KANSAI GAIDAI UNIVERSITY

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ing businesses conducted on a global basis, focusing on case laws in which Japanese multinational corporations encoun-tered in U.S. or other foreign jurisdictions. The ultimate objectives of the course will be to nourish the reading compre-hension of the students regarding business and legal English, enhance their competency of logical thinking, and develop their presentation skills through analysis, briefing and presen-tation of actual precedents adjudicated by U.S. or other foreign court judges. The Struggle for Justice How does the criminal justice system in Japan differ from other Asian countries? With a main emphasis on Japanese criminal justice, this course will examine how the Japanese criminal justice produces one of the lowest rates of crime in the developed world. Students will discover why Japanese prosecutors win 99.98% of their trials and will learn the why the vast majority of criminal suspects ultimately confess.East Asian Literature and Culture in TranslationWhat insights can contemporary Asian literature reveal about culture, politics, gender and history? Through an examination of East Asian literature, photographs, music, and film from Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and more, this course will examine the intensive process of globalization in this region as well as the current rapidly growing inter-Asian cultural flows. Moving beyond the selected texts as part of a literary/art genre, students will envision how these cultural productions are insepa-rable from our living surroundings, and how these texts shape social memories, traditional Asian values, gender roles, national-isms, and historical traumas.Urban Culture AsiaUrban cultures in Asian societies are multi-layered and intricate. The question of urban Asia acquires new significance currently as the impact of globalization and advancement of digital technology have created a thriving East Asian cultural market and active exchanges of pan-Asian popular cultures among different locations. Looking into various forms of urban culture in contemporary Asian societies (fiction, musicals, films, sporting events, current examples of K-pop fandom and related boy-bands and girl-groups, etc.) students will be engaged in critical discussions about how people experience patterns of cultural expressions that are not readily reduced singular narrative.Kojiki to Haruki: Literary Representations of Diverse ErasStudents will discover the essence of Japanese literature in this unique course that traces the development and adoption of literature into society. Students will analyze literary works from each period of Japanese history and realize the signifi-cance of literature—both past and present as a means of understanding Japanese culture and society. The course will further examine how the rapid and dramatic transformation of Japan influenced the diversification and evolution of litera-ture. The course is divided into sections—ancient, classical, and medieval, concentrating on the pre-war and post-war periods.Kodai to Gendai: Influences of Literature on Japanese Society & CultureThe rich history of Japanese society and culture has played a vital role in shaping modern-day Japan. Through the study of various socio-cultural practices and phenomena such as mythol- ogy, religion, education, and globalization, students in this course examine critical developments in Japanese history. Each module of the course is structured around a social or cultural subject with emphasis on their critical aspects that can deepen and broaden historical understandings of Japanese society and culture.Geisha, Gangsters and Samurai: Japan in Western FilmSince the earliest days of cinema, Westerner filmmakers have used Japan as a mirror in which to reflect upon their own socie-ties. At times they have portrayed Japan as a utopian world that exposed the problems of the West. At other times they have emphasized problems in Japanese culture in order to exalt Western values. Through it all has been a highly gendered narra-tive—Japan as the paradoxical land of the ultra feminine geisha and extremely masculine samurai and gangsters. This course looks at how and why these contradictory images coexist so easily within the Western cinematic imagination.Documenting Japan: Film and Photography as Cultural DescriptionThe phrases “the camera never lies,” “seeing is believing” and “a picture is worth a thousand words” are often heard. This course provides an introduction to the field of visual anthropolo-gy, with a focus on documentary films and photographic projects. Visual anthropology strives to visualize the invisible – knowl-edge, values, morals, beliefs, perceptions, capabilities and private Surveys in LiteratureTopics in LiteratureFilm Studies30