Course description: As the drive to rebuild modern Japan after WWII has 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.
In my Japanese 311 class, I learned interesting aspects about Japanese culture. At first, I was not interested in learning about this culture, but after the two weeks of class, I gained interest. It was helpful that many Japanese students were also taking this class. It was easier to understand all the concepts by listening to their stories; we had the dynamic of learning a new concept and discuss it by sharing our personal stories. At the beginning of the semester, I learned about the geography of Japan. We were divided into groups to research different regions and we had to research about the region’s population, culture, and climate. We also had to do a five-minute presentation to successfully complete this assignment. My favorite part in the class was learning about the education system in Japan. I did not know anything about it, so everything was new to me. It was also shocking to learn about this education system because it is extremely different to the education system in the United States. During the education system unit, I learned that students in high school have to prepare for an important exam to enter a university. This exam not only determines if they can enter a university, it also determines which university they can go to. If students get a low score, they cannot attend the best universities. This exam also determines who they are as people. For example, if students in Japan get a high score, they are considered highly skilled persons. I also learned that students in Japan can miss many school days and still get a good grade. The only day they have to show up to class is on the day of exams. After taking this class, I would like to take more classes about Japanese culture.
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