| OSAKA UNIVERSITY SHORT-TERM STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM |
Objective
Communication and interaction between Japanese and non-Japanese involves
a number of problems encountered by all participants. The Japanese setting
of this course provides an opportunity of immediate application of the
framework presented in lectures to analyze the behaviour of non-Japanese
in the students' environment. The course consists of 7 lectures and 6 seminars,
given in alternate weeks. While lectures are delivered in English, some
competence in listening and speaking Japanese will be required for participation
in the seminars. Participants in the course will be required to read (in
English), collect data in groups or individually and make presentations
in the seminars. Participants must have studied Japanese (both spoken and
written) for not less than 300 classroom hours.
Textbook
"Communicating with the Japanese". J.V.Neustupny (1987), Tokyo:
The Japan Times.
"Nihongo Notes". Militant, O. and N. Mizutani (1977), Tokyo:
The Japan Times.
Additional literature will be available from the lecturers.
Teaching Schedule
Week 1. Lecture 1 : Introduction : language, communication, interaction
Week 2. Seminar 1 : What types of language, communication and interaction
problems have you encountered Since the arrival in Japan
Week 3. Lecture 2 : The concept of contact situations
Week 4. Seminar 2 : What types of problems in intercultural contact situations
have been described in existing literature about Japan and other societies
(Part 1)
Week 5. Lecture 3 : Communication and interaction problems in contact situations
Week 6. Seminar 3 : What types of problems in intercultural contact situations
have been described in existing literature about Japan and other societies
(Part 2)
Week 7. Lecture 4 : Pronunciation problems in contact situations
Week 8. Lecture 5 : Special topic : "aisatsu"
Week 9. Seminar 4: Students reports about their structured observation
of "aisatsu" in daily life in Osaka
Week 10. Lecture 6 : Special topic : contact topics
Week 11. Seminar 5 : Students reports about their investigation of topics
covered in parties in Osaka
Week 12. Lecture 7 : Special topic : "aizuchi"
Week 13 Seminar 6 : Students* reports about their investigation of "aizuchi"
used in Osaka
Grading
Assessment will be through evaluation of each student's participation
in the seminars, written work and a 3,000 words essay to be submitted not
later than two weeks after the conclusion of the course.
Objective
It is often argued that the high educational aspirations among Japanese
people have driven Japan's rapid economic development. An array of historic,
political and socio-cultural factors are behind these aspirations. This
course will examine the interrelations between culture and education in
Japan. But in addition to this fundamental structural analysis, we will
also look at emerging concerns in Japanese education and how they reflect
on-going socio-cultural changes in Japanese society. For instance, recent
reform initiatives in Japanese education as well as its growing internationalization
will be highlighted. Also, such topics as Japan's overseas cooperation
in education, human rights education, counseling and education, multimedia
and education will be introduced. This course will hopefully serve as a
meaningful gateway to a comprehensive understanding of Japanese society
today.
This course will invite guest lecturers and have discussions among participants.
Textbook
No assigned textbooks
Topics in Lectures
/Culture and Education in Japan
/Life-Long Education
/Educational Reform Initiatives
/International Education and Intercultural Education
/Human Rights and Education
/Education and Development : Overseas Cooperation
/Counseling and Education
/Multimedia and Education
Grading
Class participation 40%
Short paper on Japanese education and culture 60%
Objective
The purpose of this course is to examine the structure and process of contemporary
Japanese politics. The structure includes not only formal rules but informal
ones. Some informal rules are often regarded as the source of the `Japanese
miracle* in its political economy. Without understanding other rules and
political process, however, it is very difficult to judge whether this
conventional wisdom is true. This course will lead you to know there are
many possibilities for explaining the performance of Japanese political
economy.
Textbook and Reference Books
Textbook : No particular textbook will be used.
Reference Books :
Remseyer, J.M. and F.M. Rosenbluth. 1993. Japan*s Political Marketplace.
Harvard U.P.
Pempel,T.J., ed. 1990. Uncommon Democracies. Cornell U.P.
Yamamura, K. and Y. Yasuba, eds. 1987. The Political Economy of Japan.
3 vols. Stanford U.P.
Johnson, C. 1982. MITI and the Japanese Miracle. Stanford U.P.
Maruyama, M. 1963. Thought and Behavior in Modern Japanese Politics. Oxford
U.P.
Lecture Outline
Week 1. Introduction : Some Perspectives on Japanese Political Economy
Week 2. Political History of Japan : From Meiji Restoration at the End
of LDP Era
Week 3. Formal Structure 1 : System of Central Government
Week 4. Formal Structure 2 : Diet and its Legislative Process
Week 5. Formal Structure 3 : Election and Political Party
Week 6. Formal Structure 4 : Bureaucracy
Week 7. Formal Structure 5 : Local Government
Week 8. Policy Process 1 : Diplomacy, Defence and Police Policy
Week 9. Policy Process 2 : Economic and Redistributive Policy
Week 10. Policy Process 3 : Policy Implementation
Week 11. Policy Process 4 : Informal Structure and Policy Process
Week 12 Conclusion : Some Perspectives Reconsidered
Field Works
After classroom lectures, field works will be organised to understand Japanese
politics. Participants are encouraged to write a term paper referring to
field work experience. Schedules of field works will be informed later.
Field Work 1 : At Osaka City Hall (or Osaka Prefecture Hall)
Field Work 2 : At Politician*s Office
Field Work 3 : Not Yet Decided
Grading
Class participation 40%
Term paper to be submitted at the end of the course 60%
Objective
The course serves as an introduction both to the Japanese economy and to
economic thinking about institutional matters. The course uses no mathematics,
but the materials it denls with are analytically challenging. Thus, those
who are planning to enroll should have taken, in addition to an introductory
course in economics, two intermediate courses in microeconomics and macroeconomics.
Each student must prepare a short report on an aspect of the Japanese economy,
which he or she is expected to present to the class.
Textbook
Kotaro Tsuru, The Japanese Market Economy System : Its Strengths and Weaknesses
(ISBN4-924971), Tokyo : LTCB International Library Foundation, 1995, 2000
yen
Lecture Outline
Week 1. Introduction
Weeks 2 and 3. Corporate Governance
Weeks 4 and 5. Corporate Finance
Weeks 6 and 7. Employment
Weeks 8 and 9. Production and Distribution
Weeks 10 and 11. Technical Innovation
Weeks 12 and 13. Government
Week 14. Final Examination
Grading
Class participation 20%
Class presentation 30%
Final examination 50%
Week 1. Introduction :
Wave-sounds of 1.2 billion years ago standing on granite of 2.2 billion
years ago : Stone materials of the entrance lobby. A travel to interdisciplinary
world from physics : From microscopic to macroscopic world
Week 2. The Kobe Earthquake Precursor Phenomena I :Reality or illusion
Do animals predict earthquake ? From superscience to science, Hypothesis
and experiment on seismic abnormal animal behaviors (SAABs) (Video)
Week 3. The Kobe Earthquake Precursor Phenomena II : Plants and Lightnings
Do plants predict earthquake ? Experiment : A bowing grass, Hypothesis
& Theory : An electromagnetic model of a geological fault, EQ Lightning
Experiment with a van de Graaff high voltage generator, Electromagnetic
anomalies : TV barber-pole noise 6 hours before the Earthquake Week
4. A travel to Interdisciplinary World from Physics : Cartoons and Photos
Chronology Science (Radioisotope dating) : Archaeology, Physics on radiation-induced
defects (Dating based on Natural radiation) Principle of electron spin
resonance (ESR) and thermoluminescence (TL) dating
Week 5. Applications to Earth and Space Science I : Earth Science
Speleology = Study of caves and marine geology and geography (CaCO3), Paleo
anthropology : Where are we from ? Rocks, minerals and volcanoes
Week 6. Applications to Earth and Space Science II : Planetary Survey
Outer planet materials (Dry ice on Mars, Solid S02 on lo, a satellite of
Jupiter, Solid methane CH4 on Triton, Uranus)
Week 7. ESR Radiation Dosimetry : A-bomb and Accident Radiation
A-bomb at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Chernobyl reactor accident, Semipalatinsk
nuclear bomb test sites, Accident dosimetry, A new method of decontamination
of radioactivity from soil Let us save energy and resources
Week 8. Blue Sky Astronomical Telescope (BSAT)
Week 9.
(a) Basic concepts of thermodynamics
(b) Do-it-yourself polymer synthesis on the desk-top
Week 10.
(a) Energy and energy conservation
(b) Polymer gels : Synthesis and swelling of sanitary materials
Week 11.
(a) Entropy : Thermodynamic (macroscopic) and microscopic significance
(b) Entropy in polymer : Properties of rubber
Week 12.
Entropy in information theory and life science
Week 13.
Entropy and molecular disorder Randomness in the gas and liquid, order
in the crystal. Perfect order in Nature. Stereoscopic view of the microscopic
world of crystals.
Week 14.
Entropy in our everyday life
(a) A rubber band refrigerator A rubber band warms as it is stretched and
cools as it shrinks. Entropy concept tells why.
(b) Why is it cold up on a mountain ? As we go up on a mountain, it becomes
cooler at a raze of 0.6*C to 1*C per 100 m. Thermodynamics predicts this
number.
(c) Cooling your room by burning gas
(d) How to get more heat than the electricity you consume to keep your
room warm? Two hundred years ago Mr. Carnot said that these were possible,
and now engineers are doing these.
Week 15. Group discussion based on reports
Grading is based on participation, report, and discussion.
Objective
This course gives foreign students an introduction to chemicals, biological,
and environmental pharmaceutical sciences and their recent progress in
Japan. This course is primarily intended for overseas graduate students
from other disciplines, but open to undergraduate students in the short-term
student exchange program.
Textbook
No particular text book is used. Some materials will be distributed in
the class.
Lecture Outline
Week 1. An introduction to pharmaceutical sciences in the Faculty (Guidance
and laboratory tour)
Biological pharmaceutical science
Week 2. Biochemistry of gastric proton pump Pharmacological aspects of
acid secretion
Week 3. Drug and brain Recent progress in molecular pharmacology ; molecular
mechanisms underlying higher brain function and associated diseases
Week 4. Production of medicine by cell culture Microbial production of
antibiotics ; large-scale cultivation of animal cells ; use of recombinant
DNA technology
Week 5. Laboratory demonstration and discussion Cultivation of microorganisms
; demonstration of antibiotic titer Environmental pharmaceutical science
Week 6. Microbes and environments Principles of biogeochemical cycling
; the role of microbes in the ecosystem
Week 7. Biotechnology and environmental science The use of genetically
modified microorganisms and plants in the environments ; principles of
how to determine the relative safety or risk of their introduction
Week 8. Self defense against xenobiotics Induction of defensive proteins
by chemical agents
Week 9. Quick tour and discussion Facilities concerning environmental systems
Chemical pharmaceutical science
Week 10. Analytical chemistry Perspective of electrochemistry in pharmaceutical
science : analysis of drugs, biosensors, synthetic application
Week 11. Synthetic organic chemistry Modern synthetic methods for organic
compounds
Week 12. Natural products chemistry Practice of structure demonstration
of organic compounds by means of spectral analysis ; prospect of pharmacochemical
investigation of marine natural products
Week 13. Modern instrumentation (laboratory demonstration) Theory and practice
of modern
instrumental techniques in chemical analysis
Week 14-15. Final examination (Term paper preparations)
Grading
The course grade will be based upon a term paper to be submitted at the
end of the course (60%) and class participation and discussion (4o%).
*Staffs of Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences :
Akemichi Baba, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology.
Yasuyuki Kita, Ph.D., Professor of Synthetic Organic Chemistry.
Motomasa Kobayashi, Ph.D., Professor of Natural Products Chemistry.
Masatomo Maeda, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry.
Kazuhisa Miyamoto, Ph.D., Professor of Environmental Bioengineering.
Masao Nasu, Ph.D., Professor of Environmental Science and Microbiology.
Hidenobu Ohmori, Ph.D., Professor of Analytical Sciences.
Norio Muto, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Toxicology.
Kiyohito Yagi, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Bio-Functional Engineering.
UPSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM IN RESEARCH
(1) Importance of mathematics, physics and computer in mechanical engineering
is lectured based on examples of research at the department.
(2) Free discussion on a subject which students are interested in. Students
should present a report on the discussion subject.
TNE LATEST INFRARED SENSING TECHNOLOGIES
An overview of the newly developed infrared thermography techniques and
their applications in mechanical engineering is provided.
MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Manufacturing systems are now widely enhanced with the advanced information
technology. Some technical research topics and global trends in manufacturing
are briefly lectured.
ADVANCED MATERIALS ATD NEW TECHNOLOGIES
An introductory talk is given on characteristics and applications of selected
materials. Emphasis is placed on microscopic structures which control macroscopic
properties of materials.
ADVANCED MATERIALS CHALLENGING IN HIGH-TEMPERATURE ENVIRONMENTS
The lecture deals with the advanced materials such as intermetallic compounds
and modern heat resisting alloys. They will allow high efficiency energy
conversion and contribute to cleaning environments.
RECENT STATUS OF LASER MATERIALS PROCESSING
An introductory lecture is given on the role of laser materials processing
in industry, and new trends and future aspects of laser applications are
also discussed.
Objective
The International Student Center will offer "Technical Japanese Program"
to overseas students, who have studied basic science or basic engineering
course and expect to acquire a proficiency in and a knowledge of technical
Japanese. The objective of this course is to equip students with the basic
skills required for reading technical papers written in Japanese and for
communicating with scientists and engineers to Japanese research and industrial
settings. The main subject of this course will be "Topics in Science
and Technology" which mainly includes "Energy". We will
design this course for students who have taken two-year college level instruction
in the Japanese language or equivalent. This lecture will be basically
given in Japanese.
Textbook
There is no assigned textbook. Various materials will be distributed in
the class.
Lecture Outline
We will plan "Technical Japanese Part 1" to be completed in 15
weeks (90 mins/week). The study components are :
(1) To acquire basic knowledge on the technical Japanese (Practice for
understanding of basic technical words and accurate reading of scientific
literature written in Japanese),
(2) To read and comprehend Japanese literature (Reading for understanding
of the current topics in science and technology)
and
(3) To understand scientific and technological background in Japan through
the short-visit- program study (Training in communication with scientists
and engineers in industry and research settings).
We will plan some visits to research institutes and companies as field
trips. Through these visits, students can apply their acquired technical
knowledge as well as Japanese skills in practical situations. At the classroom,
each experience is reviewed by making oral presentation and holding discussions
in Japanese, and preparing reports using a Japanese word-processor.
Grading
Participation in class 20%
Assignment 30%
Final written examination 30%
Final oral interview 20%
Instructors
Shinya Otani and other staffs
Objectives
The objectives of ELEMENTARY JAPANESE are:
(1) to be able to use and comprehend commonly used phrases in daily interactions
with university community.
(2) to be able to deliver personal informations, experiences, simple comments,
etc. in conversation in Japanese.
(3) to have basic understanding of sentence structures, vocabulary, and
pronunciation
(4) to become familiar with texts written in hiragana, katakana
and simple kanjis.
(5) to develop strategies for getting information about Japanese language
through interactions with native Japanese speakers.
Textbook
"Reference Manual for Learners of Japanese" (International Student
Center, Osaka University)
"Introduction to Written Japanese" (International Student Center,
Osaka University)
"Nihongo de hanasoo" vol.2-vol.4 (English Language Education
Council)
Lecture Outline
15 weeks. 3 times/week, 90 min. each
The lecture outline will be announced during the first class.
Grading
Class attendance, participation, performance 40%
Quiz, assignment, essay, and presentation 20%
Final written exam 20%
Final oral exam 20%
Instructors
Shinya Otani and other staffs
Objectives
The objectives of INTERMEDIATE JAPANESE are :
(1) to expand the repertoire of collocations for daily communications in
both spoken and written Japanese.
(2) to become familiar with language structures both of spoken and written
Japanese.
(3) to be able to orally deliver factual informations/knowledge and some
simple opinions.
(4) to be fluent in comprehending and writing texts using hiragana,
katakana and approx. 1,000 kanjis.
(5) to develop strategies for getting information about Japanese language
and facilitating language acquisition through interactions with native
Japanese speakers.
Textbook
"An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese" Akira Miura
and Naomi Hanaoka McGloin, The Japan Times
Lecture Outline
15 weeks, 3 times/week, 90 min. each
The lecture outline will be announced during the first class.
Grading
Class attendance, participation, performance 40%
Quiz, assignment, essay, and presentation 20%
Final written exam 20%
Final oral exam 20%