course will examine the works of the novelist Murakami Haruki and the animator Miyazaki Hayao within the context of contemporary Japanese aesthetics and history. Both Murakami and Miyazaki debuted in 1979 and their work has very much defined Japan’s cultural experience from the tail end of the Era of High Growth Economics through the Bubble Era, the Lost Decade, and into the twenty-first century. Students will explore the works of these two figures in the context of the history of Japanese literature and film and its relation to larger political, social, and cultural trends of Japan from the 1980s to the present.
Readings in Japanese Buddhist Texts
JAPAN C225 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
This seminar serves as an introduction to a broad range of Japanese Buddhist literature belonging to different historical periods and genres, including liturgical texts; monastic records, rules, and ritual manuals; doctrinal treatises; biographies of monks; and histories of Buddhism in Japan. Students are required to do all the readings in the original languages, which are classical Chinese (Kanbun) and classical Japanese. It will also serve as a tools and methods course, covering basic reference works and secondary scholarship in the field of Japanese Buddhism. The content of the course will be adjusted from semester to semester to accommodate the needs and interests of the students.
Seminar in Classical Japanese Texts
JAPAN 240 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
Topics may include works of Heian fiction such as The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari) and memoirs such as The Pillow Book (Makura no soshi).
Reading and Composition on Topics in East Asian Humanities
EALANG R1B.1
Reading and Composition on Topics in East Asian Humanities: “Bodily Trajectories:” Exploring Asian-Futurism through Asian and AAPI Speculative fiction
EALANG R1B.2
In this class we will be exploring Asian and AAPI Speculative fiction through how Asian-Futurism engages time and the body in particular ways. Inspired by the artists and scholars who forwarded notions of Afro-Futurism, we will try to understand the unique dynamics of AsianFuturism. Ideas of futurism have always had its tendrils extending into the present and the past, so we will contextualize the other worlds and realities put forth in course texts through the real world histories and living realities of Asian and AAPI communities. Like Afro-Futurism, Asian-Futurism engages ideas of post-humanism, race, gender, sexuality and labor and highlights the ways in which bodies are marked as “other,” categorized, placed in hierarchies and understood as human. Through mapping the way bodies are presented across time and space in Asian speculative fiction, we will explore the way Asian bodies are understood in a world quickly changing from the forces of globalization and new technologies. More than anything, this course is devoted to your writing, so there will be a strong emphasis on learning to identify essay topics that interest you. You will spend a great deal of time reading and revising student work, as well as considerable attention to the mechanics of argumentative prose. To this end, you will learn how to analyze cultural texts with care and precision as well as critically read non-fiction articles as a tool to contextualize creative work. This class is intended to be a safe space where students can engage deeply with complex topics through thoughtful, critical, and respectful dialogue with each other. Hopefully our work together throughout the semester will not only help you hone your writing skills, but also lead you to think more broadly about the histories, positionalities and futures of Asian and AAPI communities globally.
East Asian Sixties
EALANG 112
“The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism,” said the soon-to-be assassinated Martin Luther King in 1967. This course will survey these various “evils” through the tumultuous conditions of the so-called radical '60s from the standpoint of East Asia. Drawing from works of literature, film, art, music, and engaged scholarship, we will endeavor to both appreciate and critically reflect on the unique East Asian experience of communization, US imperialism, third world revolution, women’s liberation, the environmental movement, and Afro-Asian solidarity. Was the utopian energy of this decade misplaced? Did the 1960s fail to enact lasting change? Or do the documents from this era still communicate with our present in prescient and instructive ways? Addressing these and related questions, we will delve unflinchingly into this era, never to return the same.
Knowing Others, and Being Known: The Art of Writing People
EALANG 115
What does it mean to “know” a person in writing, and how does one make oneself—or someone else— “known” through writing? Beginning with both ancient and modern philosophical and literary treatments of the topic, this seminar guides students in reading and writing about people, skills they will need long after this course has ended. Prerequisites: None.
Buddhism on the Silk Road
BUDDSTD C120
Also offered as: EALANG C120
This course will discuss the social, economic, and cultural aspects of Buddhism as it moved along the ancient Eurasian trading network referred to as the “Silk Road”. Instead of relying solely on textual sources, the course will focus on material culture as it offers evidence concerning the spread of Buddhism. Through an examination of the Buddhist archaeological remains of the Silk Road, the course will address specific topics, such as the symbiotic relationship between Buddhism and commerce; doctrinal divergence; ideological shifts in the iconography of the Buddha; patronage (royal, religious and lay); Buddhism and political power; and art and conversion. All readings will be in English.
Buddhism in Contemporary Society
EALANG C128
Also offered as: BUDDSTD C128
A study of the Buddhist tradition as it is found today in Asia. The course will focus on specific living traditions of East, South, and/or Southeast Asia. Themes to be addressed may include contemporary Buddhist ritual practices; funerary and mortuary customs; the relationship between Buddhism and other local religious traditions; the relationship between Buddhist institutions and the state; Buddhist monasticism and its relationship to the laity; Buddhist ethics; Buddhist "modernism," and so on.
East Asian Film: Special Topics in Genre
EALANG 181
In this course, we will engage with a range of works in East Asian horror cinema (Japan and South Korea) and explore their power to provoke and disturb, in light of issues such as spectatorship, the uncanny, and the staging of gender and sexuality as modes of critique. We will also discuss the ways in which these films theorize cultural memory and the transmission of traumatic knowledge in the context of their adaptation into other Asian sites (Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand). The aim of the course is to generate a critical understanding of horror cinema, its stock figures and conventions, as well as its inventive potential.
Tools and Methods in the Study of East Asian Philosophy and Religion
EALANG 191
This course is a capstone experience that centers on the philosophies and religions of East Asia examined from multiple theoretical perspectives. It comprises several thematic units within which a short set of readings about theory are followed by chronologically arranged readings about East Asia. Themes will alternate from year to year but may include: ritual and performance studies; religion and evolution; definitions of religion and theories of its origins; and the role of sacrifice.
Topics in East Asian Studies: "How to Publish an Article"
EALANG 204
Did you ever wonder how other people get their work done? Or where they get their ideas? Are you curious about the best strategies and habits for clear, forceful, and engaging writing? Do you want the inside story on the joys of the process of submitting your work to a journal? Over the course of the semester each of you will revise for submission to a journal a seminar paper you have already written. At the conclusion of the semester you will send your revised essay for review at a journal. (You are not required to have it accepted!) Over the course of the term, we will read and discuss the written work of the seminar members, as well as model examples of writing, including that of Berkeley faculty. Time will also be set aside each session for work on professionalization: publication cover letters, job applications and interviews, mock talks
English Department
Freshman Seminars: World Art Cinema: Some Parables of Repetition
ENG 24
We will watch and discuss three masterworks of world art cinema: Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon (Japan,1950), Pier-Paolo Pasolini’s Teorema (Italy 1968), and Abbas Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry (Iran, 1997). Each is a kind of parable of repetition, involving the serial recurrence, over and over again, of a key plot-event. In Rashomon, a crime is recounted separately by each of the participants; in Teorema, a mysterious visitor proceeds to have sex with one after another member of a bourgeois family; and in Taste of Cherry, a man persists in asking a succession of men to bury him after his suicide. We will reflect on the different meanings of seriality and repetition in the three films. No background but your interest is required.
Department of Ethnic Studies
Japanese American History
ASAMST 122
This course will be presented as a proseminar with selected topics in order to give students an opportunity to participate in the dynamics of the study of Japanese American history. Topics include immigration, anti-Japanese racism, labor, concentration camps, agriculture, art and literature, and personality and culture.
Department of History
Introduction to the History of Japan
HISTORY 14
A brisk introduction to the nearly two millennia of recorded Japanese history. As a survey, the course gives attention to broad themes and problems in Japan's political, social, and cultural/intellectual history. Topics include the dialectic of national and local identities in shaping Japanese politics, Japan's interaction with the Asian continent and the Western world, and the relation of past to present in modern times.
Proseminar: Problems in Interpretation in the Several Fields of History: Comparative History
Japan, Germany, and the Modern World, 1850-1950
HISTORY 103U
This seminar is an introduction to some dimension of the history of a nation, region, people, culture, institution, or historical phenomenon selected by the respective instructor. Students will come to understand, and develop an appreciation for: the origins and evolution of the people, cultures, and/or political, economic, and/or social institutions of a particular region(s) of the world. They may explore how human encounters shaped individual and collective identities and the political, economic, and social orders of the region/nation/communities under study. Instructors prioritize critical reading, engaged participation, and focused writing assignments.
War and Peace: International Relations since 1914
HISTORY 162B
This course analyzes the turbulent transitions from the classical European balance of power system to the global multipolar system of today. The course explores the political, economic, ideological, and technological roots of international affairs. Among topics discussed are the two world wars, inter-war collective security,the Cold War, European integration, imperialism and de-colonization, the collapse of Communism, the Middle East conflict, the rise of China and Japan, and the post-1990 international order.
Graduate School of Journalism
International Reporting
JOURN 234
This course is designed for students who are interested in foreign reporting. Course will include a broad overview of the issues that need to be researched when reporting on the politics, economics, and social issues of a foreign country. Past classes have traveled to Mexico, China, Cuba, Hungary, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru.
Department of Political Science
Special Topics in International Relations: Reconciliation After Atrocities
POLSCI 123A
It is increasingly recognized that for societies to move on after widespread human rights and humanitarian abuses some kind of reconciliation process is necessary. What does reconciliation mean at the national vs. the personal level? What institutions and processes work best to encourage reconciliation? What role do truth commissions and trials play in this process? Are these processes best dealt with nationally or should they be led by an international body? This course will start by examining the concept of reconciliation and then look at case studies including Germany and Japan after WWII, Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge, Argentina and the Dirty War, Chile after Pinochet, South Africa and Apartheid, the Rwandan genocide, and the war in Yugoslavia. Students will complete a research project on a case study of their choice.
Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Studies
Directed Group Study
ISF 98
This course re-examines the famous Japanese animation Attack on Titan from four different areas, thereby challenging students to think both creatively and critically about the contemporary world. Through utilizing models and theories drawn from political science, philosophy, game theory, and leadership, the course aims to strengthen students’ intellectual understanding of Attack on Titan and their ability to apply the knowledge to real-life issues related to the distribution of power, domination, free will vs. determinism, the game of warfare, and strategic thinking.
Japanese Language Study at Berkeley
Japan Related Courses - Spring 2020
Anthropology Department
Seminars in Social and Cultural Anthropology: Special Topics
ANTHRO 250X
Group in Buddhist Studies
Buddhism in Contemporary Society
BUDDSTD C128
Also offered as: EALANG C128
A study of the Buddhist tradition as it is found today in Asia. The course will focus on specific living traditions of East, South, and/or Southeast Asia. Themes to be addressed may include contemporary Buddhist ritual practices; funerary and mortuary customs; the relationship between Buddhism and other local religious traditions; the relationship between Buddhist institutions and the state; Buddhist monasticism and its relationship to the laity; Buddhist ethics; Buddhist "modernism," and so on.
Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
Elementary Japanese
JAPAN 1A
Japanese 1A is designed to develop basic Japanese language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students will learn the Japanese writing system: hiragana, katakana and approximately 150 kanji. At the end of the course, students should be able to greet, invite, compare, and describe persons and things, activities, intensions, ability, experience, purposes, reasons, and wishes. Grades will be determined on the basis of attendance, quiz scores, homework and class participation.
JAPAN 1B
Japanese 1B is designed to develop basic skills acquired in Japanese 1A further. Students will learn approximately 150 new kanji. At the end of the course students should be able to express regret, positive and negative requirements, chronological order of events, conditions, giving and receiving of objects and favors, and to ask and give advice. Grades will be determined on the basis of attendance, quiz scores, homework and class participation.
Introduction to Modern Japanese Literature and Culture
JAPAN 7B
An introduction to Japanese literature in translation in a two-semester sequence. 7B provides a survey of important works of 19th- and 20th-century Japanese fiction, poetry, and cultural criticism. The course will explore the manner in which writers responded to the challenges of industrialization, internationalization, and war. Topics include the shifting notions of tradition and modernity, the impact of Westernization on the constructions of the self and gender, writers and the wartime state, literature of the atomic bomb, and postmodern fantasies and aesthetics. All readings are in English translation. Techniques of critical reading and writing will be introduced as an integral part of the course.
Intermediate Japanese
JAPAN 10A
The goal of this course is for the students to understand the language and culture required to communicate effectively in Japanese. Some of the cultural aspects covered are; geography, speech style, technology, sports, food, and religion. Through the final project, students will learn how to discuss social issues and their potential solutions. In order to achieve these goals, students will learn how to integrate the basic linguistics knowledge they acquired in J1, as well as study new structures and vocabulary. An increasing amount of reading and writing, including approximately 200 new kanji, will also be required.
JAPAN 10B
The goal of this course is for the students to understand the more advanced language and culture required to communicate effectively in Japanese. Some of the cultural aspects covered are; pop-culture, traditional arts, education, convenient stores, haiku, and history. Through the final project, students will learn how to introduce their own cultures and their influences. In order to achieve these goals, students will learn how to integrate the basic structures and vocabulary they acquired in the previous semesters, as well as study new linguistic expressions. An increasing amount of more advanced reading and writing, including approximately 200 new kanji, will also be required.
Intermediate Reading in Japanese
JAPAN 10RB
This course is intended to train students who wish to acquire reading fluency in the Japanese language in a short time period and therefore dispenses with all components not germane to that goal. Prior knowledge of fundamental first-year grammar and vocabulary is required as this course will start at the second-year level and run parallel with our full-language second-year courses, covering the same reading materials as used in J10A-B. The course will be conducted in English and students’ comprehension will be examined and analyzed in terms of Japanese-to-English translation. By completion of J10RB, students will be functional readers of Japanese for general purposes.
Japanese Culture
JAPAN 80 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
Introduction to Japanese culture from its origins to the present: premodern historical, literary, artistic, and religious developments, modern economic growth, and the nature of contemporary society, education, and business. Class conducted in English.
Advanced Japanese
JAPAN 100B offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
This course aims to develop further context-specific skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing. It concentrates on students using acquired grammar and vocabulary with more confidence in order to express functional meanings, while increasing overall linguistic competence. Students will learn approximately 200 new Kanji. There will be a group or individual project. Course materials include the textbook supplemented by newspapers, magazine articles, short stories, essays, and video clips which will provide insight into Japanese culture and society.
Japanese for Sinologists
JAPAN 100S offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
Students will be trained to read, analyze, and translate modern Japanese scholarship on Chinese subjects. A major purpose of the course is to prepare students to take reading examinations in Japanese. The areas of scholarship to be covered are: politics, popular culture, religion, sociology and history as well as areas suggested by students who are actively engaged in research projects. Two readings in selected areas will be assigned, one by the instructor and the second by a student participant.
Advanced Japanese for Heritage Learners
JAPAN 100S offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
Students will be trained to read, analyze, and translate modern Japanese scholarship on Chinese subjects. A major purpose of the course is to prepare students to take reading examinations in Japanese. The areas of scholarship to be covered are: politics, popular culture, religion, sociology and history as well as areas suggested by students who are actively engaged in research projects. Two readings in selected areas will be assigned, one by the instructor and the second by a student participant.
Fourth-Year Readings: Japanese Culture
JAPAN 102 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
This course provides students an opportunity to develop their reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills in order to express their opinions in argumentative discourse. Students read and discuss a variety of Japanese texts to deepen their understanding of Japanese society and people and to improve their intercultural communicative competence.
Japanese Buddhism
JAPAN C115
A critical survey of the main themes in the history of Japanese Buddhism as they are treated in modern scholarship. The course covers the transmission of Buddhism from China and Korea to Japan; the subsequent evolution in Japan of the Tendai, Shingon, Pure Land, Nichiren, and Zen schools of Buddhism; the organization and function of Buddhist institutions (monastic and lay) in Japanese society; the interaction between Buddhism and other modes of religious belief and practice prevalent in Japan, notably those that go under the headings of "Shinto" and "folk religion."
Classical Japanese Poetry
JAPAN 130
An introduction to the critical analysis and translation of traditional Japanese poetry, a genre that reaches from early declarative work redolent of an even earlier oral tradition to medieval and Early Modern verses evoking exquisitely differentiated emotional states via complex rhetoric and literary allusion. Topics may include examples of Japan's earliest poetry in Man'yoshu, Heian courtly verse in Kokinshu, lines from Shinkokinshu with its medieval mystery and depth, linked verse (renga), and the haikai of Basho and his circle.
Modern Japanese Literature
JAPAN 155 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
This course is an introduction to Japanese modernism through the reading and discussion of representative short stories, poetry, and criticism of the Taisho and early Showa periods. We will examine the aesthetic bases of modernist writing and confront the challenge posed by their use of poetic language. The question of literary form and the relationship between poetry and prose in the works will receive special attention.
Introduction to Japanese Linguistics: Usage
JAPAN 161 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
This course deals with issues of the usage of the Japanese language and how they have been treated in the field of linguistics. It concentrates on pragmatics, modality/evidentiality, deixis, speech varieties (politeness, gender, written vs. spoken), conversation management, and rhetorical structure. Students are required to have intermediate knowledge of Japanese. No previous linguistics training is required.
Modern Japanese Literature in Translation
JAPAN 173 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
This course surveys modern Japanese fiction and poetry in the first half of the 20th century. Topics will vary.
Urami: Rancor and Revenge in Japanese Literature
JAPAN 177 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
Urami (rancor, resentment) has an enduring presence in Japanese literature. Figures overburdened with urami become demons, vengeful ghosts, or other transformed, dangerous, scheming characters. They appear in many different genre and eras. The course's topic enables discussion on concepts important for understanding Japanese literary works such as hyper-attentiveness to shifting social status, the role of groupness in targeting victims, the imperatives of shame, secrets, the circumscribed agency of women, and the reach of Buddhist teachings into behavioral norms. For those interested in comparative literature, the course offers an opportunity to take a measure of what Japanese narratives offer as legitimate causes of rancor and revenge.
Seminar in Classical Japanese Poetry
JAPAN 230 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
Topics run from Japan's earliest extant poetic anthologies in Chinese (Kaifuso) or Japanese (Man'yoshu) to medieval linked verse (renga) and Edo haikai.
Seminar in Postwar Japanese Literature
JAPAN 259 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
Reading and critical evaluation of selected texts in postwar (roughly the 1940s through the present) Japanese literature and literary and cultural criticism. Texts change with each offering of the course.
History of the Culture of Tea in China and Japan
EALANG 109
In this course we compare the cultural traditions of tea in China and Japan. In addition, using tea as the case study, we analyze the mechanics of the flow of culture across both national boundaries and social practices (such as between poetry and the tea ceremony). Understanding the tea culture of these countries informs students of important and enduring aspects of both cultures, provides an opportunity to discuss the role of religion and art in social practice, provides a forum for cultural comparison, and provides as well an example of the relationship between the two countries and Japanese methods of importing and naturalizing another country's social practice. Korean tea traditions are also briefly considered.
Bio-Ethical Issues in East Asian Thought
EALANG 110
This course will explore some of the most difficult bioethical issues confronting the world today from the perspective of traditional values embedded in the cultural history of India, China, and Japan as evidenced in their religions, legal codes, and political history. Possible topics include population control, abortion, sex-selection, euthanasia, suicide, genetic manipulation, brain-death, and organ transplants.
Illness Narratives, Vulnerable Bodies
EALANG 114
The course will introduce students to narratives about illness, disease and healing written by patients, physicians, caretakers, and others. These narratives report an experience. They reveal the interactions between the unfolding life of the patient and the shifting social meanings attached to illness. We will study the relationships between illness and society through readings of fiction, memoir, films, essays and graphic novels in order to understand how these varied forms of storytelling organize and give meaning to crucial questions about embodiment, disability and emergent forms of sociality enabled by our bodily vulnerabilities.
Buddhism in Contemporary Society
EALANG C128
Also offered as: BUDDSTD C128
A study of the Buddhist tradition as it is found today in Asia. The course will focus on specific living traditions of East, South, and/or Southeast Asia. Themes to be addressed may include contemporary Buddhist ritual practices; funerary and mortuary customs; the relationship between Buddhism and other local religious traditions; the relationship between Buddhist institutions and the state; Buddhist monasticism and its relationship to the laity; Buddhist ethics; Buddhist "modernism," and so on.
Russia and Asia
EALANG C134N
Also offered as: SLAVIC C134
The emergence of the tantras in seventh and eighth-century India marked a watershed for religious practice throughout Asia. These esoteric scriptures introduced complex new ritual technologies that transformed the religious traditions of India, from Brahmanism to Jainism and Buddhism, as well as those of Southeast Asia, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, and Japan. This course provides an overview of tantric religion across these regions.
Department of Ethnic Studies
Japanese American History
ASAMST 122
This course will be presented as a proseminar with selected topics in order to give students an opportunity to participate in the dynamics of the study of Japanese American history. Topics include immigration, anti-Japanese racism, labor, concentration camps, agriculture, art and literature, and personality and culture.
Topics in Asian Popular Culture
ASAMST 138
Topics in Asian popular culture. Analysis of historical and contemporary issues addressed in popular media in Asia, such as 1990s Hong Kong cinema, fifth generation Chinese films, films of China and Taiwan, Japanese and Korean anime, South Asian and Bollywood cinema, and South Korean film and television drama. Course topics will vary with the expertise of the particular instructor.
Department of History
Seminar in Historical Research and Writing for History Majors
HISTORY 101
This seminar is open to all students working on a topic related to East Asia, broadly defined to include China, Korea, Japan as well as maritime and continental Southeast Asia. Topics that place East Asia in a comparative or global context are also welcome. Students who plan to utilize sources written in one of the dominant Northeast Asian languages (Chinese, Korean, Japanese) will find this seminar to be a great fit. Other projects exploring the history of the body, health, food, environment, and/or empire, socialism, and intellectual history will, hopefully, benefit from this course. Students are strongly encouraged to contact the instructor prior to the beginning of the semester in order to introduce their topic and discuss potential sources.
Proseminar: Problems in Interpretation in the Several Fields of History: Asia
HISTORY 103F
Once upon a time, there was a book called Twelve Doors to Japan. Each door represented a scholarly discipline or approach to Japan, and if taken together (so it was hoped) they would yield an integrated, even total understanding of Japan, past and present. The aim of this course is more modest (or idiosyncratic): to read a baker's dozen of influential or revelatory books about Japan written in the last 150 years. They will include historical and other scholarly studies, novels and poetry, reportage, religious and philosophical writings--maybe some films. Most of the authors will be Japanese, with some significant exceptions. No prior coursework on Japan is necessary, just a willingness to read many different kinds of writing and write thoughtfully about them. Details concerning works to be read forthcoming.
War and Peace: International Relations since 1914
HISTORY 162B
This course analyzes the turbulent transitions from the classical European balance of power system to the global multipolar system of today. The course explores the political, economic, ideological, and technological roots of international affairs. Among topics discussed are the two world wars, inter-war collective security,the Cold War, European integration, imperialism and de-colonization, the collapse of Communism, the Middle East conflict, the rise of China and Japan, and the post-1990 international order.
Graduate School of Journalism
International Reporting
JOURN 234
This course is designed for students who are interested in foreign reporting. Course will include a broad overview of the issues that need to be researched when reporting on the politics, economics, and social issues of a foreign country. Past classes have traveled to Mexico, China, Cuba, Hungary, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru.
Department of Political Science
Japanese Politics
POLSCI 143B
The structure and evolution of political institutions in Japan. Emphasis upon such topics as political parties, the bureaucracy, social change, and contemporary policy issues.
Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures
Russia and Asia
SLAVIC C134N
Also offered as: EALANG C134
The emergence of the tantras in seventh and eighth-century India marked a watershed for religious practice throughout Asia. These esoteric scriptures introduced complex new ritual technologies that transformed the religious traditions of India, from Brahmanism to Jainism and Buddhism, as well as those of Southeast Asia, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, and Japan. This course provides an overview of tantric religion across these regions.
International & Area Studies Program
Market Governance and the Digital Economy
POLECON 158
This course will examine how government and industry interact to govern markets by surveying debates over specific substantive issues in the advanced industrial countries, especially the United States and Japan. Topics include labor regulation, antitrust policy, financial regulation, intellectual property rights, and the digital economy.
Japan Related Courses - Fall 2019
Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
Elementary Japanese
JAPAN 1A
Japanese 1A is designed to develop basic Japanese language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students will learn the Japanese writing system: hiragana, katakana and approximately 150 kanji. At the end of the course, students should be able to greet, invite, compare, and describe persons and things, activities, intensions, ability, experience, purposes, reasons, and wishes. Grades will be determined on the basis of attendance, quiz scores, homework and class participation.
JAPAN 1B
Japanese 1B is designed to develop basic skills acquired in Japanese 1A further. Students will learn approximately 150 new kanji. At the end of the course students should be able to express regret, positive and negative requirements, chronological order of events, conditions, giving and receiving of objects and favors, and to ask and give advice. Grades will be determined on the basis of attendance, quiz scores, homework and class participation.
Introduction to Premodern Japanese Literature and Culture
JAPAN 7A
This course is an overview of Japanese literature and culture, 7th- through 18th-centuries. 7A begins with Japan's early myth-history and its first poetry anthology, which show the transition from a preliterate, communal society to a courtly culture. Noblewomen's diaries, poetry anthologies, and selections from the Tale of Genji offer a window into that culture. We examine how oral culture and high literary art mix in Kamakura period tales and explore representations of heroism in military chronicles and medieval Noh drama. After considering the linked verse of late medieval times, we read vernacular literature from the urban culture of the Edo period. No previous course work in Japanese literature, history, or language is expected.
Intermediate Japanese
JAPAN 10A
The goal of this course is for the students to understand the language and culture required to communicate effectively in Japanese. Some of the cultural aspects covered are; geography, speech style, technology, sports, food, and religion. Through the final project, students will learn how to discuss social issues and their potential solutions. In order to achieve these goals, students will learn how to integrate the basic linguistics knowledge they acquired in J1, as well as study new structures and vocabulary. An increasing amount of reading and writing, including approximately 200 new kanji, will also be required.
Intermediate Japanese for Heritage Learners
JAPAN 10X
This course is designed specifically for heritage learners who possess high fluency in casual spoken Japanese but little reading and writing abilities. It introduces formal speech styles, reinforces grammatical accuracy, and improves reading and writing competencies through materials derived from various textual genres. Students will acquire the amounts of vocabulary, grammar, and kanji equivalent to those of Japan 10A and Japan 10B.
Advanced Japanese
JAPAN 100A offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
This course will develop further context-specific skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing. It concentrates on students using acquired grammar and vocabulary with more confidence in order to express functional meanings, while increasing overall linguistic competence. Students will learn approximately 200 new Kanji. There will be a group or individual project. Course materials include the textbook supplemented by newspapers, magazine articles, short stories, and video clips which will provide insight into Japanese culture and society.
Fourth-Year Readings: Social Sciences
JAPAN 101 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
Students develop their reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills further to think critically, to express their points of view, and to understand Japanese culture and society in depth The readings are mainly articles on current social issues from Japanese newspapers, magazines, and professional books as sources of discussions. Students are required to write short essays on topics related to the reading materials.
Introduction to the Religions of Japan
JAPAN 116
An introductory look at the culture, values, and history of religious traditions in Japan, covering the Japanese sense of the world physically and culturally, its native religious culture called Shinto, the imported continental traditions of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, the arrival and impact of Christianity in the 16th century and the New Religions of the 19th and 20th centuries. Focus will be on how the internal structure of Buddhist and Confucian values were negotiated with long-established views of mankind and society in Japan, how Japan has been changed by these foreign notions of the individual’s place in the world, particularly Buddhism, and why many see contemporary Japan as a post-religious society.
Introduction to Classical Japanese
JAPAN 120
An introduction to classical Japanese (bungo), the premodern vernacular, which was used as Japan's literary language until well into the 20th century and remains essential for a thorough grounding in Japanese literature and culture.
Contemporary Japanese Literature
JAPAN 159 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
This course examines the historical production and reception of key Japanese literary and film texts; how issues of gender, ethnicity, social roles, and national identity specific to each text address changing economic and social conditions in postwar Japan
Introduction to Japanese Linguistics: Grammar
JAPAN 160 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
This course deals with issues of the structure of the Japanese language and how they have been treated in the field of linguistics. It focuses on phonetics/phonology, morphology, writing systems, dialects, lexicon, and syntax/semantics, historical changes, and genetic origins. Students are required to have intermediate knowledge of Japanese. No previous linguistics training is required.
Murakami Haruki and Miyazaki Hayao: the Politics of Japanese Culture from the Bubble to the Present
JAPAN 178
This course will examine the works of the novelist Murakami Haruki and the animator Miyazaki Hayao within the context of contemporary Japanese aesthetics and history. Both Murakami and Miyazaki debuted in 1979 and their work has very much defined Japan’s cultural experience from the tail end of the Era of High Growth Economics through the Bubble Era, the Lost Decade, and into the twenty-first century. Students will explore the works of these two figures in the context of the history of Japanese literature and film and its relation to larger political, social, and cultural trends of Japan from the 1980s to the present.
Seminar in Classical Japanese Drama
JAPAN 234 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
Topics may include examples from the Noh, Kyogen, Joruri, or Kabuki theaters.
Dynamics of Romantic Core Values in East Asian Premodern Literature and Contemporary Film
EALANG 105 offered through East Asian Languages and Cultures
This course explores representation of romantic love in East Asian cultures in premodern and post-modern contexts. Students develop a better understanding of the similarities and differences in traditional values in three East Asian cultures by comparing how canonical texts of premodern China, Japan and Korea represent romantic relationship. This is followed by the study of several contemporary East Asian films, giving the student the opportunity to explore how traditional values persist, change, or become nexus points of resistance.
Pure Land Buddhism
EALANG C132
Also offered as: BUDDSTD C132
This course will discuss the historical development of the Pure Land school of East Asian Buddhism, the largest form of Buddhism practiced today in China and Japan. The curriculum is divided into India, China, and Japan sections, with the second half of the course focusing exclusively on Japan where this form of religious culture blossomed most dramatically, covering the ancient, medieval, and modern periods. The curriculum will begin with a reading of the core scriptures that form the basis of the belief system and then move into areas of cultural expression. The course will follow two basic trajectories over the centuries: doctrine/philosophy and culture/society.
Tantric Traditions of Asia
EALANG C135
Also offered as: BUDDSTD C135, SSEASN C135
The emergence of the tantras in seventh and eighth-century India marked a watershed for religious practice throughout Asia. These esoteric scriptures introduced complex new ritual technologies that transformed the religious traditions of India, from Brahmanism to Jainism and Buddhism, as well as those of Southeast Asia, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, and Japan. This course provides an overview of tantric religion across these regions.
College of Engineering
Global Engineering: The Challenges of Globalization and Disruptive Innovation
ENGIN 187
In Fall 2019, the College of Engineering will be offering a new course for upper division students: ENGIN 187 Global Engineering: The Challenges of Globalization and Technology Innovation. Each semester that the course is offered, the course will target a different region, country or countries, and students will work on projects with organizations (social enterprises, technology start-ups, corporations) in those countries to develop a strategic plan in collaboration with the company, utilizing insights from course material. The countries of focus for the Fall 2019 course are currently planned to be Taiwan and Japan. An optional accompanying follow-up trip to the target country/countries may also be arranged for early January 2020. Course size is limited and admission to the course is subject to application. Sign-up on CalCentral to be put on the waitlist and the online Google application form will be sent to those on the waitlist before the first week of class).
Department of Economics
Labor Economics
ECON 151
This course will analyze the economic forces that shape labor markets, institutions, and performance in the U.S., Japan, and at least one European country (usually Germany). Institutions examined include trade unions, legal regulations, and social conventions.
Department of Film and Media
Auteur Theory
FILM 151
The study of films from the perspective of directorial style, theme, or filmmaking career.
Department of History
Introduction to the History of Japan
HISTORY 14
A brisk introduction to the nearly two millennia of recorded Japanese history. As a survey, the course gives attention to broad themes and problems in Japan's political, social, and cultural/intellectual history. Topics include the dialectic of national and local identities in shaping Japanese politics, Japan's interaction with the Asian continent and the Western world, and the relation of past to present in modern times.
Department of Political Science
The Varieties of Capitalism: Political Economic Systems of the World
POLSCI 138E offered through Charles & Louise Travers Dept of Political Science
This course examines the interaction between politics and markets, both in theory and in practice, explicitly linking classic works on political economy with current policy debates. We study how political systems and markets are organized in a wide range of different national settings, looking at both history and contemporary issues. Topics include: 1) early industrialization in Britain and the United States, 2) late industrialization in continental Europe and Japan, 3) the varieties of capitalism in contemporary industrialized countries, 4) the newly industrializing economics of Latin America and East Asia, 5) the problems of development, and 6) the transition from communism to a market economy in Eastern Europe and China.
Japanese Politics
POLSCI 143B
The structure and evolution of political institutions in Japan. Emphasis upon such topics as political parties, the bureaucracy, social change, and contemporary policy issues.
Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies
Tantric Traditions of Asia
SSEASN C135
Also offered as: EALANG C135, SSEASN C135
The emergence of the tantras in seventh and eighth-century India marked a watershed for religious practice throughout Asia. These esoteric scriptures introduced complex new ritual technologies that transformed the religious traditions of India, from Brahmanism to Jainism and Buddhism, as well as those of Southeast Asia, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, and Japan. This course provides an overview of tantric religion across these regions.
Graduate School of Journalism
International Reporting
JOURN 234
This course is designed for students who are interested in foreign reporting. Course will include a broad overview of the issues that need to be researched when reporting on the politics, economics, and social issues of a foreign country. Past classes have traveled to Mexico, China, Cuba, Hungary, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru.
Group in Buddhist Studies
Tantric Traditions of Asia
BUDDSTD C135
Also offered as: EALANG C135, SSEASN C135
The emergence of the tantras in seventh and eighth-century India marked a watershed for religious practice throughout Asia. These esoteric scriptures introduced complex new ritual technologies that transformed the religious traditions of India, from Brahmanism to Jainism and Buddhism, as well as those of Southeast Asia, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, and Japan. This course provides an overview of tantric religion across these regions.
Pure Land Buddhism
BUDDSTD C132
Also offered as: EALANG C132
This course will discuss the historical development of the Pure Land school of East Asian Buddhism, the largest form of Buddhism practiced today in China and Japan. The curriculum is divided into India, China, and Japan sections, with the second half of the course focusing exclusively on Japan where this form of religious culture blossomed most dramatically, covering the ancient, medieval, and modern periods. The curriculum will begin with a reading of the core scriptures that form the basis of the belief system and then move into areas of cultural expression. The course will follow two basic trajectories over the centuries: doctrine/philosophy and culture/society.
Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Studies
Examining U.S. Cultures in Time: World War II
AMERSTD 101AC
Linking the battlefields of Europe and Asia to the factories and movie theaters of San Francisco and New York City, this course takes up the cultural and social history of World War II (1931-1945). World War II was the most destructive war in the history of humanity, killing some 60-80 million people. It also shattered the old European colonial order and transformed the US into the most powerful country in the world. The war remains the source of our deepest fears of genocide and nuclear annihilation. Yet Americans believe World War II to be “The Good War” and we revere its heroes as “The Greatest Generation.” This class takes a global approach to WWII by focusing on three primary combatants: Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan and the United States. Consequently, this course focuses explicitly on the role of race and racism in the origins and conduct of the war. As an American Studies class, we take an interdisciplinary approach to history, reading a range of original sources from propaganda cartoons to oral histories, war photography to experimental fiction. So what was this war? What did Americans see and do there? And what did that doing do to us?