As the drive to rebuild modern Japan after WWII slowed, latent and new social problems have become visible. This course offers interdisciplinary perspectives on issues such as care of the elderly and homeless, equal treatment of minorities, gender and labor issues, domestic and world ecological concerns, and relevant institutions that promote or attack prejudice towards heterogeneous social groups. Taught in English.
While enrolled in this class, I was able to learn about the Japanese modern lifestyle, as well as it’s history. While we talked about the history, we came across the economic and social issues Japan has been facing since before World War II began. While reading about this time period, we came across several issues faced by women in Japan, and one of those topics was the term, “comfort women”. While reading about such a topic, my whole perspective about Japan changed drastically, because my mentality about Japan was about respect and equality being a priority, but I was wrong. I was able to learn about how women were forced into being sex slaves for the Japanese army while confronting their enemies in China, before WWII was even declared. In this class, we also learn about technology and how it is impacting the society in a way that encourages people to stay away from engaging in a relationship with another person, and instead people have started to engage in artificial relationships with pop culture iconic. While talking about this engagement, we learn that the lost interest in a relationship could be one of the causes the population in Japan is decreasing drastically. Another topic we came across was about the sex industry and how popular it is in Japan. These two topics were the ones that interested me the most, and due to such interest I decided to talk about them in my final essay, in which I talk about how the women’s human rights were violated in the WWII era and how nowadays, foreign women and Japanese women are forced into prostitution.
Major Learning Outcomes: Japanese Language and Culture
MLO 2: Culture
While enrolled in this class, I was able to learn about the Japanese modern lifestyle, as well as it’s history. While we talked about the history, we came across the economic and social issues Japan has been facing since before World War II began. While reading about this time period, we came across several issues faced by women in Japan, and one of those topics was the term, “comfort women”. While reading about such a topic, my whole perspective about Japan changed drastically, because my mentality about Japan was about respect and equality being a priority, but I was wrong. I was able to learn about how women were forced into being sex slaves for the Japanese army while confronting their enemies in China, before WWII was even declared. In this class, we also learn about technology and how it is impacting the society in a way that encourages people to stay away from engaging in a relationship with another person, and instead people have started to engage in artificial relationships with pop culture iconic. While talking about this engagement, we learn that the lost interest in a relationship could be one of the causes the population in Japan is decreasing drastically. Another topic we came across was about the sex industry and how popular it is in Japan. These two topics were the ones that interested me the most, and due to such interest I decided to talk about them in my final essay, in which I talk about how the women’s human rights were violated in the WWII era and how nowadays, foreign women and Japanese women are forced into prostitution.
Major Learning Outcomes: Japanese Language and Culture
MLO 2: Culture
- Students develop a comprehensive understanding, appreciation and knowledge of Japanese culture: perspectives (ideas, beliefs, attitudes, values, philosophies), practices (patterns of social interactions) and products (both tangible and intangible, for example, art, history, literature, music).
- Students develop analytical and critical thinking in areas, such as how Japan’s cultural background influences modern Japanese life, how to compare their own culture with the Japanese culture, or how Japanese culture relates to other world cultures in an age of global inter-relatedness.
- Students gain knowledge of appropriate research methodologies and are able to apply them in their studies.
- Students use appropriate technologies in research and studies relative to Japanese language and culture.
- Students collect, manage and analyze current and emerging technology-based resources to develop and produce their scholarly work.