Japan Related Course Offerings Spring 2024
Classes begin April 1, 2024
JPN 422/522: Japanese Traditional Drama: Kyogen
M/W/F 3:15 - 4:20 PM
4 credits (may be taken by arrangement for only 1-2 credits)
Instructor: Professor Laurence Kominz
This is a hybrid academic and performance course with a workshop followed by an audition, then rehearsals on Fridays. Academic classes are on Mondays and Wednesdays. Work outside class is required: play reading, online play viewing, three short written essays, and performance preparation. All students who sign up are guaranteed performance participation in some capacity. Performers are required to come to tech rehearsal, dress rehearsal, and the 6/14 performance.
JPN 345U: Manga NOW!
M/W 10:00 - 11:50 AM
Instructor: Jon Holt
4 credits
Readings of new, critically acclaimed Japanese comic books and analysis of recent writings about the graphic-novel form. Readings of the manga are followed by a discussion of the artistic style, questions about Japanese society, and what kind of new developments are happening in the genre. Readings and discussions are in English.
JPN 399 SPST: Japan Asia Lecture Series
TBA
Instructor: Dr. Karen Curtin
1 credit
For this 1-credit course, students will attend all three regular Center for Japanese Studies, lectures, and events per quarter in order to learn about Japanese culture and history from both cutting-edge scholars and successful business leaders in Portland and greater Oregon. Ten hours of attendance and participation are required for students, but they will have options on how to do their work to demonstrate their broadened awareness and deepened understanding of Japan and Asia today. This course is expected to meet 1730-1850 on Thursdays but days and meetings may vary. Course taught in English.
HST 390U Topics in World History: The Wrongful Internment of Japanese-Americans from a Global Perspective
W 4:40 - 6:30 PM (Hybrid)
Instructor: Ken Ruoff
4 credits
February 19, 2022 marked the 80th anniversary of the issuance of the executive order that led to the internment of Japanese Americans, one of the darkest chapters in American history. In this course, we first examine the internment of Japanese Americans as American history. But then we shall broaden our perspective, first to understand the international system of racism that was in place circa 1900, a system that is crucial background which explains, in part, the eventual internment. And we shall also adopt a comparative perspective, comparing the cases of colonial Koreans in the Empire of Japan which had its own racial hierarchies, and Japanese Americans under the American system that divided whites and people of color, during wartime. Finally, we shall examine the long aftermath of internment, and the way that individuals who were interned leveraged that experience on various fronts.
*This class can fulfill UNST junior-cluster (U) requirements for Global Perspectives.
HST 421/521 Topics in Modern Japanese History: Japan in World War II
W 2:00 - 3:50 PM (Hybrid)
Instructor: Ken Ruoff
4 credits
When Americans think of WWII in the Pacific they tend to think of the attack on Pearl Harbor, but Japan was at full scale war with China beginning in July 1937, and had been involved in various wars on the Asian continent from 1931 on. In addition to looking at Japan's WWII experience from a broader perspective that includes the conflict with China, this course will examine the conflict between Japan and the Allies as a race war, analyze the extensive myth-history that was developed in Japan to convince citizens to support the war, and look at how the war resulted in numerous social changes. In the area of social change we shall specifically look at the change wrought when millions of demobilized soldiers and sailors who had developed a liking for dishes served to them in the military returned to their hometowns wanting to continue to eat these foods. We shall also address the topic of the atomic bombings.
JPN 410 Japanese Company Visit
Schedule: TBA
1 credit
Instructor: Professors Suwako Watanabe
Students will visit a Japanese company in the Portland area. Expected to attend virtual meetings as preparation and give a presentation. This is an experiential course, and registration is through By Arrangement only. For more detail, contact Prof. Watanabe (suwako@pdx.edu). Expected preparation: Jpn 302.
JPN 477/577 Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language
Tu/Thu 2:00 - 3:50 PM
Instructor: Dr. Karen Curtin
4 credits
Learn how to view the Japanese language through a communicative and cultural lens that help you create immersive lesson plans. You'll study the underlying principles of the Performed Culture Approach (PCA) and apply them to teach your lesson plans for beginning-level Japanese language.
*JPN 477/577 may also be used in partial fulfillment of the "Certificate in Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language" offered at PSU.
JPN 553 SEM: Japanese Lit Crit
M/W 2:00 - 3:50 PM
Instructor: Jon Holt
4 credits
Comparative study of intellectual approaches and research of Japanese language or literature, with an emphasis on secondary texts (research). Topics will vary from year to year. Prerequisites: WLL 560 and 4th-year Japanese reading ability and one additional linguistics or literature course.
INTL 321U: Topic: Japan & U.S. Cultures in Contact
Tu/Thu 12:00 PM - 1:50 PM
Instructor: Professor Yoko Sakurauchi
4 credits
This course offers general intercultural theories and a comparative approach to principles of intercultural communication in Japanese and mainstream American cultural contexts. In this course, both cross-cultural (i.e. comparisons – such as how Americans communicate differently from Japanese) and intercultural (i.e. communication between people across cultures – such as how Americans and Japanese interact with each other) aspects will be examined. This course has an opportunity for students to interact with other classmates from different cultural backgrounds inside and outside the classroom. In this course, students will be able to develop their own cultural identity through cross-cultural analysis and to acquire intercultural communication competence in order to build valuable relationships with people from different cultures.
*This class can fulfill UNST junior-cluster (U) requirements for Global Perspectives.
UNST 421:306 Capstone: Japanese & Chinese Language Program for Youth
W 2:40 PM - 4:30 PM
Instructor: Professor Yoko Sakurauchi
3 credits
This is a Capstone course consequently from Winter to Spring. It's not offered separately. Students will work mainly with elementary school programs that offer Japanese and Chinese in the Portland area, by assisting a classroom teacher and developing teaching materials, throughout the two terms. Students will also work on promotion of world language education at the elementary level. The class will address various issues pertaining to world language learning and teaching, including multiple intelligences, Japanese/Chinese language/culture, language diversity, endangered languages, language policies, and less commonly taught languages (LCTLs).
FILM 487: Yakuza Gangster Film
W 6:00-9:35 PM
Instructor: Prof. Patrick Terry
4 credits
This course surveys one of the most resilient genres in Japan’s domestic film production; the gangster film. Known by a variety of terms including Yakuza, bakuto, ninkyo-eiga, borderless action, or jitsuroku eiga. The variety of names points to the longevity and malleability of the genre to time, place, and production methods of separate studios all wanting to take part in the fervor for gangster stories. The course will engage with how Yakuza films depict concepts such as duty, honor, masculinity, patriarchy, and gender within changing production patterns over the past century. Screenings in Japanese w/English subtitles. *Non-majors please inquire with the instructor for admission to the course.
ARH 313U Survey of Japanese Art
Tu/Thu 12:00 - 1:50 PM
Instructor: Junghee Lee
4 credits
This course is a chronological survey of the art and architecture of Japan. We will explore the history of Japanese art in the context of East Asian Art History. In the beginning of the quarter we will discuss the prehistoric arts, metal objects and ceramics from royal burial sites. We will see how Buddhism affected sculptural and architectural heritage, as well as the painting of Japan. Decorative painting, Zen gardens and architecture, castles, ink paintings, and prints will be explored in the second part of the quarter. The stylistic evolution and iconographical features of a major genre of art of each period will be emphasized. In addition, we will develop the methodology of dating and recognizing the origins of the styles by introducing Chinese and Korean sources. We will discuss the interconnection between religion, society and ideology and art. Further, the cultural background and patronage will also be discussed as an important context of the art.
JPN 103 First Year Japanese
M/W/F 9:00-10:50 am (Friday session only 9:00 - 9:50 am) OR M/W/F 11:30 - 1:20 pm (Friday session only 11:30-12:20)
Instructor: Professors Karen Curtin, Takefumi Ariga, Shizuka Fukuo, and Koichiro Uno
5 credits
An introduction to the Japanese language with emphasis on listening comprehension, speaking, grammatical patterns, the syllabaries, and characters in elementary reading and writing. This is the third course in a sequence of three: Jpn 101, Jpn 102, and Jpn 103. For non-native speakers of Japanese only. All of the first-year Japanese sequence (JPN 101, JPN 102, and JPN 103) will use the same course materials.
JPN 203 Second Year Japanese
M/W/F 9:00-10:50 am (Friday session only 9:00 - 9:50 am) OR M/W/F 11:30 - 1:20 pm (Friday session only 11:30-12:20)
5 credits
Instructor: Professors Suwako Watanabe, Narumi Iwasaki, and Keerthy Suthari
Continued work in the Japanese language with emphasis on listening comprehension, speaking, grammatical patterns, and characters in elementary reading and writing. This is the third course in a sequence of three: Jpn 201, Jpn 202, and Jpn 203. Prerequisite: Jpn 103.
JPN 304 Third Year Japanese Term 3
T/Th 10:00 - 11:50 am
4 credits
Instructor: Professors Suwako Watanabe and Natsuko Llewellyn
Continued work in the Japanese language with emphasis on reading and writing on themes of war and environmental issues. Expected preparation: Jpn 203.
The Department of World Languages and Literatures offers a vast array of Japanese language classes, from beginning to advanced Japanese. WLL's Japanese language department was ranked 9th nationally for graduating the most Japanese majors, according to a 2019 Chronicle of Higher Education Report. To see the robust offerings and opportunities to learn Japanese and about Japanese culture, please visit the World Languages and Literatures website.
Opportunities exist for non-traditional students to take a variety of courses about Japan, including Japanese language courses at PSU. Additionally, individuals over 65 years of age can audit courses at PSU for free on a space available basis.