2022-2023 Elective Courses

You’re used to the challenging academic standards and probing critical thinking that characterize a liberal arts education. And you’ll find that abroad with AKP. AKP mirrors its thirteen consortium institutions in disciplinary diversity and commitment to excellence among its courses. Thanks to the Visiting Faculty Fellows program, AKP recruits some of the finest professors from the consortium, allowing you to take classes that will foster a deeper understanding of Japan’s long and complex cultural history.

AKP students will take up to two elective courses per semester during the afternoons. The credit amount for each course will be equal to one standard semester-long course in the US.

In addition to the AKP elective courses listed below, AKP students may cross-register for elective courses offered by the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies (KCJS), also housed at Doshisha University. Courses taken at KCJS will receive the same credit as AKP electives and will appear on your AKP grade report. Limits or restrictions on cross-registration may apply depending on the particular course. For information about KCJS electives, see their elective course page. For more information about cross-registration, please contact the AKP US Office.

Fall 2022

AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
Professor James Orr, RD, Bucknell
Professor Taro Futamura, Doshisha University
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 2:55 PM – 4:25 PM

This seminar, which is open to both AKP and Doshisha students, focuses on issues in comparative culture. The class format includes panel presentations, discussions, group projects, and a series of guest lectures by Japanese and foreign experts from the Kyoto area who will address various aspects of American and Japanese culture from a multi-disciplinary perspective.

Cross-Cultural Psychology in Japan
Professor Sharon Akimoto, Carleton College
Monday, 2:55 PM – 4:25 PM & Wednesday, 4:40 PM – 6:10 PM

How does culture shape what we do and how we think? What is universal to all cultures and what is specific to one or more cultures? This course will explore these questions by examining major theoretical and empirical work in the field of Cultural and Cross-Cultural Psychology, focusing primarily on Japan and the US. In addition to learning from scholarly texts, we are very fortunate to be able to observe psychology in action in our daily lives in Japan. Thus, a major component of this class will be to regularly “test” the scholarly literature through our observations and interactions. The class will largely be conducted in an active discussion format, facilitated by in/out-of-class activities and exercises, field trips, and possible guest speakers.

Environmental Science, Policy, and Culture
Professor Marc Los Huertos, Pomona College
Monday, 4:40 PM – 6:10 PM & Wednesday, 2:55 PM – 4:25 PM

This introductory course will survey environmental issues in Japan, the US, and other countries. We will juxtapose a range of case studies to evaluate how the environment has been conceptualized within a set of cultural and scientific narratives. We will learn how to combine these case studies to create a more complex, nuanced version(s) of environmental science and policy. Cross-country comparisons will allow us to deconstruct hegemonic narratives, while providing an “international” environmental discourse. We will examine how environmental degradation is evaluated in different countries and how it affects environmental policy, as well as how policies reflect cultural heritage. We will compare how climate change will impact different parts of the world and evaluate how various countries have responded. We will determine how various countries value and protect biodiversity. By comparing Japan, the US, and other countries, we will learn how environmental science and policies vary based on culturally defined epistemologies. By doing this, we will appreciate the complexity of environmental issues and be better equipped to address global environmental issues, such as climate change and biodiversity losses.

Kyoto and the Visual Arts of Japan
Professor Catherine Ludvik, Kyoto Sangyo University
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 1:10 PM – 2:40 PM

This course takes students on an exploration of the magnificent visual arts of Japan, from the enigmatic excavated works of the prehistoric period, through the imposing Buddhist arts and breathtaking sliding screen paintings defining traditional architecture, to the vibrant contemporary art scene. Through a sweeping historical survey highlighting the forms and functions of representative artworks in their respective contexts, you will examine such issues as the relationship of Japanese art to Chinese and Korean art, patronage, the ritual and visual functions of Buddhist icons, the translation of concepts into artistic forms, as well as representational strategies and modes of viewing.

Japanese Economy
Professor David Flath, Ritsumeikan University
Mondays & Wednesdays, 1:10 PM – 2:40 PM

This course is a broad survey of topics having to do with Japan’s economy. Four themes run through the entire course: Japan’s economic growth and development, its integration with the world economy, Japanese government policies and their effects, and Japanese economic institutions and practices.

Spring 2023

Lens on Postwar Japan: Culture and Community
Professor James Orr, RD, Bucknell
Monday, 2:55 PM – 4:25 PM & Wednesday, 1:10 PM – 2:40 PM

A look at the history of post-WWII Japan with a strong reliance on cinematic film as our main texts.  The course aims to be a holistic examination of the interplay of politics and culture, touching on the dynamics of war recollection and the anti-nuclear peace movement, evolving ethnic and national identities in a post-imperial era, changing social norms during and after the high-growth years, and, toward the end of the century, the emergence of environmental awareness and global citizenship. Contemporary feature films will serve as windows to their times, along with pop music, architecture and urban space, art, manga, political cartoons, and anime.
 
The Japanese Language: Its Past, Present and Future
Professor Naoko Nemoto, Mount Holyoke College
Monday, 1:10 PM – 2:40 PM & Wednesday, 2:55 PM – 4:25 PM

This course aims to explore the history of the Japanese language in order to promote deeper understanding how the language has been used and where it will go from now. The course is designed for learners of Japanese who already know basic vocabulary, simple sentence structures and the modern writing system of Japanese with Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. Students are encouraged to contribute the relevant data from their lives in Kyoto and their thoughts from their experience as learners of Japanese as a foreign language.
 

Living with the Bomb: A Comparative Study of Gender, Race and Nationalism in Japan and the United States, 1945-Present
Professor Ann Sherif, Oberlin College
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 1:10 PM – 2:40 PM

This course will focus on the moral, ideological and historical complexity of the explosion of the atomic bomb during World War II, and subsequent cultural responses in both the Japan and United States as people learned to live with the bomb. Throughout the course we will foreground questions of race and gender, especially as they are embedded in concepts of nation, in order to explore the ideological struggles to justify and live with the bomb. Most discussions of the bomb focus on military and political issues. This course instead will use feminist theories, studies of nationalism, and critical race theory in order to foreground comparative analyses of the significance of gender and race in both wartime and postwar political and social experiences, as well as cultural responses in Japan and the United States. The class will also explore nuclear culture, public history, and activism in Kyoto and other places in Japan through visits to museums, war sites, and guest presentations.

Religion, Tradition and Temple-Tourism in Kyoto
Professor Catherine Ludvik, Kyoto Sangyo University
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 2:55 PM – 4:25 PM

Filled with over two thousand temples and shrines, the ancient capital of Kyoto provides the ideal setting for the study of Japanese religions. Temples and shrines, however, are not only sites of faith, but locales where religion, tradition, culture and tourism intersect. Against this vibrant and complex background accommodating diverse modes of religious practice and sightseeing, this course explores selected aspects of Shinto, Buddhism and the New Religions of Japan in historical as well as contemporary context. We will examine present-day attitudes to religion, lived by many as inherited tradition, in conjunction with the enormous popularity of the city’s temples and shrines that function as promoters of cultural identity and World Heritage tourism.

Interested in our past offerings?

Thanks to AKP’s Visiting Faculty Fellows program, each AKP term is unique in terms of its electives. While it’s hard to predict what might be offered next, you can click on the button below to see what kind of faculty and specialities we’ve brought to AKP in the past!

Past elective courses