Japanese Courses Winter 2019

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Japanese 002. Elementary Japanese (5 units)

Section Instructor Day/Time

Room

CRN
  001   Mayu Lindblad   MTWRF 8:00-8:50A

  Wellman 209

  39943
  002  Moeko Watanabe   MTWRF 8:00-8:50A

  Wellman 235

  39944
  003   Moeko Watanabe   MTWRF 10:00-10:50A

  Wellman 235

  39945
  004   Miki Wheeler   MTWRF 11:00-11:50A

  Wellman 235

  39946
  005   Yoko Kato   MTWRF 2:10-3:00P

  Young 192

  39947
  006   Junko Ito   MTWRF 12:10-1:00P

  Wellman 235

  39948
  007   Junko Ito   MTWRF 2:10-3:00P

  Wellman 205

  39949

  008

  Junko Ito   MTWRF 3:10-4:00P   Wellman 205   39950

  009

  Miyo Uchida   MTWRF 1:10-2:00P   Wellman 235   39951

  010

  Yumiko Shibata   MTWRF 3:10-4:00P   Olson 125   39952

  011

  Kazuhide Takeuchi   MTWRF 3:10-4:00P   Wellman 007   39953
  012

  Naoko McHale

  MTWRF 3:10-4:00P   Physics 140   39954

Course Description: A continuation of Japanese 001. Further developing elementary level skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing in Japanese in more everyday communication settings. Building upon Japanese 001, continue to introduce basic vocabulary and characters as well as core grammar, and develop communication skills.

Prerequisite: Japanese 001 or Language Placement Exam.

GE credit (New): Arts and Humanities, Oral Literacy and World Cultures.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 5 hours.

Textbooks:

  • Eri Banno, Genki I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese [2nd Edition]  (Japan Times/Tsai Fong Books, 2011)
  • Eri Banno, et al., Genki I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese Workbook [2nd Edition]  (Japan Times/Tsai Fong Books, 2011)

Japanese 005. Intermediate Japanese (5 units)

Section Instructor Day/Time

Room

CRN
  001   Mayumi Saito   MTWRF 2:10-3:00P

  Olson 125

  39955
  002   Yoko Kato   MTWRF 1:10-2:00P

  Wellman 105

  39956
  003   Kazuhide Takeuchi   MTWRF 2:10-3:00P

  Wellman 027

  39957
  004   Miyo Uchida   MTWRF 3:10-4:00P

  Wellman 235

  39958

Course Description: The main objective of the course is to extend your ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in various real-life situations and also to read and write about these situations. Topics include asking and giving directions, and giving and receiving gifts, explaining how to make your favorite dishes, and talking about unpleasant experiences and rumors.  Lists of new kanji information learned chapter-by-chapter with the course textbook, as well as a cumulative list of all kanji learned by the end of JPN 05, are available for download from the Kanji lists page.

Prerequisite: Japanese 004 or Language Placement Exam.

GE credit (New): Arts and Humanities, Oral Literacy and World Cultures.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 5 hours.

Textbooks:

  • Eri Banno, Genki II: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese [2nd Edition] (Japan Times/Tsai Fong Books, 2011)
  • Eri Banno, et al., Genki II: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese Workbook [2nd Edition] (Japan Times/Tsai Fong Books, 2011)

[OPTIONAL]

  • Jack Halpern, The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary: Revised and Expanded  (Kodansha USA, 2013)

Japanese 050. Introduction to the Literature of China and Japan (4 units)       In English       [Cross-listed with Chinese 050]
David Gundry

MW 6:10-8:00P
Room Hart 1150
CRN 54712

Course Description: This course focuses on prose fiction written in Japan and China from the 1000’s through the 1900’s, with an emphasis on stories in which a romantic or erotic element predominates. Pre-modern Japan and China produced a number of fictional masterpieces of daunting length, and we will read portions of two of these along with several shorter works that will be read in their entirety. First, after reading a selection of Chinese and Japanese texts that in various ways paved the way for it, we will examine key early chapters of the vast Japanese novel of courtly love The Tale of Genji (circa 1000). We will subsequently read a Noh play based on one of the chapters in Genji we will have read, before moving on to examine a series of stories by Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693) set in both samurai and commoner milieus. We will then be treated to the blend of supernatural interludes and opulently detailed descriptions of life among the elite of Qing-period China in The Story of the Stone (aka The Dream of the Red Chamber, mid 1700's), an extremely long novel that is often compared to Genji. At the end of the term we will move into the twentieth century with “Love in a Fallen City,” a story by the Chinese/Chinese-American writer Eileen Chang (1920-1995), and Masks (1958), a short novel by Japanese author Enchi Fumiko (1905-1986) that contains references to both Genji and the Noh theater and that, much like Genji, Stone and the fiction of Ihara Saikaku, presents us with a disturbing blend of erotic and familial intrigue.

Prerequisite: None.

GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities and World Cultures.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 4 hours.

Textbooks:

  • TBA

Japanese 102. Japanese Literature in Translation: The Middle Period (4 units)       In English
Miki Wheeler

TR 2:10-4:00P
Room Hart 1130
CRN 39987

Course description: Study of the major literary genres from the twelfth century to the second half of the nineteenth century including poetry, linked-verse, military chronicles, no drama, Buddhist literature, haiku, haibun, kabuki, bunraku, plays and Edo prose narratives.

Prerequisite: None.

GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Discussion - 1 hour.

Textbooks:

  • TBA

Japanese 106. Japanese Culture Through Film (4 units)       In English
David Gundry

Lecture:
MW 4:10-6:00P
Room TBA

Film Viewing:
W 6:10-8:00P
Room Hart 1150

CRN 54714

Course Description: This course examines films made in Japan from the 1950s through the 2000s in genres ranging from the literary biopic to the Tokugawa-era period piece, the family drama and the exploitation B-movie. The instructor has made his selections with a view toward showing students films that they probably have not yet seen and that are historically and culturally relevant as well as entertaining. Students will read literary, biographical and historical works providing a context for the movies viewed. In addition to a midterm and a final exam, students will write three brief essays on the films and readings assigned (no additional research required).

Viewer Advisory: Nudity, Violence, Sexual Content.

Prerequisite: None.

GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Visual Literacy and World Cultures.

Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Film Viewing - 3 hours.

Textbooks:

  • TBA

Japanese 112. Modern Japanese: Reading and Discussion (4 units)

Section Instructor Day/Time

Room

CRN
  001   Moeko Watanabe   MTWR 9:00-9:50A

 Wellman 235

  39990
  002   Yumiko Shibata

  MTWR 4:10-5:00P

  Olson 267

  39991

Course Description: This is the second in the sequence of third-year Japanese courses.  In the third-year courses, the focus is particularly on the development of reading skills for comprehending long texts and communication skills for stating opinions, giving explanations and making presentations.  Topics of the readings and discussions in this course include religion in Japan, Japanese pop culture, Japanese traditional performing arts, and education and convenient shopping in Japan.

Prerequisite: Japanese 111.

GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Oral Literacy and World Cultures.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Discussion - 1 hour.

Textbooks:

  • TBA

Japanese 122. Advanced Japanese (4 units)
Nobuko Koyama

MW 10:00-11:50A
Room Robbins 146
CRN 39992

Course Description: This course focuses on “real-life” communication skills in Japanese such as job interview skills, conversation skills by using different styles and degrees of politeness, and writing skills by learning appropriate language styles and formats for different genres. Students are expected to “use” Japanese by applying their knowledge and skills to real-life situations. As a side project, students are encouraged to prepare for JLPT N1 or N2. For this project, study aids will be provided.

Prerequisite: Japanese 121 (with a grade of "C-" or better) or consent of instructor (nkoyama@ucdavis.edu).

GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Oral Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Discussion - 1 hour.

Textbooks:

  • TBA

Japanese 135. Readings in the Humanities: The Modern Period (4 units)
Chia-ning Chang

TR 10:00-11:50A
Room Bainer 1132
CRN 39993

Course Description: This fourth-year reading course in the Japanese humanities is designed as an advanced language course to develop skills appropriate for advanced Japanese comprehension.  It is also designed as a content course aimed at the critical appreciation of modern Japanese texts in their historical, political, and cultural context.  It covers an area sufficiently broad to accommodate a wide range of student interests in modern Japanese critical discourse and imagination, with materials ranging from scholarly and journalistic essays, zuihitsu, social and cultural criticism, social and political commentary, and its many associated genres, as well as excerpts from longer works and texts from zaidankai or taidan.

It is the responsibility of the students to study the assigned reading materials before they are read, scrutinized, and discussed during class time.  Lecture time will be devoted to the elucidation of the more problematic areas in the texts through translation and other pedagogical means, as well as to discussions about the historical and cultural conditions of textual production and effects.  The instructor may also assign a substantial translation project/term paper. 

Attendance is absolutely crucial and expected of each and every student during regular class meetings.

Active participation in class discussion and other activities is strongly encouraged and will constitute a part of your final grade.

No make-up mid-terms or finals are allowed unless students have compelling reasons to justify their request.  Personal preferences, conflicts with private plans or multiple examinations on the same day will not be considered as compelling reasons.

Prerequisite: Japanese 113 or equivalent language proficiency.

GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities and World Cultures.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

  • TBA

Japanese 151. Japanese Linguistics (4 units)
Nobuko Koyama

MW 2:10-4:00P
Room Chemistry 176
CRN 39994

Course Description: This is an introduction to Japanese linguistics, tailored for non-linguistics students. First two weeks are titled “crash courses” to overview phonetics (the use of IPA), and morphology so that students will be equipped with basic concepts and workings of linguistics. This course focuses on hands-on experiences to learn phonology, morphology, syntax and pragmatics/sociolinguistics, and students will learn the basic structure of Japanese language by analyzing Japanese language data, solving linguistic problems, comparing Japanese to other languages, and participating in in-class experiments.

Prerequisite: Japanese 003 or equivalent language proficiency.

GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Discussion - 1 hour.

Textbooks:

  • TBA

Japanese 155. Introduction to Japanese Folklore (4 units)        In English 
Michael Dylan Foster

TR 4:10-6:00P
Room Roessler 055
CRN 54711

Course Description: From sacred myth to urban legend and everything in between, the folklore of Japan is rich and varied. There are epics of war; folktales about monsters and ghosts and shapeshifting creatures; local festivals and foodways that have persisted for hundreds of years; and brand new traditions created in the context of globalization and cultural change. This course introduces students to Japanese folklore and its study (minzokugaku). Primary emphasis is on the narrative genres of myth, legend, and folktale, but we will also discuss folk beliefs, ritual, festival, art and supernatural creatures. We will examine issues of identity and authenticity and what it means to call something “Japanese”; questions of tradition, the “invention of tradition,” and modernity within a historical context; and the intersection of folklore with literature and popular culture (including film, anime, and video games). Class will combine lecture and discussion. No previous knowledge of Japanese language or culture is required.

Prerequisite: None.

GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities and World Cultures.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Discussion - 1 hour.

Textbooks:

  • TBA