What images come to mind when you think about “Japanese studies”? It can be quite hard to visualize in comparison to other majors, like literature and history. This is because Japanese studies aims to engage in cross-disciplinary research and education. Students taking this course will cast aside their pre-existing perceptions of Japan to approach the topic using a range of methods and perspectives including Japanese history, folklore, anthropology, cultural study, research into gender and sexuality, and representation analysis.

This course is one of the only programs in Japan that simultaneously covers three significant areas of history: China, Northern/Central Eurasia, and Southeast/maritime Asia. The course has produced world-class research concerning society, economics, and the law in China from the early modern period to the present day; the history of Central Eurasia during the period from the Chinese Sui and Tang Dynasties to the Mongolian Empire; the medieval and early modern periods in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, in particular); and maritime relations in East/Southeast Asia. Emphasis is placed on local fieldwork in addition to historical sources. The course stands at the forefront of the movement to reform history education, which includes giving Asian history education its proper place in the international academic community.

Chinese philosophy – of which the Hundred Schools of Thought is representative – offers profound insight into the world and human nature and has majorly influenced culture formation in East Asia, including in Japan. Students in this major study the important Confucian, Taoist, legal, and military thinkers who contributed to the formation of Chinese thought. In addition to classical works, they revisit commonly accepted theories in light of new materials discovered in recent excavations.

In 1854, Japan surrendered to the might of Commodore Perry’s Black Ships with the signing of the Convention of Kanagawa, ending the country’s long isolation under sakoku . Proving that such a famous event actually took place requires unearthing numerous historical documents and going through various different steps. To then contextualize the signing of the Convention of Kanagawa within the broad framework of East Asia may bring to light new aspects that differ from previous understanding.

Art history is split into two territories: the history of art in Japan and the East, and Western art history. The department is currently home to five full-time and associate professors as well as one scholar from the Museum of Osaka University who works concurrently as a lecturer, all of whom offer a wide variety of classes for students. The program at Osaka University is one of the most substantial art history courses in the country.

It is difficult to determine the geographical limits of Western history. While nobody would disagree that the history of Europe is the central component, Oriental and Mediterranean civilizations also considerably influenced Western civilization. From the 16th century, Europeans also began to advance into North and South America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, where they either transplanted their civilizations or intensely impacted the traditional peoples of those areas, as has been well documented.

Students majoring in Anglo-American literature will receive a general overview of the world of English-language literature with a central focus on Britain and America, as well as the characteristics of different genres and their formation and development from a range of cultural perspectives. This foundation serves as a basis to consider specific works, including novels, poetry, plays, and criticism. As they refine their literary sensibilities, students develop their abilities to read literary works with accuracy and precision as well as analyze the methodology of literary studies. Students are given the freedom to choose their research topics based on their interests, which they pursue as a graduate thesis.

The Faculty of Foreign Languages aims to nurture a workforce that can utilize high language proficiency. Our faculty encourages you to be successful in society, such as the international business world with high communication skills in English or in educational organizations with linguistic ability and leadership. Also, we strive for you to be able to study abroad, challenge yourself with certificate examinations and improve your TOEIC score.

In the field of Ethics, or moral philosophy, academics consider how people live and act in society. The discipline covers a wide range of issues including life, the soul or moral conscience, self and others, education, social and personal welfare, justice, violence, sex, gender, minorities, and more. Students who engage with these issues build on a foundation of literary research in philosophy and history of ethics from a range of eras and geographies to develop their reading and critical thinking abilities. It is also important for them to cultivate the skills necessary to confront the problems emerging in society and in dialog with people from different fields.

Archaeology is the study of the histories and cultures of humankind, centered on analyses of material resources like historic ruins and relics. This course’s didactic and research focus is Japanese archaeology, taking advantage of the university’s geographical location in the Kinki region, which has been home to various capitals throughout Japanese history. Annual field surveys are a major feature of the course. In recent years, students have participated in excavation surveys of keyhole-shaped tombs from the Kofun era and kilns from the Heian period.

Human geography is the study of the relationships between people and their environment and region. This field contains a variety of perspectives with important keywords, including environment, region, space, landscape, place, network, and flow. Students taking this course analyze and consider the relationship between people and their environment as well as people and space using a variety of models and frameworks. Students will develop their knowledge base and gain skills throughout the course, learning in lectures about the perspectives and methodologies of previous research.

The complex currents of German literary tradition first appeared in the 18 th century with works from great writers such as Goethe and the Grimm Brothers, followed by Thomas Mann and Brecht, and later enriched by the writings of German Jews like Kafka and Freud. In a broad sense, this literary “flow” denoted a social and cultural phenomenon and the changes of an historic German-speaking area in Europe.

Students in this major will study various areas of Indian thought and religion, including Buddhism. Specifically, a core part of study will consist of reading works written primarily in Sanskrit and its derivatives (such as Pali). Although to beginners, Sanskrit may appear challenging, it is a clear-cut language. In a “logical” world, Indian philosophy’s use of such a precise language makes language study a suitable tool to sharpen one’s critical and logical thinking as well as develop one’s ability to identify and resolve issues faced by modern society.

This course covers the three fields of Contemporary Japanese Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, and Applied Japanese Linguistics. Contemporary Japanese Linguistics approaches Japanese as one of many languages and aims to empirically analyze its systems of grammar, vocabulary, phonemes, and transcription. Sociolinguistics considers and analyzes the diversity of the Japanese language as it presently exists in modern society—including differences in language according to region (dialect), age, or setting—as well as the resulting linguistic and social issues.

The Chinese literature major is a relatively recent addition to the course list at Osaka University. It comprises the study of literature and various issues to do with people, such as the politics, economics, history, language, philosophy, and arts of the classical period. While the course respects the tradition of Chinese studies, it offers students a fresh and energetic approach to the subject.