Japanese Studies, Minor
The Japanese Studies Program
As the world’s third largest economy and one of the United States’ most important allies and trading partners, Japan is critical to an understanding of global issues. Japanese is spoken by 120 million people world-wide. It is also a language in which the US State Department has identified a critical need. In addition, Japanese writers and artists have long exerted an influence over popular culture internationally-an influence evident in the borderless appeal of Japanese film, manga, and anime.
The Japanese Studies Program enables students to explore all aspects of language and culture. We offer four levels of language instruction. We have summer, one-semester, and year-long study-abroad programs at several top universities in Japan. We also offer courses in English on Japanese literature, film, and popular culture. We encourage students to develop individual research projects, which can focus on anime, music, fashion, foodways, politics, and more. Students also enjoy opportunities to teach in closely-mentored relationship with faculty in both language and content courses.
Our program offers a major and a minor in Japanese Studies.
Core Requirements
The Minor in Japanese Studies requires 18 semester credit hours. At least 15 of those credits must be in JAPN courses. No more that 6 credits may come from courses taken through study abroad.
JAPN 100 Big Ideas in Japanese Stds and JAPN 150 First-Year Seminar may be counted toward the Minor; all other courses must be beyond the 202 level.
Note: the minor requires that students fulfill language training to at least the 202 level, or its equivalent. No course for the Minor may be taken pass/fail.