OSAKA UNIVERSITY SHORT-TERM STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM

Osaka, Japan, and the World
Culture, Science, and Technology

STUDY FOR A YEAR IN OSAKA IN ENGLISH

OUSSEP1998-1999 SYLLABUS

INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE SUBJECTS
98:Fall-Winter Semester

(October 5, 1998 - February 12, 1999)


CODE COURSE
98f-1 The Japanese Contributions to Psychology
98f-2 Communicating with the Japanese
98f-3 Electronic, Information and Energy Technologies
98f-4 Messages form the Microscopic World:
Earth & Space Science and Concept of Entropy
98f-5 Introduction to Japanese Management
98f-6 Japanese Politics in the World
98f-7 A Comparative Study of Technology and Industry
98f-8 Introduction to Pharmaceutical Sciences
98f-9 Technical Japanese: Part I
98f-EJ Elementary Japanese
98f-IJ Intermediate Japanese
98f-AJ Advanced Japanese
98f-Ind Independent Study


98f-1 THE JAPANESE CONTRIBUTIONS TO PSYCHOLOGY

Midori TOYAMA (Faculty of Human Sciences), et al.

Objective
The present course has for objective the initiation of foreign students to some of the famous theories developed by Japanese scholars in the field of human sciences, especially in psychology. The students will be provided with the opportunity not only to grasp Japanese society through these theories, but also to scientifically discuss them. Therefore, if time and space allow it, the course will be organized so that it presents like a seminar to which each participant is expected to contribute. The main purpose here is to help the students develop their observation skills, and develop and validate their own "theories" about Japanese society.

Reference Books

Course Outline
Week 1.
Introduction to "Nihonjin ron" (Nipponnology)
Week 2.
Words and Civilization
Week 3.
Collectivism and Individualism Dichotomy
Week 4.
Contextualism
Week 5.
Honne and Tatemae Theory
Week 6.
Amae (Dependency) and its conceptual value
Week 7.
Ajase Complex Theory
Week 8.
Morita Therapy
Week 9.
Naikan Therapy
Week 10.
PM Leadership Theory
Week 11.
Cultural Adjustment Process: Dealing with the host culture
Week 12.
Summary

Grading


98f-2 COMMUNICATING WITH THE JAPANESE

Hidehiro MURAOKA (International Student Center), et al.

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 behavior of non-Japanese in the students' environment. The course consists of 7 lectures and 7 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 150 classroom hours.

Textbook

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 l)
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 Special topic: "aisatsu"
Week 8.
Seminar 4 Students' reports about their structured observation of "aisatsu" in daily life in Osaka
Week 9.
Lecture 5 Special topic: contact topics
Week 10.
Seminar 5 Students' reports about their investigation of topics covered in parties in Osaka
Week 11.
Lecture 6 Special topic: "aizuchi"
Week 12.
Seminar 6 Students' reports about their investigation of "aizuchi" used in Osaka
Week 13.
Lecture 7 Special topic: networks of foreigners in Osaka
Week 14.
Seminar 7 Students' report about their investigation of networks of foreigners in Osaka
Week 15.
Counseling for students' paper

Grading
Assessment will be through evaluation of each student's participation in the seminars, written work and a 2,000 words essay to be submitted not later than two weeks after the conclusion of the course.


98f-3 ELECTRONIC, INFORMATION AND ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES

Katsumi YOSHINO, Chihiro HAMAGUCHI, Kenjiro OURA, Seizo MORITA and Hiroshi NISHIHARA (Faculty of Engineering)

Objective
The course will introduce various aspects of electronic engineering starting from introduction of electronic, information and energy technologies area in School /Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University and expanding into subject matters of current interest. The course is appropriate for engineering students of undergraduate level with prerequisites of basic differential and integral calculus, and vector analysis.

Textbook
No particular textbook will be used.

Lecture Outline
Week 1.
Introduction of electronic, information and energy technologies area in School /Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University
Week 2.
Introduction to electronics and materials I
Week 3.
Introduction to electronics and materials II
Week 4.
Physics of semiconductor devices I
Week 5.
Physics of semiconductor devices II
Week 6.
Atomic scale electronics I
Week 7.
Atomic scale electronics II
Week 8.
Opto electronics I
Week 9.
Opto electronics II
Week 10.
Microscopic engineering I
Week 11.
Microscopic engineering II
Week 12.
Systems and control I
Week 13.
Systems and control II


98f-4 MESSAGE FROM THE MICROSCOPIC WORLD:
EARTH & SPACE SCIENCE AND CONCEPT OF ENTROPY

Motoji IKEYA, Takasuke MATSUO and Takashi NORISUE (Faculty of Science)

Teaching Schedule
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.
  1. Basic concepts of thermodynamics
  2. Do-it-yourself polymer synthesis on the desk-top
Week 10.
  1. Energy and energy conservation
  2. Polymer gels : Synthesis and swelling of sanitary materials
Week 11.
  1. Entropy : Thermodynamic (macroscopic) and microscopic significance
  2. 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
  1. A rubber band refrigerator
    A rubber band warms as it is stretched and cools as it shrinks. Entropy concept tells why.
  2. Why is it cold up on a mountain ?
    As we go up on a mountain, it becomes cooler at a raze of 0.6oC to 1oC per 100 m. Thermodynamics predicts this number.
  3. Cooling your room by burning gas
  4. 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
Grading is based on participation, report, and discussion.

98f-5 INTRODUCTION TO JAPANESE MANAGEMENT

Takayuki ASADA (Faculty of Economics)

An information on this subject will be given later.


98f-6 JAPANESE POLITICS IN THE WORLD

Keiichi TAGO (Faculty of Law), et al.

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:

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.

Grading


98f-7 A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TECHNOLOGY AND INDUSTRY

Shuzo Nakamura (International Student Center)

Objective
This course will provide international and domestic students with an opportunity to learn, together, what characterizes Japanese technology and industry. The lecturer will deal with the subject based on his own experience in Japanese and American industry. He will discuss examples of how new technologies grew into mature commercial technologies in electronic and petrochemical industries. He will also discuss how the dynamics of the society has affected the growth of technology and industry.

Textbook
No particular textbook will be used.

Week 1.
How did the Japanese semiconductor industry emerge from the postwar rubble? A lecture and A Video-History of Japan's Electronic Industry; Part 1. Birth of the Transistor
Week 2.
How did the embryonic transistor technology evolve into advanced integrated circuit technology? A lecture and A Video-History of Japan's Electronic Industry; Part 2.
Electronic Circuits in Stone
Week 3.
How did Japanese culture affect the growth of the computer industry? A lecture and A Video-History of Japan's Electronic Industry; Part 3. Calculator Wars
Week 4.
How did various peripheral industries support the semiconductor industry? A lecture and A Video-History of Japan's Electronic Industry; Part 4. The Technological Giants of the Micron World
Week 5.
How did the laser grow into a mature commercial technology?
Week 6.
Field trip to an electronic industry.
Week 7.
Dead line for the mid-term paper: a short essay on the history of electronic industry, and a group discussion.
Week 8.
A group presentation on the history of electronic industry.
Week 9.
How did polyethylene grow into a mature commercial technology? How did it affect the growth of other industries?
Week 10.
How did the Japanese petrochemical industry manage to utilize C-4 hydrocarbons?
Week 11.
Field trip to a chemical industry.
Week 12.
A look at the dynamics of society that affect the growth of technology and industry; in Japan and in the Western World.
Week 13.
Deadline for the term paper: a short essay on the history of technology and industry
Week 14.
Presentations on the history of technology and industry 1
Week 15.
Presentations on the history of technology and industry 2

Term Assignment
Each student will be asked to find in the University Library a book of the student's own interest related to the history of technology and industry, read it, and write the term paper based on the reading.

Grading
Assessment will be based on:


98f-8 INTRODUCTION TO PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES

Masatomo MAEDA, et al.* (Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences)

Objective
This course gives foreign students an introduction to chemical, biological, and environmental pharmaceutical sciences and their recent progress in Japan. This course is primarily intended for international graduate students from other disciplines in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, but we reform it suitable 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)
Environmental pharmaceutical science
Week 2. Microbes and environments
Principles of biogeochemical cycling; the role of microbes in the ecosystem
Week 3. Molecular toxicology
Molecular mechanisms of biological responses to environmental pollutants
Week 4. Biotechnology for a clean environment
The use of microorganisms and plants in bioremediation
Week 5. Technical tour and discussion
Facilities concerning environmental systems
Chemical pharmaceutical science
Week 6. Analytical chemistry
Electroanalytical chemistry in pharmaceutical sciences
Week 7. Synthetic organic chemistry
Modern synthetic methods for organic compounds
Week 8. Natural products chemistry
Practice of structure demonstration of organic compounds by means of spectral analysis; prospect of pharmacochemical investigation of marine natural products
Week 9. Modern instrumentation (Laboratory demonstration)
Theory and practice of modern instrumental techniques in chemical analysis
Biological pharmaceutical science
Week 10. Biochemistry of gastric proton pump
Pharmacological aspects of acid secretion
Week 11. Drug and brain
Recent progress in molecular pharmacology; molecular mechanisms underlying higher brain function and associated diseases
Week 12. Production of medicine by cell culture
Microbial production of antibiotics; large-scale cultivation of animal cells; use of recombinant DNA technology
Week 13. Laboratory demonstration and discussion
Cultivation of microorganisms; demonstration of antibiotic titer
Week 14-15. Final examination (Term paper preparation)

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(40%).

*Staff 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.
Masayoshi Imagawa, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Environmental Biochemistry.
Hatsuo Maeda, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Analytical Sciences.
Kiyohito Yagi, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Bio-Functional Engineering.


98f-9 TECHNICAL JAPANESE : Part I

Hideko KITAHAMA (International Student Center)

Objective
The International Student Center will offer "Technical Japanese Program" to overseas students, who have studied basic science or engineering 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 in Japanese research and industrial settings.
The main subject of this course will be "Topics in Science and Technology" which mainly includes "Energy".
The course is designed for students who have taken two-year college level instruction in the Japanese language or equivalent. This lecture will be mosylt conducted in Japanese.

Textbook
There is no assigned textbook. Various materials will be distributed in the class.

Lecture Outline
"Technical Japanese : Part I" is scheduled for 15 weeks (90 mins/week).
The study components are:

  1. to acquire basic knowledge on technical Japanese
    (Practice for the understanding of basic technical words)
  2. to read and comprehend Japanese literature
    (Reading for understanding of the current topics in science and technology)
  3. to understand the scientific and technological background of Japan, through the short-visit-program study
    (Training in communication with scientists and engineers in industry and research settings)

Visits to research institutes and companies as field trips are planned. 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 presentations and holding discussions in Japanese, and preparing reports using a Japanese word-processor.

Grading


98f-EJ Elementary Japanese

Shinya OTANI, Koji NAMBA (International Student Center), et al.

Objective
The objectives of Elementary Japanese are;

  1. to be able to use and comprehend commonly used phrases in daily communication with university community,
  2. to be able to deliver personal information, 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 kanji,
  5. to develop skills for getting information about Japanese language through communicating with native Japanese speakers.

Textbook

Reference Books

Lecture Outline

15 weeks. 3 times / week, 90 min. each
The lecture outline will be announced during the classes.

Grading


98f-IJ Intermediate Japanese

Shinya OTANI (International Student Center), et al.

Objective
The objectives of Intermediate Japanese are;

  1. to expand the ability for daily communication 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 information/knowledge and express simple opinions,
  4. to be fluent in comprehending and writing texts using hiragana, katakana and approx.1,000 kanji,
  5. to develop skills for getting information about Japanese language and facilitating language acquisition though communicating with native Japanese speakers.

Textbook
The textbook and the reference books will be decided after the placement test. (In 1997-98 OUSSEP, Situational Functional Japanese Volume Two: Notes 2nd Ed., Tsukuba Language Group, Bonjinsha 1994 was used.)

Lecture Outline
15 weeks. 3 times / week, 90 min. each
The lecture outline will be announced during the classes.

Grading


98f-AJ Advanced Japanese

Koji NAMBA, Yoko MIMAKI and Mari HAMADA (International Student Center)

Objective
The objectives of Advanced Japanese are;

  1. to expand the ability for daily and academic communication in both spoken and written Japanese,
  2. to become fluent in language structures both of spoken and written Japanese,
  3. to be able to orally deliver conceptual information/knowledge and express opinions,
  4. to be fluent in comprehending and writing texts using hiragana, katakana and approx.1,500 kanji,
  5. to develop skills for getting information about Japanese language and facilitating language acquisition though communicating with native Japanese speakers.

Textbook
The textbook and the reference books will be decided after the placement test.

Lecture Outline
15 weeks. 3 times / week, 90 min. each
The lecture outline will be announced during the classes.

Grading


98f-Ind INDEPENDENT STUDY

Refer to " Guide to Independent Study".