Japan

Asian Studies Summer Session

Program

Courses

Faculty

Cost

Scholarship Assistance

Calendar

Eligibility

Application Deadline

PROGRAM

Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ), offers an eleven-week session offering undergraduates the opportunity to choose from a broad range of courses, including several focusing on Asia, and to study alongside bilingual Japanese students. Japanese language is offered at the beginning and intermediate levels. Courses are taught by distinguished faculty and, except for language courses, are conducted in English. The Temple University, Japan Campus, academic calendar is comprised of three semesters; the summer session is not a special program for U.S. or international students, but one of the regular academic semesters. As a result, U.S. students can expect to take advantage of all of the regular academic and extracurricular offerings normally found during the academic year, including a broad range of courses and an active student life.

COURSES

All study abroad participants, regardless of major, are strongly urged to enroll in one Asian studies course and in an Asian language course. Participants may choose the remainder of their courses from a broad range of electives at the 1000-level or above, preferably with an Asian focus.

Course offerings vary from year to year. The final course schedule will be available in the spring and will be made available to all applicants for final course selection. In the meantime, the following Asian studies and Japanese language courses are among those that have been offered in the past. Students typically choose three-four courses for 9-13 credit hours.

ASIAN STUDIES

Asian Studies 2000: Special Topics in Asian Studies I (3 cr)
Topics vary from year to year. In past summers, topics have included Urban Issues and Globalization in Pacific Asia, Japan and East Asian Development, Development of the Japanese Financial System, and Asian Urban Cities.

Asian Studies 2373: Japanese Culture (3 cr)
This course provides an introduction to Japanese society, focusing on Japanese values and traditions in relation to globalization and modernity. Topics covered include consumerism and emerging social trends, construction of ethnic and gender identity, aesthetic tradition and social change, political and social stratification, and Japan’s international relations. Strongly recommended for all TUJ study abroad students.

Asian Studies 2502: Introduction to East Asia: Japan (3 cr)
A survey of Japanese history to the twentieth century. Topics include the early centralized state, the rise of aristocratic culture, the emergence of the warrior class, and the modern transformation into an urban, industrial state. Course materials include selections from Japanese literature and films. Cross-listed with History 2502.

Asian Studies 2815: Japanese Art (4 cr)
A look at Japanese history through art, with the primary focus on design and pattern. The course will examine all the major art forms from the earliest times to the present. The class includes required field trips. Cross-listed with Art History 2815.

Asian Studies 3000: Special Topics in Asian Studies II (3cr)
Topics vary from year to year. In past summers, topics have included Contemporary Japanese-Russian Relations, Prejudice and Discrimination in Japan, and the USA and its Alliances with Britain and Japan from the Cold War to the Iraq War.

Asian Studies 3247: Ideology and Social Change in Japan (3cr)
A sociological look at the conditions that have contributed to Japan's emergence as a world-class economic force. How did culture, social organization, lifestyle, ideology, and global political change fit together and react to affect Japan's rapid rise to power? Is Japan a closed society? What significance do factors such as racism, religion, education, family, the military, class, and population changes hold for understanding what happened in Japan and in Japan's relations with outsiders, particularly the United States? How does this analysis affect the future of American sociology? Cross-listed with Sociology 3247.

Asian Studies 3542: Women and Society in Japan (3 cr)
An examination of the changing positions of women in Japanese society from ancient times to the present and an analysis of the social and cultural factors influencing the life of today's Japanese women. How accurate are the still-dominant images and descriptions in many foreign and particularly Western nations of Japanese women as docile, submissive, and fragile beings? Why is the status of Japanese women in the occupational world considerably behind compared with other developed countries and some Asian countries? Cross-listed with History 3542.

JAPANESE

Japanese 1001: Japanese Elements I (4 cr)
Beginning Japanese for students who have had little or no Japanese language study. This course introduces some basic but useful conversational expressions, the two sets of syllabic symbols, some 30 pictograph-kanji, and most fundamental grammatical rules.

Japanese 1002: Japanese Elements II (4 cr)
Prerequisite: Japanese 1001 or permission of instructor.
A continuation of Japanese 1001, this course focuses on learning new sentence structures and vocabulary. An additional 50 kanji (beyond Japanese 1001) and some basics for different levels of formality in conversation will be introduced. Students are required to write short compositions and letters.

Japanese 1003: Beginning Oral Japanese(3 cr)
A bridge between beginning and intermediate Japanese levels, this course emphasizes vocabulary building and the use of spoken Japanese through situational conversational practice. Tests will be in the forms of listening and reading comprehension and structured interviews. An ability to read and write hiragana and katakana is required, as is a mastery of most basic grammatical rules.

Japanese 2003: Oral Intensive Japanese II (3 cr)
Prerequisite: Japanese 2002 or consent of instructor.
A bridge between intermediate and advanced Japanese levels, this course focuses on vocabulary acquisition in a variety of conversational situations. Throughout the semester, several vocabulary quizzes and structure tests will be given, while the final exam will be in the form of interviews. Students are required to complete one project involving various communication activities outside the classroom.

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ASIAN STUDIES FACULTY

The Temple University, Japan Campus, faculty is comprised of Temple University permanent faculty from Philadelphia who teach at TUJ for one to three years, full-time Temple University temporary appointments, and part-time adjunct faculty. The following faculty currently teach at TUJ.

Roger Buckley. Political Science. PhD, London School of Economics and Political Science. Dr. Buckley is an internationally known expert on contemporary Asia-Pacific international relations. His books include US-Japan Alliance Diplomacy, 1945-1990 (1992) and Japan Today (1999).

Phil Deans, Politics and East Asian Studies. PhD, University of Newcastle upon Tyne. 
Dr. Deans is the director of TUJ’s undergraduate program and the chair of TUJ’s research program. Deans is an authority on the politics of China and Taiwan and is currently researching changing nationalist dynamics in northeast Asia. The former director of the Contemporary China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, he is the author of Virtual Diplomacy: Japan-Taiwan Relations since 1972 and co-author of State Strategies in the Global Political Economy.

Jeff Kingston, History. PhD, Columbia University. Dr. Kingston is the university’s director of Asian Studies, and he teaches courses dealing with modern Asian history, including Indonesia (where he was a Fulbright Scholar) and Vietnam. An authority on contemporary Japanese political economy, he is the author of Japan’s Quiet Transformation, and is a frequent media commentator and consultant on contemporary social and political issues in Japan.

Noriko Murai, History of Art and Architecture. PhD, Harvard University. Dr. Murai is an art historian specializing in Japanese art and teaches TUJ’s course in Japanese Culture. She has taught at Harvard, the Massachusetts College of Art, and Keio University.

David Satterwhite, Political Science. PhD, University of Washington. Dr. Satterwhite is the executive director of The Japan-United States Educational Commission (Fulbright Japan). He teaches courses on Korean politics and is former (interim) director of the North American Coalition for Human Rights in Korea and managing director of The Economist Group-Japan.

Asako Yamaguchi, Japanese. MA, The Ohio State University. Professor Yamaguchi focuses on applied linguistics and teaches Japanese language courses.

COST

* Please note that this fee is based on last year's costs and will be updated.

The Japan fee includes housing and activities. In addition, students will need to budget money for personal expenses including meals, health insurance, local travel in and around Tokyo, any personal travel outside of Tokyo that students wish to undertake, the International Student Identity Card (currently $22), and transpacific travel to/from Tokyo. More information will be provided in one of the pre-departure web postings, but meals, personal expenses and local travel are estimated at about $400 a week.

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SCHOLARSHIP ASSISTANCE FOR TEMPLE STUDENTS

Qualified matriculated Temple students wishing to spend the summer enrolled as full-time students (9-13 credits) at TUJ may apply for scholarships of up to $4,000 for the summer. These scholarships have been designated to enable more Temple University students to study at TUJ in order to expand U.S.-Japan educational exchange. To be considered for a scholarship, applicants must be matriculated undergraduates at Temple University, U.S. citizens, enrolled on a full-time basis at the time of application, and have completed the equivalent of four undergraduate semesters. A 3.0 GPA is preferred, and an interview is required as part of the selection process. Applications are due on February 15.

2008 CALENDAR

Dates are tentative and subject to change

ELIGIBILITY & APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

Please see General Summer Information for program eligibility and application requirements that apply to all programs.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 15