2016 Electives

Spring 2016

JSP Electives

Contemporary Social Issues in Japan

IWASAKI Akio | 2 credits

JSP Elective | Society | spring 2016


This is a JSP / TIU joint class particularly designed to promote cross-cultural awareness by taking advantage of the unique situation on this campus. It should give you an intriguing opportunity to observe certain social incidents taking place in the contemporary Japanese society. We will focus upon the issues relating to family, education and work ethics in Japan, and question what ‘Japaneseness’ is all about from the sociological viewpoints. By analyzing several aspects revolving around families, schools and job places, students should be able to see why Japanese people act the way they do under the cultural climate they are in. In this class, some historical issues as well as Japan / US relations will also be discussed to help students identify the social elements in Japan.

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Japanese Religions

DROTT Edward | 4 credits

JSP Elective | Religion | spring 2016


This course traces the development and cultural impact of the diverse religious traditions of Japan. It will focus on the role that folk traditions, Buddhism, Shintō and New Religious Movements have had in the formation of Japanese culture,as well as the ways in which these traditions have adapted to the unique social and historical circumstances found in Japan.

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Survey of Japanese Art

TATENO Marimi | 4 credits

JSP Elective | Art | spring 2016


This course surveys selected works of pre-modern Japan from the seventh through the eighteenth centuries and discusses relevant art historical issues as well as the cultural environment of art production. Each work we will focus on represent sand epitomizes a different historical period with its distinct subject matter and visual culture. Emphasis will be placed upon acquiring a basic knowledge of Japanese pre-modern art history while developing student’s skills in visual analysis. Students can expect to gain basic skills in iconographical observation and to acquire the proper terminology for discussing Japanese art. Students will acquire a better understanding of Japanese art that will prepare them for further studies in the field of art history.

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The Soft Power of Cool Japan

CLOSE Natalie | 4 credits

JSP Elective | Culture | spring 2016


In 2010 the Japanese government formally implemented a strategy called Cool Japan, which aims at increasing Japan’s influence in the world through a process known as soft power. We will look into the various forms of Cool Japan including anime, manga, gaming, and fashion, as well as some of the less well-known areas such as sport and the arts, from a historical perspective. In addition, we will look at the contemporary status of popular culture both in Japan and globally,critically examine the success of the Cool Japan program, and discuss what the future may hold. Overall, this course will raise students’ critical awareness of a variety of cultural and social issues related to modern Japan in the 21st century.

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Tradition & Innovation in Japanese Culture

OTA Tomoki | 4 credits

JSP Elective | Culture | spring 2016


The aim of this class is to provide a broad overview of Japan’s traditional and contemporary culture. During the first half of the course, we will look at the manufacture of pottery, kabuki theatre, gagaku, matsuri (local festivals), folk customs relating to the seasons, and other aspects of traditional culture. In the latter half of the course we will tackle contemporary culture, with a focus on anime and manga; we will also look at contemporary art, gyaru culture, and yankī culture.

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E-Track Electives | Japan Studies

Japanese Society

BLACKWOOD Thomas | 4 credits

E-Track Elective (Japan Studies) | Society | spring 2016


In this course we will examine key social institutions in contemporary Japan,including families, schools, and workplaces, and discuss them in light of the recent and changes in the political economy and demography. We will look at people considered to be “problems” by many in Japan: juvenile delinquents,criminals, minorities, and foreigners. We will consider how the recent structural changes have played roles in creating these groups (or changing their numbers),as well as consider how these groups are impacted by the changes. We will end the course with a focus on the triple disaster that Japan suffered on March 11, 2011,and consider the effects that the disaster has had on Japanese society at both the local and national levels.

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Social Businesses in Japan

STANISLAWSKI Sumire | 4 credits

E-Track Elective (Japan Studies) | Social Business | spring 2016


Social businesses are businesses that provide products and services with social,ethical, or environmental objectives. This course will examine the theory and practice of social businesses using Japanese businesses as case studies. Japanese consumers’ responses to social businesses and their products/services will also be explored. Prior knowledge of the subject is not required.

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E-Track Electives | Liberal Arts

Introduction to Business Management

ISHIGURO Kuniko | 4 credits

E-Track Elective (Liberal Arts) | Business | spring 2016


Effective organisational management is essential in order to establish, operate and lead business activities. But what is ‘management’, and how can we ‘manage’organisations? This course is designed as an introduction to the principles and processes of management, including definitions and functions of management,management theories, planning, organising, leading and controlling organisations.People and team management, and strategic management are also major components of this course. In this course, students are expected to acquire useful business skills, and actively participate in the class discussions.

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Introduction to International Relations

IZUMI Atsushi | 4 credits

E-Track Elective (Liberal Arts) | International Relations | spring 2016


This course consists of two parts. The first part is tracing and understanding the international history of modern and contemporary era. Second part is studying basic theories and perspectives of international relations. This introductory course is designed for the fresh undergraduate students who are beginners for studying international affairs and history.

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Introduction to Marketing

TAJEDDINI Kayhan | 4 credits

E-Track Elective (Liberal Arts) | Marketing | spring 2016


People often think that marketing is just advertising, a highly visible activity by which organizations try to persuade customers to buy products and services.However, marketing is much more than advertising. Even the most skillful marketer cannot make customers buy things they do not want. Rather, marketing involves:(1) identifying customer needs, (2) satisfying these needs with the right offering, (3) assuring availability to customers through the best distribution channels, (4) using promotional activities to build awareness and motivate purchase, and (5) choosing a suitable price to boost the firm’s profitability while also maintaining customer satisfaction.

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Principles of Political Science

YAMAMOTO Hiroyuki | 4 credits

E-Track Elective (Liberal Arts) | Politics | spring 2016


This is an introductory course in Political Science. This course will introduce you to three topics: (1) the major themes of Political Science (e.g., the origins of modern state, social movements, and democratization); (2) the major concepts used in Political Science (e.g., collective action problems and principal-agent relations); and (3) the methodologies political scientists use to evaluate rival theories.

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E-Track Electives | Business-Economics (BE)

Business Planning

ISHIGURO Kuniko | 4 credits

E-Track Elective (BE) | Business | spring 2016


Making a good business plan, as well as presenting it to audiences that could include supervisors in your organisation or investors, are the keys to successful implementation of a new project in a company, or to starting up your new business. In this module, students will: 1) learn the basics of business planning; 2) look at several examples of business planning; 3) learn and practice ways of making a business plan; and 4) practice presenting those business plans to audiences. The classes will mainly consist of lectures, but students will have various opportunities to think, write and discuss their own business plans in the second half of the classes.

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Entrepreneurship and Innovation

TAJEDDINI Kayhan | 4 credits

E-Track Elective (BE) | Business | spring 2016


Entrepreneurship and innovation are the principal source of jobs and wealth in market economies. This course is concern with entrepreneurship, with a special emphasis on technology transfer and wealth creation. Technology transfer is the process of taking innovations out of laboratories and finding commercial applications for those technologies. Although we will look at all kinds of entrepreneurship, the focus of the group project is on technology transfer and new venture development. The course is also concern with explaining “how”entrepreneurship takes place as well as “why” it takes place. The “how” of new venture development is related to the entrepreneurial process.

*This is an advanced course requiring prior knowledge of Business-Economics.

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Human Resources Management

ISHIGURO Kuniko | 4 credits

E-Track Elective (BE) | Business | spring 2016


People are one of the most important resources in an organisation, and in business activities. But people are not just a “resource” for the success of your business. We all have our own character, personality, career goals, and life-style. How can we “manage” people effectively while respecting and supporting individual employees’ career development processes? The course will provide theoretical underpinning for HRM as well as practical business cases.Through this course, students will acquire basic knowledge on HRM, which will be useful for their future careers, not only in business but in any form of organisation. Students are also encouraged to think about and analyse cases and issues concerning “people” in business, and to actively participate in discussion in the class.

*This is an advanced course requiring prior knowledge of Business-Economics.

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Macroeconomics

WATANABE Masahito | 4 credits

E-Track Elective (BE) | Economics | spring 2016


This course examines the determination of macroeconomic variables such as national income, unemployment, inflation, investment and interest rates. After a brief introduction to macroeconomic data, the course is divided into four parts.The first studies the long-run behavior of aggregate measures of the economy. The second part focuses on the determinants of economic growth. In the third part, a model is developed to characterize short-run economic fluctuations. After developing basic theories to explain the economy in the long run and in the short run, the last part turns to several topics that refine our understanding of the economy. Throughout the course, we consider macroeconomic policies and particular economic issues of current interest.

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E-Track Electives | International Relations (IR)

Comparative Politics

YAMAMOTO Hiroyuki | 4 credits

E-Track Elective (IR) | Politics | spring 2016


This is an introductory course in Comparative Politics. This course will introduce students who are new to the field of Comparative Politics to the leading theories and debates of this field while simultaneously introducing students to the history of political, economic, and cultural relations of various regions. By comparing how political systems develop and function in different countries, we will theorize about the historical development and future trajectories of domestic politics in the various parts of the world.

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International Integration

KIM Joonho | 4 credits

E-Track Elective (IR) | International Relations | spring 2016


International integration is one of the best approaches to achieve regional and global peace, as well as common economic goals. In this course, we try to make comparative analysis of integration phenomena between world regions, including Asia, Europe and America. Responding to the interests of students, Africa,Pacific and MENA regions may be added. The theory and reality of European Union is emphasized as the typical integrational success. Newspapers and articles are introduced to explain the trends of worldwide regionalism.

*This is an advanced course requiring prior knowledge of International Relations.

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Qualitative Research Methods

BLACKWOOD Thomas | 4 credits

E-Track Elective (IR) | Qualitative Research | spring 2016


This class will introduce students to qualitative methods of research in the social sciences. Our emphasis in the first half of this class will be on the gathering of data. We will experiment with structured interviews, unstructured or informal interviews, oral histories, narratives, group interviews, biographies,observations, participant-observations, documentary records, and organizational and community studies. The second half of the semester emphasizes methods of analyzing, theorizing from and writing results from such data. Towards the middle of the semester, after experimenting with various methods of data collection,students select a project (and a partner) of their choosing and proceed to collect and (later) analyze these data, leading to the production of a draft report.

*This is an advanced course requiring prior knowledge of International Relations.

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Fall 2016

JSP Electives

Buddhist Traditions

DROTT Edward | 4 credits

JSP Elective | Religion | fall 2016


This course will provide students with a thorough introduction to the breadth and depth of the Buddhist tradition, tracing its complex pattern of dissemination throughout Asia. The course will follow Buddhism’s growth chronologically, giving a basic outline of pre-Buddhist South Asian religion, the Buddha’s biography, basic Buddhist philosophy, the development of the tripitaka early practices, the rise of Theravāda, Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna, the development of new sects and movements in Central and East Asia, and “modernist” attempts to rework the tradition from the nineteenth century forward.

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Introduction to Community in Japan

YUNOUE Chiharu | 4 credits

JSP Elective | Society | fall 2016


What is community in Japan? This course will introduce a wide variety of topics on community building/rebuilding efforts and community-based problem solving in Japan. Many neighborhoods in Japan are facing challenges related to urbanization, aging, depopulation, isolation, and other issues. In addition, we have experienced natural disasters, such as the Great East Japan Earthquake. In this course, we will explore various strategies by people and organizations to overcome these challenges, and consider what makes neighborhoods vibrant, inclusive, and healthy. We will also think about community-based support for the elderly and their family in the super rapid aging society.

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Japanese Design History after 1868

KAKUYAMA Tomoko | 4 credits

JSP Elective | Design | fall 2016


Design is an interactive action among human beings, materials and societies. There are various factors and ideologies that affect design, such as economy, nationalism, feminism, mass culture etc. Focusing on Japan’s modern design history after 1868, this course investigates the formation of Japanese people’s life-world. Not only its stylistic character and functional matters, we will look into “design” as a social activity from historical perspective, and discuss the modernization and westernization process of Japan. The main subjects are handicrafts, industrial products, graphic works, and the architecture of 1868-1945. Contemporary topics will be also referred in the course.

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The Soft Power of Cool Japan

CLOSE Natalie | 4 credits

JSP Elective | Culture | fall 2016


In 2010 the Japanese government formally implemented a strategy called Cool Japan, which aims at increasing Japan’s influence in the world through a process known as soft power. We will look into the various forms of Cool Japan including anime, manga, gaming, and fashion, as well as some of the less well-known areas such as sport and the arts, from a historical perspective. In addition, we will look at the contemporary status of popular culture both in Japan and globally, critically examine the success of the Cool Japan program, and discuss what the future may hold. Overall, this course will raise students’ critical awareness of a variety of cultural and social issues related to modern Japan in the 21st century.

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