Courses
All students must spend the first semester they are registered with the EAS in actual attendance here. The following courses constitute our core program for students in their first semester at the East Asian Center:

• Survival Japanese 2 credits

Overview
This is a course for beginners and false beginners, that is, students who have had some experience with Japanese but not enough to allow them to function on a survival level in Japan. Classes meet five days per week, three hours per class, for a period of two weeks. These classes will introduce the student to the basic vocabulary and structures that will allow for immediate dialogue in daily conversational situations. The focus is on speaking and comprehension.

Objectives
This course has been developed to give students the basic communicative skills to allow them to function in everyday situations such as shopping, introducing themselves and others, counting, telling time, asking for, giving and getting directions and the like. In addition, it provides students with the fundamental linguistic patterns upon which to base the grammatical skills which they will be learning in their subsequent language classes.

Methodology
This course will be taught using a variety of teaching techniques to keep motivation at a peak. Quizzes and homework will be given regularly so that students can acquire conversational skills rapidly. Students are requested to learn both the hiragana and katakana syllabaries (Japanese phonetic alphabets) prior to the commencement of this course.

• Japanese Language 3-4 credits

Overview:
The Japanese program encompasses the four main areas of language learning: speaking, hearing, reading and writing. Classes meet three times per week, two hours per class, for a period of ten weeks. Beginning classes introduce the phonetic alphabets and some kanji (ideograms) in addition to the structures and forms of basic Japanese conversation. These areas are strengthened in the more advanced classes.

Objectives:
The main objective in all levels of Japanese classes is to provide students with a background in conversational Japanese. Primarily notational-functional in approach, the course is a structured program devoted to the systematic development of language skills. With meaning and use of language in communication as the prime concern, full attention is also given to grammar and structure practice as a means of ensuring that learners acquire a firm understanding of the language and ability to apply new material.

Methodology:
Native Japanese language teachers teach classes. Students will be placed in small classes at their appropriate levels according to their language ability.

Textbook
Yookoso! An Invitation to Contemporary Japanese (with CD) second edition, by Yasuhiko Tohsaku, McGraw Hill International Edition, 2001

**Before You Arrive**

In an effort to speed up the learning process, we require all students to learn the Japanese Kana (Hiragana and Katakana) syllabaries (at the end of this booklet), before arriving in Japan. This will give students a flying start in the learning of a language which, by its very nature, is study-intensive.

The syllabaries at first glance seem a little intimidating perhaps, as they are so different from the Western alphabet. However, with a little application they can be memorized in a matter of days. We ask that you obtain a hiragana and katakana text such as Kana Can Be Easy, Kunihiko Ogawa, The Japan Times, 1997 or Remembering the Hiragana, James W. Heisig, Japan Publications Trading Co., Ltd, 1987. If you cannot find either of these books we have included copies of both the hiragana and katakana syllabaries in the back of this handbook. Knowledge of Katakana, which is a syllabary used to transliterate English and other foreign words, will be especially useful during your early days here, as most menus and any language lifted directly from English are written in Katakana script. Once you start learning Japanese, Hiragana will also be very important.

We consider the early mastery of Hiragana and Katakana so important that there will be a test at the end of the first week of the semester, and your continuation on to the rest of the language course will depend upon successful performance in that test. (For those Friends World students not accustomed to, nor inclined towards taking tests, though we also in principal dislike them, we have found that in a language acquisition context they have proven indispensable).

In addition, we request that you let us know whether or not you have studied Japanese, and if you have, what books you have used and what level you have attained. Please e-mail that information to us as soon as possible in order that we can begin making arrangements for Japanese classes.

• East Asian Studies Program 4 credits

Overview:
The objective of this program is to introduce students to various aspects of Japanese culture in a way that will enable them to understand why and how most Japanese traditional arts are connected. In addition to the cultural component, students are also introduced to Japanese religion, society and history. Students participate in an extensive array of seminars, lectures, workshops and demonstrations within and outside the East Asian Center, in addition to field trips to historic sights and artisans' workshops. Assigned readings and handouts, which will provide the necessary background for full understanding of the seminars, supplement these. As the term progresses, seminars will be designed to focus on the particular interests of the students. Prior East Asian Studies programs have included the following seminars, workshops and demonstrations:

Buddhism in Japan
Zen meditation
Martial Arts
Sumo
Cross Cultural Differences – Japan/U.S.
Key Currents in Japanese Political History
Minority Group Issues (Koreans, Buraku)
Environmental Issues in Japan
Japanese Anime and comics
Women’s Issues
Japanese History
Tai Chi and QiGong
Organized Crime
Woodblock printing
Traditional Japanese Music (Shakuhachi, Taiko, etc.)
Tea Ceremony
Japanese Literature
Haiku and Other Poetry Forms
Noh Theater,
Bunraku (puppet theater)
Kabuki Theater
Japanese Gardens
Paper Making
Sumie (ink painting)
Shodo (calligraphy)
Ikebana (flower arrangement)
Japanese Dance
Introduction to Traditional Healing
Shiatsu
Japanese Pottery, etc.

In addition to short day trips to areas in and around Kyoto, the East Asian Studies program includes a field trip lasting several days. Recent field trips have included visits to South Korea; Takayama, often referred to as ‘little Kyoto;” Koyasan, the spiritual center of Shingon Buddhism; the Tottori Sand dunes (made famous by Kobo Abe’s novel, Woman In the Dunes;) Okinawa, and Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the sites of the atomic bombings of the second World War. Trips to Hiroshima and Nagasaki have included visits to the Peace Parks and Peace Museums. Students have had the opportunity there to meet with hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bombing, and hear first-hand accounts of the tragic events that transpired in August 1945. Field trips to Hiroshima usually include a visit to nearby Miyajima, a sacred island made famous by the red Shinto torii, which overlooks the island from the bay. Other sites in Miyajima include a deer park, aquarium, scenic hiking paths and interesting shops. Students also have been able to have homestays with families on certain field trips including those to Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Shiga and Takayama. Field trips have also been made to the cities of Hangzhou, where the Friends World China Center is located, and Shanghai in Mainland China. East Asia Center students have joined in field trips and East Asian Studies classes with their counterparts at the China Center to learn about Mainland China during their stay. Field trips may be arranged to other parts of Japan, depending upon student interest.

An integral part of the East Asian Studies program is a pairing with Japanese University student counterparts, all of whom are linguistically competent in English and eager to interact with American students. This exchange is enormously helpful to our students, both socially and academically, and is also our way of sharing our knowledge with the Japanese community. Students will meet weekly with their Japanese partners to demystify key issues in Japanese society, and to gain first hand experience with contemporary Japanese youth culture.

• Linked Asian Studies Writing Workshop 2 credits

We place a great deal of emphasis on writing skills at the East Asian Center, take our writing program very seriously and expect that our students will learn, over the course of the semester, how to organize and present their learning in a succinct, coherent manner. To that end we require that all East Asian Studies students participate in the writing workshop, working closely with their advisors and peers to write, edit and revise their papers. Group meetings will be held weekly to address writing problems shared by the students. Because this course is interactive and emphasis is placed on the process of writing and revising, it is essential that the first drafts of all papers be submitted on the appointed day and that subsequent revisions and rewrites be submitted in a timely fashion.

Overview:
This is a workshop conducted on both a one-to-one basis with students and their advisors, as well as in a workshop with student peers. It is linked with the East Asian Studies Program in that the material for the course will consist of response, position or research papers which students will write for all Area Studies seminars. These reports will provide the raw material for individualized writing study and criticism. A variety of writing styles and perspectives will be explored with detailed criticism given on an individual basis and in peer workshops. Elements of Style by Strunk and White and the MLA Manual will be used as auxiliary resources. Papers submitted for this course will be expected to demonstrate the students' progress in developing and refining their critical thinking skills and will serve as complete documentation for both the writing workshop and for the East Asian Studies course.

An example of the requirements for a research paper for the East Asian Studies program and Writing workshop follows:

Writing Assignment: The Korean Residents of Japan
As one of your East Asian Studies assignments, please write a 4-7 page research paper expanding on the seminar covering the Korean residents’ situation in Japan. In this paper:

1. Explain and reflect on several of the main issues that constitute the situation of Korean residents, today.
2. Explain what actions Korean residents are taking to change their situation. Throughout the paper, develop an argument on an aspect of the situation and draw a substantiated conclusion from your research.

The seminar and the supplementary readings you have received for this seminar constitute two resources. At least two additional sources must be utilized in researching the paper. These may include information that you have received from your Japanese partner, periodicals, videos, students' journals, books, interviews, etc. which students must find on their own. The paper must include footnotes and a bibliography.

• Independent Projects/Study

During your first semester you will have time to pursue one independent project. This can be a class taken outside the Center or a project that you structure and develop by yourself. Only your imagination and energy limit the possibilities for independent projects. Examples of recent projects undertaken by students are as follows:

• SOCIAL STUDIES: Korean Nationals in Japan; Discrimination Issues; Culture and Cuisine in Japan; Pop Culture; Vending Machine Culture; Women's Issues; Environmentally Conscious Waste Disposal Methods in Japan; Japanese Traditional Tattoos, Geisha

• ARTS AND LITERATURE: Japanese Anime and Comics, Butoh dance; Apprenticeship in Japanese Indigo Dyeing; Woodblock Printing; Japanese Architecture; Study of Kaiseki Cuisine; Studies in Japanese Literature; Journalism; Haiku Workshop; Traditional Japanese Dance; Noh Drama; Kabuki Drama; History of Japanese Cinema; Tea Ceremony; Flower Arrangement; Traditional Japanese Music; Shakuhachi; Koto; Shamisen; Japanese Pop Music; Taiko Drumming

• PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION: Introduction to Eastern Religions; Study and Practice of Zen Buddhism; Intensive Vipassana Meditation; Shinto Religion; The Psychology of the Japanese Mind

• MARTIAL ARTS: Aikido; Karate; Okinawan Karate; Shorinji Kempo; Naginata for Women; Kyudo (Japanese Archery); Kendo,

• HEALTH AND HEALING: Tai Chi, Chi Gong, Shiatsu, Reiki, Macrobiotics

• EDUCATION: Teaching English as a Second Language; International School Internship

Spring semester for second semester students shall be structured into the following classes:

Spring semester for first semester students shall be structured into the following classes:

Other Classes, Independent And Guided Independent Studies (Second semester and later)
The independent projects are a good way of exploring a field of study, which you might pursue fully as a senior project. In addition to independent projects, the East Asian Center offers syllabi for predesigned independent studies as well as classes, depending on student interest, each semester. The following classes and predesigned independent studies have been offered in the recent past:

• Linked Writing Workshop 3 credits

This class will be structured in the format of a collaborative workshop with writing assignments linked to other classes, such as Behind the Mask, providing the material for discussion. Students will read papers of their own choosing at each class meeting, and will receive constructive feedback from the group. In this environment of community learning, students will not only be given immediate critical feedback on their works in progress but will also learn to develop the criteria necessary to improve their own writing. Evaluation will be based on participation and improvement in writing.

• Teaching English as a Second Language 3-4 credits

A practical course exploring various methods and techniques of teaching English as a Second Language, such as the Grammar Translation, Audio Lingual and Total Physical Response Methods. Through demonstrations, peer teaching and examination of current teaching materials, students will be encouraged to develop a personal approach to teaching English through examination of their own language learning and teaching experiences. All students will be required to intern as language teachers to refine their teaching techniques. In addition to classroom visits and supplementary readings, students will keep a teaching journal as a basis for reflecting upon, analyzing and documenting their teaching experiences, as well as a learning journal to develop awareness of their own learning experiences in both Japanese language classes and this class. Students will be expected to write several papers during the course of the semester, dealing with the teaching methods they learn in addition to documenting their experience with both peer teaching and classroom teaching.

• Japanese Cuisine and Culture 2-3 credits

A course in the preparation of traditional and everyday Japanese cuisine. Classes meet each week for eleven weeks for two to three hours in a specially rented kitchen/lecture space and students learn the significance of the ingredients, menus, preparation techniques and serving styles of a variety of Japanese dishes. Sasha Ashburne, a trained Japanese chorishi chef, teaches the hands-on practical preparation of the food, and explains the social, cultural and historical contexts surrounding the meal or product. Dishes produced in the past have included Yuba (made from scratch from soy beans), Inari-zushi, Goma Sesame Cuisine, Tempura, and Tofu.

Evaluation of the written component is by the student’s advisor. Evaluation of students’ techniques, taste, and presentation will be made by the instructor while evaluation of documentation will be made by the advisor. The course culminates in meals prepared by student groups and assessed by the teacher under “tasting” conditions.

• Personal Web-publishing 2-4 credits

Personal Web-publishing is a hands on, experiential course designed to help students support their other learning at the Center. Students will use weblogs (blogs) to document their learning process, construct an archive of discourse, and to build a personal learning network with people from all over the world. Blogs, similar to online journals, allow readers to offer feedback in the form of comments and discussion. In addition to providing feedback to one another, each student will also be required to recruit the participation of people outside the Center, such as family, friends, and/or other bloggers. In the process of cooperating with each other and reflecting on the online trail of discussion, students can take in multiple perspectives and see patterns in their thinking and behavior, shedding light on blind spots in their learning, and increase their self-awareness. Aside from running a weblog, students will learn computer networking skills to cultivate a personal learning community and to access information relevant to their studies. Along the way, students will also learn to use open source webpublishing software, RSS and aggregation software, as well as various social networking tools. Students will be required to carry out midterm and final peer and self-evaluations, and will be asked to write a short final paper. No prior experience with computers is necessary.

• Japanese Literature 3 credits

This is a guided, but independent course in contemporary Japanese literature from the Meiji period forward. Short stories will be selected from the anthologies Modern Japanese Literature, edited by Donald Keene, Contemporary Japanese Literature, edited by Howard Hibbet and Modern Japanese Stories, edited by Ivan Morris. Novels to be read will be selected by the student from a list including novels by Yasunari Kawabata, and Kenzaburo Oe, Japan’s two Nobel prize winners for literature, Kobo Abe and Yukio Mishima, among others.

• Behind the Mask: Alternative Japan 3 credits

This class will examine past and present aspects of Japanese demographics that, because of “unofficial” status, often go unreported, in particular, the indigenous Ainu, Okinawa/Ryukyu culture, Burakumin, South Americans of Japanese heritage (nikkeijin), as well as the resident Chinese and Korean population (zainichi). Students will choose particular aspects of modern Japanese culture to explore more deeply for their research projects. Students will participate in an extensive array of seminars, lectures, workshops, and demonstrations within and without the East Asian Center. Field excursions, usually including interviews with leading scholars and activists in their respective fields, will be made to sites relevant to the course. Students will be required to write several position papers, preces, in addition to a culminating research paper.
Texts: The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, edited by Joseph Garibaldi, fifth edition; Multicultural Japan, edited by Denoon et.al, Japanese Minorities, edited by Michael Weiner.

• Creative Writing Workshop 3-4 credits

This class will be in the form of a collaborative workshop with all participants reading their work to the group and providing critical feedback to all the other members. Writing exercises will be geared toward improving character development, plot movement and sensory description, primarily in the context of short story writing. Assignments will be completed outside of class and will be critiqued through a peer review process before being revised. Experimenting with different writing styles and techniques as well as the development of each student’s voice as an author will be encouraged. Texts will include: The Writer’s Idea Book, by Jack Heffron, The Art of Creative Writing, by Lagos Egri, On Writing, by Stephen King, Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott, What If, by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter, On Writing Well by William Zinsser, Writing Fiction by the Gotham Writers’ Fiction Workshop, The Elements of Style, by Wm. Strunk and E.B.White, and The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction.

• Introduction to Eastern Religious and Spiritual Philosophy 3-5 credits

This course is a predesigned independent study, and will present an overview of Eastern religions and their accompanying spiritual beliefs and practices. Students will be introduced to the forms of Buddhism practiced in India, Tibet, China, and Japan and how the principles of Buddhism can be applied to daily life, especially as concerns the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path to enlightened living. Other religions surveyed include Taoism, Hinduism, Islam, and Sufism. In addition to the resource materials, students can participate in a 10-day Vipassana meditation course as well as in several Zen meditation sittings at Zen temples of either the Soto or Rinzai school in Japan.

• Introduction to Photography 3 credits

This introductory course is designed to give students the rudimentary skills required to produce technically correct photographs while exploring the creative potential of the medium. Classes will focus on the fundamentals of composition, lighting, and equipment. Learning takes place within an experiential context, as students take their cameras into the streets to record their impressions of life in Japan. Constructive self and group assessment is heartily encouraged. In addition, students will work in the darkroom on the process of printing and enlarging. Field trips will incorporate viewings of the extensive exhibitions of the work of Japanese photographers in the Kansai area.

Evaluations will be based on class work, assignments, self-evaluations of assignments and photographs, and portfolio documentation.

Courses Taken Outside the East Asian Center
Many students who come to Japan would like to avail themselves of the numerous external courses that can be found in Kyoto. Students in the past have taken courses in Martial Arts, Ikebana, Calligraphy and other Japanese arts, various forms of holistic healing such as Shiatsu, Reiki, macrobiotics, and supplementary Japanese language courses. Although students are welcome to take classes in their areas of interest, the East Asian Center cannot assume financial responsibility for them beyond what is covered by the Center Fee if they are not offered as part of our curriculum. We will, however, try to offer the course as part of our curriculum if there is sufficient student interest.