japanese phd

• PhD Study in Japan – A Guide for 2024

Written by Ben Taylor

Japan welcomes thousands of international students each year, many of whom are PhD students attracted by the country’s world-class reputation for technology and innovation, as well as its exceptional heritage sites.

A PhD in Japan represents an excellent opportunity to hone your research skills in a safe, stable society that values education very highly.

This page will give you an introduction to everything you should know about studying a PhD in Japan, with information on the Japanese university system, the structure of a doctoral programme and how fees, visas and PhD scholarships in Japan.

PhD opportunities in Japan – what’s on offer for 2024?

Futuristic cities, stunning nature and fascinating history. . . Japan has plenty to occupy curious PhD students looking for a truly unique destination in which to pursue a doctoral programme.

The Japanese government has a long-standing commitment to increasing the numbers of international students in the country, setting itself some ambitious targets to meet. This drive goes hand-in-hand with Japan’s excellent universities, many of which are ranked among the best in Asia.

These are a few of the best reasons to study a PhD in Japan this year:

• World-class universities – There are a clutch of Japanese universities in the top 100 of the various global university rankings, and the country also performs well in regional metrics.
• Quality of life – Japan is rightfully famous for its high quality of life and it provides a safe, efficient environment for PhD students.
• International outlook – Along with its ambitious targets for international student numbers, the Japanese government has introduced the Top Global University Project, which gives extra funding to 37 universities to help develop links with other top universities from around the world.
• Technology – Japan has long embraced technology, making it an ideal place for PhD students who want to innovate in any number of scientific fields.

Coronavirus updates for international students at Japanese universities

For the latest information on the impact of coronavirus on studying a PhD in Japan, please check the official Study in Japan website for updates.

PhD life in Japan

Want to know more about what it's like to live in Japan during a PhD? Our detailed guide covers everything from accommodation and living costs to culture and entertainment.

Japanese universities

There are currently over 600 universities in Japan, around 74% of which are private institutions. The three main types of universities are:

• Private universities – Private universities have been established by independent organisations and each have their own unique education and research strengths. Over the years, they have greatly contributed to the development of Japanese higher education.
• National universities – These have been established in all local prefectures (the equivalent of local councils in the UK) to make sure that each region of Japan has access to quality higher education. Such institutions are an important part of the Japanese government’s Top Global University Project, promoting the globalisation of Japan’s higher education sector.
• Public universities – Established and managed by local public entities or public university corporations, public universities provide higher education opportunities to local people and act as intellectual and cultural centres.

Graduate schools

Since their introduction to the Japanese higher education system in the mid-20th century, graduate schools have trained doctoral candidates at some of the country’s top universities. As a relatively small percentage of students in Japan become postgraduates, these specialist graduate schools play a significant role in training the next generation of teaching and research staff.

Japanese university rankings

Japanese universities perform strongly in the various global league tables – there are six universities in the top 100 of the QS World University Rankings, for example. Japan also features heavily in regional rankings covering the rest of Asia.

Do rankings matter for PhD study?

University rankings can help you choose a PhD project or programme, provided you know what to look at. Our guide explains how to use rankings as a prospective postgraduate.

PhD structure

In Japan, PhDs usually take place within a specialist graduate school associated with a university. Much like the rest of the world, a Japanese doctorate is an advanced research qualification.

PhD programmes

PhDs in Japan are often split into two phases – the first phase is aimed at graduates and incorporates a Masters qualification as part of the programme. The second phase is designed for student who already have a Masters. If you study a Masters as part of your PhD, you’ll gain a total of 30 credits.

Programme length

Japan’s academic year begins in April, with the first semester running until September. The second semester begins in October and finishes in March.

For holders of Masters degrees, a PhD lasts a minimum of three years (four years if your research project is in the areas of medicine, pharmacy, dentistry or veterinary science).

At some institutions, students also have the option to study for a PhD directly after their four-year undergraduate degrees, although the duration of a PhD is then five years. There are also additional requirements in the first two years of study which consist of taught courses, a project proposal and an examination.

Supervision

Before applying for your PhD, you should contact a potential supervisor at a Japanese university in advance, telling them about your research plans and why they’d be the perfect fit. You should also send them a letter of recommendation from your current (or previous) academic advisor.

Professors command a great deal of authority at Japanese university and the supervisor-supervisee relationship is more akin to a master-disciple interaction. If you feel you need to challenge your supervisor, do so with the highest level of diplomacy and respect.

There is also a strict hierarchy within research teams which is determined by age and position, with post-docs commanding more seniority than PhD students who, in turn, are considered as seniors to masters and undergraduate students. As such you may find that discussions within a research teams are generally top down rather than on an equal footing.

Professors are often busy with administrative, pastoral and other activities, delegating their day-to-day supervisory role to junior academics, post-docs or even final year PhD students. As a PhD student, you will be expected to be an independent researcher and the support you receive is likely to be minimal. In this context, your graduate school will provide the training structure you need.

Assessment and examination

PhDs in Japan are typically assessed based in the quality of the doctoral thesis, as well as a public oral examination similar to the viva . Sometimes you may also have to make a formal presentation about your thesis.

Fees and funding

PhD study in Japan is relatively affordable and there are plenty of funding options for international doctoral students .

In national universities, the PhD tuition fees for pursuing a doctoral programme in Japan are fixed by the Ministry or by local authorities for public universities. They are currently:

• National universities: ¥820,000 (USD $5,508) per year
• Local public universities: ¥900,000 (USD $6,043) per year

In private universities, annual tuition fees range from approximately ¥800,000 to ¥1,000,000 (USD $5,372-$6,715).

Additional expenses

All international PhD students are required to enrol in the National Health Insurance system. This is done through the office which has processed your residence registration. The annual premium varies depending on where in Japan you live.

Optional expenses include:

• University student health insurance
• Personal accident insurance
• Personal liability insurance

PhD scholarships in Japan

There are several PhD scholarships in Japan available to international students. Some of these you’ll apply for before you arrive, while you can apply for others once you’ve arrived (with, however, no guarantee of securing the funding). The most prestigious research scholarships are those awarded by MEXT.

• Japanese Government (MEXT) Postgraduate Scholarships – Applied for through the Japanese embassy in your home country, these highly selective scholarships provide return air fare, university fees, a monthly grant of ¥143,000 (USD $960), an optional six-month course in Japanese and help finding accommodation. The scholarships are available in all subject areas.
• The Monbukagakusho Honors Scholarship for Privately-Financed International Students – These scholarships, awarded by the Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO), provide a monthly allowance of ¥48,000 (USD $322) for graduate students who do not hold a scholarship (from any source).
• Scholarships offered by local authorities and private organisations

Living costs

The Japanese government estimates that the average monthly living cost of an international student in Japan is ¥93,000 (USD $624).

For more information, check out our guide to living in Japan as a PhD student .

PhD funding in Japan

Our guide to PhD funding in Japan has more information on PhD scholarship opportunities and how to pay for your doctorate.

Applying for a PhD in Japan

PhD students are normally referred to as ‘PhD students’ (no surprise there!) but the term ‘research students’ will normally mean visiting PhD students (i.e. for six to 18 months) so be aware of this when you apply for admissions.

Entry requirements

You should have a Masters degree or an international equivalent . Alternatively, if your university offers the option, you may be able to enter a five-year PhD programme directly after a four-year undergraduate programme such as a Bachelors.

You might have to sit an entrance examination in your subject area or provide a graduate entry test score such as GRE , so check what the practice is at your chosen university.

Some universities apply a minimum age policy. However, if you believe you have the necessary qualifications but are too young then it is worth speaking to the international office or the body responsible for admissions at your university.

Language requirements

Unless your PhD requires you to demonstrate Japanese proficiency, you are most likely to be asked to provide evidence of proficiency in the English language through an English language test , such as TOEFL or IELTS.

If you studied your Bachelors or Masters in English, this will usually be considered proof of English proficiency.

Even if your programme isn’t taught in Japanese, it’s worth learning some Japanese so you can communicate with your peers, at least informally. If your level of Japanese is only basic, then use English to talk about your research.

Application process

Visit your prospective university’s website and, if available, submit an admission inquiry form, along with your CV. Alternatively, if an email address is available (it might not), then contact individual supervisors to discuss your preliminary research plans. Once you are sure this is the right programme for you, submit the application form.

An admission panel will review your application based on your qualifications, documents supplied and test scores (such as GRE and language proficiency, if applicable). Some departments operate a two-stage selection process so you may be invited to an interview (face-to-face or by telephone) if selected at this stage.

These are some of the documents you’re likely to supply as part of your PhD application:

• Official diplomas of your previous degrees
• Official transcripts (you may also be asked for a copy of your Bachelor or Masters dissertation)
• Graduate entry test score and language proficiency certificates (if applicable)
• At least two letters of recommendation (generally from a senior member of staff such as a department head or academic advisor)
• An up-to-date CV
• A research proposal
• A medical certificate
• Three passport-style photos
• A photocopy of your valid passport
• A certificate of non-Japanese Registration, if you already live in Japan

What happens during a PhD interview?

Your interview for a PhD in Japan will follow a fairly standard format (even if the actual process takes place online). Our guides explain what happens at a PhD interview and look at some of the questions you might be asked .

Student visas

If you live outside Japan, you’ll need to apply for a “Student Visa” once you have your PhD offer.

You will need to apply for a Certificate of Eligibility for a Status of Residence (COE). Once this has been issued, you can formally apply for your visa

You can apply for your visa at your nearest Japanese embassy or consulate. There are a few documents you’ll need to supply as part of your application:

• A letter of admission from your university
• A valid passport
• A completed visa application form

You might also be required to show proof that you have enough money to support yourself while living in Japan.

Registering with the local authorities

All foreign nationals must register with the municipal authorities in their local area within 14 days of arrival, regardless of their nationality and visa requirements.

Studying a PhD in Japan represents a fantastic opportunity to produce research in one of the world’s most technologically advanced countries. What’s more, Japan has the third biggest economy in the world, meaning that there are plenty of exciting career possibilities for talented postgraduates – like you!

If you want to work in Japan after your studies, you’ll need to apply for a suitable employment visa that fits your skills and plans. You can find out more on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan’s website .

Find a PhD in Japan

Ready to start browsing some current PhD opportunities in Japan ? Alternatively, you can look at our other guides to PhD study abroad .

Our postgrad newsletter shares courses, funding news, stories and advice

You may also like....

Japan is a fantastic place for PhD study, offering many financial incentives for international students. This guide will take you through the cost of studying a PhD in Japan and all the key funding opportunities.

What are the best universities for PhD study in Japan? Our guide looks at the latest league tables to identify top-ranked Japanese universities and help you discover the best doctoral research opportunities in your subject.

Read about the language requirements and recognised tests for PhD study at Japanese-speaking universities.

What's it like to live in Japan during a PhD? Our guide covers accommodation, student living costs, working and other key information.

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• Directories

Japanese Ph.D. Program

Specialization in linguistics.

[Note: Students interested in pursuing the PhD with a specialization in Japanese linguistics can apply for our  MA in Japanese linguistics (if they do not yet have a related MA degree), and, for the PhD, our PhD program in Asian Languages and Cultures , where they can specialize in Japanese linguistics.]

SPECIALIZATION IN LITERATURE AND CULTURE

I. admission.

Application to the Ph.D. program is recommended for those students who have already earned an M.A. in this field or are in the process of earning one. 

Students already enrolled in this department's M.A. program must submit a Petition to Proceed in order to be admitted to the Ph.D. program. See  department policy 2.5 and consult the Academic Counselor for more information.

II. Course Requirements

In addition to the minimum of 45 credits or its equivalent required for the master's program, the Ph.D. student must take at least 50 credits of course work at the graduate level, 20 of which must be at the 500 level.

The following courses and dissertation credits are required:

• Modern Japanese: JAPAN 431, 432, 433 (may be bypassed with previous training, if approved)
• Classical Japanese and kambun : JAPAN 471, 472, 505 (may be bypassed with previous training, if approved)
• 10 credits in classical Japanese literature & culture (JAPAN 571, 572, or 573)
• 10 credits in modern Japanese literature & culture (JAPAN 531, 532, or 533)
• ASIAN 800 Doctoral Dissertation (27 credits)

Additional course work may be required. Each student develops his or her individualized program of study in consultation with his or her faculty adviser.

III. Language Requirement

In addition to English and Japanese, the student must demonstrate proficiency in a third language related to his or her course of study.  Proficiency must be demonstrated in this third language to the satisfaction of the adviser before the student may proceed to the General Examination.

Students pursue advanced studies in three distinct fields, each of which is supervised by a member of the graduate faculty. At least one of those fields must be classical Japanese literature and at least one must be modern Japanese literature. Each of these fields requires a substantial research paper. The third field, which may be pursued outside the department, will be selected in consultation with the adviser and its requirements will be determined by the supervising faculty member.

V. General Examination

After the above field requirements have been fulfilled and the third language requirement has been satisfied, the student must take and pass an oral General Examination for admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree. The examination is administered by the Doctoral Supervisory Committee.

VI. Dissertation and Final Examination

After achieving Doctoral Candidate (Ph.C.) status, the student engages in research and the writing of the dissertation under the direction of his or her Doctoral Supervisory Committee. When the Doctoral Supervisory Committee deems the student ready, a final examination will be conducted in which the dissertation is evaluated. When the final examination has been passed and the result has been approved by the Dean of the Graduate School, then the requirements are complete and the degree is granted.

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• Catalog Home
• Japanese, PhD

UW–Madison offers MA and PhD degrees in Japanese, specializing either in linguistics or in literature and culture. The program provides broad foundations and focused training in these two specialties, assuring that our graduates are amply prepared to teach and conduct research.

The linguistics specialty excels in areas such as functional linguistics, pragmatics, discourse/conversation analysis, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, and language pedagogy.

The literature and culture specialty covers the classical Heian through contemporary Reiwa periods, offering a wide range of courses on fiction, poetry, drama, popular culture, visual culture, cinema, acoustic culture, and cutting-edge cross-media and avant-garde topics, particularly manga and anime.

The Japanese Program is housed in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures (ALC), along with the Chinese Program and the Asian Languages and Cultures Program. As such, students will have opportunities to interact with all faculty, staff, and graduate students affiliated with the department to examine their area of specialty in broader regional and disciplinary contexts.

Please consult the table below for key information about this degree program’s admissions requirements. The program may have more detailed admissions requirements, which can be found below the table or on the program’s website.

Graduate admissions is a two-step process between academic programs and the Graduate School. Applicants must meet the minimum requirements of the Graduate School as well as the program(s). Once you have researched the graduate program(s) you are interested in, apply online .

Prior to submitting application and materials, applicants should carefully review the information regarding the program of interest and the  faculty’s expertise  to determine the fit between their interest and the program. To this extent, prospective applicants may contact a specific faculty to discuss their research interest prior to submitting applications.

Applicants should also review the  Graduate School's admission process and Graduate School's minimum requirements .

Applicants must upload an academic writing sample or MA thesis to their application. You may submit a seminar paper, thesis chapter, or journal article. This paper should be in English, and may either be published or unpublished.

For more information on application materials, refer to the application and admissions information page.

In order to be considered for fellowships, project assistantships, and teaching assistantships , all application materials must be in by the fall deadline .

If you do not need any funding support, you may submit applications by April 15.

Graduate School Resources

Resources to help you afford graduate study might include assistantships, fellowships, traineeships, and financial aid.  Further funding information is available from the Graduate School. Be sure to check with your program for individual policies and restrictions related to funding.

Graduate Student Costs

For tuition and living costs, please view the Cost of Attendance page .  International applicants recommended for admission to the Graduate School are required to show sufficient funds to attend the University during the course of studies (tuition, food and housing, incidentals and health insurance) to be officially accepted by the Graduate School.

Department Resources

The Department of Asian Languages and Cultures offers financial assistance in the forms of fellowships, teaching assistantships (TAships), and project assistantships (PAships). Please make note of the deadline of January 10 for financial assistance consideration . All necessary materials including test scores must be submitted by the deadline.

If you are an international applicant and receive a fellowship, PAship or TAship, please make note that you will likely be required to show additional financial documentation to meet the minimum required for your official acceptance to the Graduate School.

Other Awards & Fellowships

• F o r e i g n Language & Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships: FLAS fellowships are funded by the U.S. Department of Education and administered by the UW's National Resource Centers to assist students in acquiring foreign language and either area or international studies competencies. FLAS awards are only available for specific languages and are contingent on federal funding.

Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the United States. Applications by students in professional fields are encouraged. Preference will be given to applicants with a high level of academic ability and with previous language training.

Academic Year and Summer FLAS awards are two separate competitions requiring two separate and complete applications.

Complete details about FLAS at UW-Madison are available on the FLAS FAQs (your first stop) and the FLAS Languages & Coordinators pages (should you have additional questions).

• Adv a n ce d Opportunity Fellowship (AOF): This fellowship is awarded to highly qualified underrepresented students. To be considered for AOF funding, prospective students must be new to the Graduate School and be admissible to a graduate program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For further information: https://grad.wisc.edu/diversity/ .
• Project Assistantships. Availability of PAship varies from one year to another, depending on the types of projects the departmental faculty are engaged in. PAs assist faculty members’ research projects and/or respond to some programmatic needs of the department and other campus units.
• T e a c hin g Assistantships. Availability and types of TAship vary from one year to another, depending on the department’s curricular needs and student enrollment. TAs will support a number of our language and culture courses, typically team-teaching with faculty members. If you are interested in being a teaching assistant in our language programs, you must submit the TA application and necessary materials (1-2 page written autobiography that refers to your prior teaching experience, letter of recommendation that speaks to your teaching experience, video recording of your teaching, if available) through the Graduate School application system by January 10 .
• Institute for Regional and International Studies (IRIS) Awards Office:  IRIS manages its own funding opportunities (Scott Kloeck-Jenson Fellowships, IRIS Graduate Fieldwork Awards, Incubator Grants), coordinates the campus component of a number of external programs (Boren Fellowships, Fulbright US Student Program, Fulbright-Hays DDRA, Luce Scholars Program), assists students, faculty, and staff in exploring funding options, and much more. Visit:  https://iris.wisc.edu/funding/  for more information on awards. Contact Mark Lilleleht, Assistant Director for Awards, with questions at  [email protected]  & 608-265-6070.
• Other Forms of Financial Aid: Loans and some on-campus job openings are handled through the Office of Student Financial Aid . Please contact them to obtain more information.
• Students may also obtain information from the Grants Information Center in the Memorial Library, Room 262, 728 State St., Madison, WI 53706. Phone 608-262-3242.

Minimum Graduate School Requirements

Major requirements.

Review the Graduate School minimum academic progress and degree requirements , in addition to the program requirements listed below.

Mode of Instruction

Mode of Instruction Definitions

Accelerated: Accelerated programs are offered at a fast pace that condenses the time to completion. Students typically take enough credits aimed at completing the program in a year or two.

Evening/Weekend: ​Courses meet on the UW–Madison campus only in evenings and/or on weekends to accommodate typical business schedules.  Students have the advantages of face-to-face courses with the flexibility to keep work and other life commitments.

Face-to-Face: Courses typically meet during weekdays on the UW-Madison Campus.

Hybrid: These programs combine face-to-face and online learning formats.  Contact the program for more specific information.

Online: These programs are offered 100% online.  Some programs may require an on-campus orientation or residency experience, but the courses will be facilitated in an online format.

Curricular Requirements

Required Courses

Linguistics pathway 1.

These pathways are internal to the program and represent different curricular paths a student can follow to earn this degree. Pathway names do not appear in the Graduate School admissions application, and they will not appear on the transcript.

It is recommended that students take a research methods course.

Literature Pathway 1

Graduate School Policies

The  Graduate School’s Academic Policies and Procedures  provide essential information regarding general university policies. Program authority to set degree policies beyond the minimum required by the Graduate School lies with the degree program faculty. Policies set by the academic degree program can be found below.

Major-Specific Policies

Prior coursework, graduate credits earned at other institutions.

With program approval, students are allowed to transfer no more than 9 credits of graduate coursework from other institutions. Coursework earned ten years or more prior to admission to a doctoral degree is not allowed to satisfy requirements.

Undergraduate Credits Earned at Other Institutions or UW-Madison

With program approval, no more than 7 credits of graduate coursework (as defined above) completed while a UW–Madison undergraduate may transfer to satisfy degree requirements. Coursework earned ten years or more prior to admission to a doctoral degree is not allowed to satisfy requirements.

Credits Earned as a Professional Student at UW-Madison (Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, and Veterinary careers)

Refer to the Graduate School: Transfer Credits for Prior Coursework policy.

Credits Earned as a University Special Student at UW–Madison

With program approval, students are allowed to transfer no more than 9 credits of graduate coursework (as defined above) taken as a UW–Madison Special student. Coursework earned ten years or more prior to admission to a doctoral degree is not allowed to satisfy requirements.

A semester GPA below 3.5 will result in the student being placed on academic probation. If a semester GPA of 3.5 is not attained during the subsequent semester of full-time enrollment, the student may be dismissed from the program or allowed to continue for 1 additional semester based on advisor appeal to the Departmental Graduate Studies Committee. A student on probation may not take the preliminary examination.

Advisor / Committee

Starting fall 2018, all students are required to be supervised by co-advisors. One of the co-advisors must be a member of the Japanese Program, but the other co-advisor can be identified from related fields outside of the Japanese Program.

At the point of beginning work on the dissertation, a single dissertation advisor (most likely one of the co-advisors) may be chosen, or the co-advising arrangement may continue for the dissertation as well.

Dissertation committees must have at least four members representing more than one graduate program, three of whom must be UW–Madison graduate faculty or former UW–Madison graduate faculty up to one year after resignation or retirement. At least one of the four members must be from outside of the student’s major program or major field (often from the minor field).

Credits Per Term Allowed

Time limits.

Refer to the Graduate School: Time Limits policy.

Grievances and Appeals

These resources may be helpful in addressing your concerns:

• Bias or Hate Reporting  
• Graduate Assistantship Policies and Procedures
• Office of the Provost for Faculty and Staff Affairs
• Employee Assistance (for personal counseling and workplace consultation around communication and conflict involving graduate assistants and other employees, post-doctoral students, faculty and staff)
• Employee Disability Resource Office (for qualified employees or applicants with disabilities to have equal employment opportunities)
• Graduate School (for informal advice at any level of review and for official appeals of program/departmental or school/college grievance decisions)
• Office of Compliance (for class harassment and discrimination, including sexual harassment and sexual violence)
• Office Student Assistance and Support (OSAS)  (for all students to seek grievance assistance and support)
• Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards (for conflicts involving students)
• Ombuds Office for Faculty and Staff (for employed graduate students and post-docs, as well as faculty and staff)
• Title IX (for concerns about discrimination)

Students should contact the department chair or program director with questions about grievances. They may also contact the L&S Academic Divisional Associate Deans, the L&S Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning Administration, or the L&S Director of Human Resources.

• Professional Development

Take advantage of the Graduate School's  professional development resources to build skills, thrive academically, and launch your career. 

Program Resources

Throughout the academic year, professional development trainings, workshops, and graduate student-organized activities take place. The Director of Graduate Studies is eager to hear from students about what interests they have for such events. 

Graduate School Office of Professional Development

The Graduate School Office of Professional Development (OPD) coordinates, develops, and promotes learning opportunities to foster the academic, professional, and life skills of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers and scholars.

Professional development topics include  Individual Development Plans , communication, mentoring, grant writing, dissertation writing, career exploration, job search strategies, and more. OPD collaborates with the Writing Center, Libraries, DoIT Software Training for Students, Delta, career centers, and others to provide a wealth of resources and events tailored to the needs of UW–Madison graduate students.

The office developed and maintains  DiscoverPD , an innovative tool for UW–Madison graduate students to advance their academic and professional goals. DiscoverPD introduces nine areas (or "facets") of professional development, includes a self-assessment, and provides a customized report of areas of strength and weakness. The report comes with recommendations to help graduate students strengthen their ability within each area.

More information on campus resources for student professional development is available at  Graduate Student Professional Development . Students may keep up-to-date by reading  GradConnections , the weekly newsletter for graduate students, and bookmarking the  Events Calendar  to keep tabs on upcoming workshops of interest.

• Learning Outcomes
• Demonstrate a thorough and in-depth understanding of research problems, potentials, and limits with respect to theory, knowledge, or practice in at least one of the following areas of study: Japanese literature and culture, Japanese linguistics, and Transasian studies.
• Formulate ideas, concepts, designs, and/or techniques beyond the current boundaries of knowledge within the specialized field(s).
• Create scholarship and advance knowledge that makes a substantive contribution to the field(s).
• Articulate and communicate complex ideas in a clear and understandable manner to both specialized and general audience.
• Recognize, apply, and foster ethical and professional conduct.

Please visit the  Asian Languages & Cultures website  for a complete list of faculty, instructional, and academic staff.

• Requirements

Contact Information

Asian Languages & Cultures, Graduate Program https://alc.wisc.edu/graduate-programs/

Tiange Wang, Graduate Program Coordinator [email protected]

Tyrell Haberkorn, Director of Graduate Studies [email protected]

Graduate School grad.wisc.edu

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Japanese Language PhD

The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures offers a PhD program in Japanese Language. The department only admits students into the PhD program.

As a rule, students wishing to enter the graduate program should have completed an undergraduate program comparable to the undergraduate major in this department. Students who do not have BA or MA degrees in East Asian Languages and Cultures (or Japanese) or in similar fields can be considered for admission. If admitted, these students are often required to make up deficiencies in their course work. This can result in a lengthening of the normative time to degree (seven years).

The department only admits students into the PhD program. You must indicate that a PhD is your degree goal on the application materials. Students who have not completed an MA degree before beginning study at Berkeley will have to complete the requirements for the MA before proceeding to the PhD program. After completion of the MA requirements (coursework and thesis), students are evaluated for permission to proceed to the PhD portion of the program. Students who have completed an MA degree before beginning study at Berkeley may apply for admission directly to the PhD program. After one year in the PhD program, such students will be evaluated before being permitted to continue in the program.

UC Berkeley graduate students from other disciplines who are considering transferring into the degree program in Japanese language undergo the same faculty review as first-time applicants. However, they do not complete the Graduate Application. Students in this category should contact the department graduate assistant for instructions.

The length of time needed to complete an advanced degree in the department depends on financial considerations, the extent of the student's earlier preparation, and other factors. Under optimum conditions, the MA can be earned in two years and the PhD in an additional four to five years.

Step by Step. To learn how best to prepare for study at the graduate level in the humanities and the social sciences, current undergraduates may find useful Step by Step , a resource for UC Berkeley students to enrich their undergraduate academic experience and to prepare for graduate school.

Contact Info

[email protected]

3413 Dwinelle Hall

Berkeley, CA 94720

At a Glance

Department(s)

East Asian Language & Culture

Admit Term(s)

Application Deadline

December 3, 2024

Degree Type(s)

Doctoral / PhD

Degree Awarded

GRE Requirements

Ph.D. in Japanese Linguistics

The Ph.D. program is designed to prepare students for a doctoral degree in Japanese linguistics.

Students should consult the most up-to-date version of the degree plan on the  Stanford Bulletin  as well as the  EALC Graduate Handbook . Each student should meet with their faculty advisor at least once per quarter to discuss the degree requirements and their progress.

Admission to Candidacy

Candidacy is the most important University milestone on the way to the Ph.D. degree. Admission to candidacy rests both on the fulfillment of department requirements and on an assessment by department faculty that the student has the potential to successfully complete the Ph.D.

Following University policy ( GAP 4.6.1 ), students are expected to complete the candidacy requirements by Spring Quarter of the second year of graduate study.

Pre-Candidacy Requirements

• JAPANLNG 213  - Fourth-Year Japanese, Third Quarter (2-4 units)
• JAPAN 264  - Introduction to Premodern Japanese (3-5 units)
• JAPAN 265  - Readings in Premodern Japanese (2-5 units)
• EALC 201  - Proseminar in East Asian Humanities I: Skills and Methodologies (3 units)
• JAPAN 279  - Research in Japanese Linguistics (2-5 unit)
• Complete six advisor-approved courses numbered above 200 from among the offerings of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures. At least one of these six courses must be an advanced seminar numbered above 300. At least one of these six courses must deal with Japanese literature.

All Doctoral students must complete an MA qualifying paper. An MA thesis is accepted instead of a qualifying paper for students initially admitted as EALC MA students. Students seeking an MA en route to the PhD must secure approval from the primary advisor and submit an MA thesis.

A graded MA qualifying paper or thesis must be submitted to the DGS and SSO with an accompanying note from the student’s primary advisor by week five of spring quarter of the second year of study for the annual review and candidacy decision.

During the quarter when students complete the MA qualifying paper or thesis (25-30 pages), they must enroll in  EALC 299 .

Teaching Requirement

• DLCL 301  - The Learning and Teaching of Second Languages (3 units)

Demonstrate pedagogical proficiency by serving as a teaching assistant for at least three quarters, starting no later than autumn quarter of the third year of graduate study. The department may approve exceptions to the timing of the language teaching requirement.

Post-Candidacy Requirements

Demonstrate proficiency in at least one supporting language to be chosen in consultation with the primary advisor according to the candidate’s specific research goals. For the second language, students must be proficient at the second-year level, at the minimum; a higher level of proficiency may be required depending on the advisor’s recommendation. Reading proficiency must be certified through a written examination or an appropriate amount of coursework to be determined on a case-by-case basis. When deemed necessary by the student’s advisor(s), working knowledge of a third language may also be required.

Complete five upper-division or graduate-level courses in linguistics and other supporting fields. To be determined in consultation with the student’s primary advisor, these may include applied linguistics, Chinese linguistics, psychology, education, anthropology, or sociology.

• Complete JAPAN 279 - Research in Japanese Linguistics (2-5 units); this course should be taken in the first or second year at Stanford.
• Submit two qualifying papers (QPs) that present each student’s original research in two different subfields of linguistics discussing Japanese linguistic topics and data. The length of the paper depends on the topic but generally should be about 25-30 pages. However, the paper must be evaluated by quality, not length. It should contain a clear statement of the issue in question, the motivation for the inquiry about the existing body of work, persuasive arguments supported by compelling analyses of relevant data, and theoretical implications of the findings. The quality is expected to be equivalent to a paper accepted for presentation at a professional conference and/or publishable in conference proceedings or a journal in linguistics. A QP can be an extension of a term paper, but its topic should be discussed with the student’s advisor before writing. It is strongly recommended that the student should seek at least two faculty members to be on the QP committee who will guide research and writing in the process and who will evaluate the paper. If circumstances do not permit obtaining multiple members, consult the advisor. Students are encouraged to plan and consult advising faculty members early in the second year. The first qualifying paper (QP1) should be approved by the spring quarter of the second year. To obtain approval of QP1 in time, a draft should be provided to the committee members in the winter quarter, if not earlier. The second qualifying paper (QP2) should be approved by the beginning of the autumn quarter of the fourth year. To obtain approval of QP2 in time, a draft should be provided to the committee members in the spring quarter of the third year, if not earlier. Failure to receive approval for QPs in time may lead to dismissal from the program. Students are urged to start planning for QPs and complete their QP requirements as early as possible to maximize the time to prepare their dissertation proposal and write the dissertation.

Submit a dissertation proposal (10-15 pages) accompanied by an annotated bibliography about the dissertation topic and have it approved by the dissertation reading committee after an oral presentation/examination, which is recognized as one of the milestones. A proposal should specify the theoretical and empirical significance of the proposed topic of inquiry situated in the existing scholarship, the relevant data (or plans for data collection), the theoretical approach, methods of investigation, and hypotheses. It should present a planned timeline for completing the dissertation. The annotated bibliography is cumulative and should include, but would not be limited to, the references given in the dissertation proposal. The annotation can be a paragraph (or more, if needed) for each reference. This process should be completed by the spring quarter of the fourth year before TGR.

Pass the University Oral Examination (dissertation defense). General regulations governing the oral examination are found in Graduate Academic Policies and Procedures ( GAP 4.7.1 ). The candidate is examined on questions related to the dissertation after acceptable parts have been completed in draft form.

Following university policy ( GAP 4.8.1 ), submit a dissertation demonstrating the ability to undertake original research based on primary and secondary materials in Japanese.

Submit two qualifying papers (QPs) that present each student’s original research in two different subfields of linguistics discussing Japanese linguistic topics and data. The length of the paper depends on the topic but generally should be about 25-30 pages. It is important, however, that the paper is not evaluated by its length but by its quality. It should contain a clear statement of the issue in question, the motivation for the inquiry in relation to the existing body of work, cogent arguments supported by compelling analyses of relevant data and theoretical implications of the findings. The quality is expected to be equivalent to a paper accepted for presentation at a professional conference and/or publishable in conference proceedings or in a journal in linguistics. A QP can be an extension of a term paper, but its topic should be discussed with the student’s advisor prior to writing. It is strongly recommended that the student should seek at least two faculty members to be on the QP committee who will provide guidance for research and writing in the process, and who will evaluate the paper. If circumstances do not permit obtaining multiple members, consult the advisor. Students are encouraged to start planning and consulting advising faculty members early in the second year.

The first qualifying paper (QP1) should be approved by Spring quarter of the second year. To obtain approval of QP1 in time, a completed draft should be provided to the committee members at the beginning of Autumn quarter, if not earlier.

The second qualifying paper (QP2) should be approved by the Winter Quarter of the fourth year. To obtain approval of QP2 in time, a completed draft should be provided to the committee members at the beginning of Autumn quarter, if not earlier.

Failure to receive approval for QPs in time may lead to dismissal from the program. These relatively late dates for approval are given in case the full-year TA duties during the second year may affect students’ writing progress. Students are urged to start planning for QPs and complete their QP requirements as early as possible to maximize the time to prepare their dissertation proposals and their dissertations.

Department of East Asian Studies

An autumn view of Clio Hall

Graduate Program

The Department of East Asian Studies   offers doctoral (Ph.D.) programs in Chinese and Japanese history and literature, Korean Literature, Anthropology of East Asia, and Social and Cultural Study of Contemporary East Asia.

The program has a core faculty of sixteen professors and twenty-two language lecturers and counts on the collaboration of twelve associated faculty in the Departments of Anthropology, Art and Archaeology, Comparative Literature, Politics, Religion, Sociology, and in the School of Public and International Affairs. The richness of class offerings and research interests of the combined faculty of the East Asian Studies Program and Princeton University at large offers students a unique opportunity to pursue training in the most varied fields related to China, Japan, and Korea. Students have the chance of acquiring skills, competences, and theoretical mastery in different disciplines within the humanities, media studies, and the social sciences. Research can be dedicated to the advancement of knowledge in established disciplines or in interdisciplinary form; it can be confined to one country or be transnational; and it can focus on specific time periods (antiquity, medieval, early modern, and modern) or cover wider spans of time.

The Department is an active participant in the  Council for the Humanities  and the  Inter-Disciplinary Doctoral Program in the Humanities .

How to Apply

All applications are submitted through the Graduate School website , which includes complete information on the application requirements and a link to apply online. The application deadline for all students is December 1 of the preceding academic year.

UCLA Japanese Studies

Within the past decade ucla has significantly expanded its programs in japanese studies. it now provides graduate students with a multi-faceted approach to japan that includes language study, departmental specializations, and programmatic approaches that cut across departments..

For undergraduates the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures offers a program leading to the B.A. degree in Japanese, in which the emphasis is on the language and culture of Japan.

Departments

Anthropology, as a member of our small graduate cohort admitted each year, you will join a tight-knit and dynamic research community with research projects that span the globe and incorporate diverse media and methods in their work..

Departmental interest groups provide a rallying point for research that cross cuts not only the four fields of anthropology, but also many other domains in the physical and social sciences and humanities. Each interest group hosts a diverse selection of speakers from nationally and internationally acclaimed institutions each year creating a vibrant opportunity to participate in and shape the debate in issues critical to contemporary anthropology.

Mariko Tamanoi

Mariko Tamanoi, Professor in the Anthropology Department, is author of Under the Shadow of Nationalism: Politics and Poetics of Rural Japanese Women (1998) and Memory Maps: The State and Manchuria in Postwar Japan (2009) as well as editor of Crossed Histories: Manchuria in the Age of Empire, which has been translated to Japanese. Her publications also include articles in the Journal of Asian Studies, Ethnology, Annual Review of Anthropology, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Critical Asian Studies, Japan Focus, and American Ethnologist. She is currently a member of the Editorial Board for Positions: East Asian Cultures Critique, and an associate of the e-journal Japan Focus: The Asia Pacific Journal.

Architecture and Urban Design

Redefining architectural education in a major research university, we emphasize interaction among the components of our program, design, technology, and critical studies (history and theory), along with the other departments in the school of the arts and architecture and the larger university..

We are especially strong in examining the theory and impact of computerized technology on design, and the latest developments in robotics, and the fabrication of building components. Critical studies at UCLA makes a crucial contribution to the evaluation of new directions in design and issues of contemporary practice, including pressing environmental concerns. We are increasing our interest in cross-cultural studies, exchange programs, and cross industry research. Our undergraduate major allows us to further expand and enrich both our faculty and student body.

Hitoshi Abe

Hitoshi Abe, Professor and Chair in the Department of Architecture and Urban Design at the School of Arts and Architecture and Chair in the Study of Contemporary Japan and the Director of the UCLA Paul I. and Hisako Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies. Since 1992, when Dr. Hitoshi Abe won first prize in the Miyagi Stadium Competition and established Atelier Hitoshi Abe, he has maintained an active international design practice based in Sendai, Japan, as well as a schedule of lecturing and publishing, which place him among the leaders in his field. Some of his most recent publications include Hitoshi Abe (Phaidon, 2009), Hitoshi Abe Flicker (Toto shuppan, 2005) and Project Book (Shokokusha, 2005). Known for architecture that is spatially complex and structurally innovative, the work of Atelier Hitoshi Abe has been published internationally and received numerous awards in Japan. His most recent works in progress include a departmental building on the New Campus of the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU).

The Department of Art is committed to a professional art training within the context of a liberal arts university. Visual artists are responsible for some of the most provocative and enduring expressions of culture.

At UCLA, emerging artists are provided with the tools they need to express themselves in ways that are meaningful in the social context in which they live and work. The department attracts gifted and motivated students who thrive in an environment that encourages autonomy. They are drawn not only to the outstanding creative faculty, the University's resources, and its location in one of the world's leading art centers, but also to a program that encourages them to develop as artists. The result is a distinguished list of graduates who have made significant contributions in their field.

Russell Ferguson

Russell Ferguson joined the Department of Art in January 2007, and was chair until 2013. From 2001, he was Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Programs, and Chief Curator, at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, where he remains an adjunct curator. From 1991 to 2001, he was at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, first as Editor, then as Associate Curator. He has organized many exhibitions. At the Hammer, these included The Undiscovered Country (2004), a survey of various approaches to representation in painting, as well as solo exhibitions by Larry Johnson (2009), Francis Alÿs (2007), Wolfgang Tillmans (2006), Patty Chang (2005), and Christian Marclay (2003). At the Museum of Contemporary Art, he organized In Memory of My Feelings: Frank O’Hara and American Art(1999), an exploration of the circle of artists that revolved around the poet, as well as survey exhibitions of the work of Liz Larner and Douglas Gordon (both 2001). With Kerry Brougher, he organized Open City: Street Photographs Since 1950 (2001) for The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. Also with Brougher, he is the organizer of Damage Control: Art and Destruction since 1950 (2013) for the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington. He is the editor of two collections of critical writing: Discourses: Conversations in Postmodern Art and Culture, and Out There: Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures, both published by the MIT Press. He has written about the work of many contemporary artists, including Thomas Eggerer, Olafur Eliasson, Tony Feher, Rodney Graham, Cristina Iglesias, Damian Ortega, Laura Owens, and Gillian Wearing.

Asian Languages and Cultures

The department of asian languages and cultures (alc) at ucla offers an undergraduate major and minor in japanese and three different phd programs in japanese studies: the phd program in japanese literary and cultural studies, with specializations in classical and medieval literary culture, early modern literary and visual culture, and modern and contemporary literature and film; the phd in cultural and comparative studies with an interdisciplinary and comparative focus on japan; and the phd in buddhist studies with a focus on japanese buddhism..

For more information please visit the ALC department website at https://anthro.ucla.edu/academics/graduate/

William M. Bodiford

William M. Bodiford teaches courses on religion in the cultures of Japan and East Asia, and Buddhist Studies. His research spans the medieval, early modern, and contemporary periods of Japanese history. Currently he is investigating religion during the Tokugawa period, especially those aspects of Japanese culture associated with manuscripts, printing, secrecy, education, and proselytizing. Although many of his publications focus on Zen Buddhism (especially Soto Zen), he also researches Tendai and Vinaya Buddhist traditions, Shinto, folklore and popular religions, as well as Japanese martial arts and traditional approaches to health and physical culture. He is the author of Soto Zen in Medieval Japan (University of Hawai’i Press, 1993), of numerous articles on Dōgen and medieval Buddhism, and editor of several books on Buddhism including Going Forth: Visions of Buddhist Vinaya (University of Hawai’i Press, 2005).

Torquil Duthie

Torquil Duthie’s main area of specialization is the literature and cultural history of the Asuka and Nara periods. His research interests include early and classical Japanese poetry, myth, and historical writing, narrative theory and the representation of subjectivity in premodern Japanese literature, the role of literary culture in the representation of the state, and seventeenth and eighteenth century kokugaku (“native learning”) and its relationship to modern and contemporary philology and theory. He teaches classical Japanese and kanbun, and undergraduate classes and graduate seminars on a variety of premodern topics. He is the author of Man’yōshū and the Imperial Imagination in Early Japan (Brill, 2014), of a book of translated selections from the Kokinshū into Spanish, and of research articles in English and Japanese. He is currently working on a book on literary writing, ritual, and historiography in Early Japan, and on a translation into English of selections from the Kokinshū.

Michael Emmerich

Michael Emmerich’s scholarly interests in Japanese literature range from the classical, court-centered prose and poetry of the Heian period to the popular printed fiction of the early modern age, and on from there to the prose fiction of modern and contemporary times. His book The Tale of Genji: Translation, Canonization, and World Literature (Columbia University Press, 2013) examines the role that translations of Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji) into early-modern and modern Japanese, and into English and other languages, have played in creating images of the tale over the past two centuries—reinventing it as a classic of both national and world literature. In addition to his many publications in English and Japanese on early modern, modern, and contemporary Japanese literature, Emmerich is the author of more than a dozen book-length translations of works by writers such as Kawabata Yasunari, Yoshimoto Banana, Takahashi Gen’ichiro, Akasaka Mari, Yamada Taichi, Matsuura Rieko, Kawakami Hiromi, Furukawa Hideo, and Inoue Yasushi.

Seiji M. Lippit

Seiji M. Lippit teaches courses on modern literature and film. His research interests include modernism, mass culture, urban space, minority literature, as well as representations of decolonization, occupation, and the transformation of national consciousness in postwar Japan. His publications include Topographies of Japanese Modernism (Columbia UP, 2002), an examination of modernist fiction in 1920s and 30s Japan, as well as the edited volume The Essential Akutagawa (Marsilio, 1999), an anthology of writings by the celebrated writer Akutagawa Ryūnosuke. He also edited the translation of contemporary philosopher and cultural critic Kojin Karatani's History and Repetition (Columbia UP, 2011). He is currently working on a book project entitled Postwar Tokyo: Capital of a Ruined Empire that examines the cultures of decolonization in Tokyo in the wake of empire’s collapse. Lippit received his A.B. in Literature from Harvard University and his PhD in Japanese literature from Columbia University.

Gender Studies

Gender studies is an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary department that provides the unique opportunity to study culture and society from multiple intersecting perspectives that would not be possible within any single discipline..

Our interdisciplinary UCLA Gender Studies Department faculty and graduate students are engaged in theoretical and methodological innovations in a wide range of studies about gender around the world including indigenous, intersectional, legal, masculinity, media, post-colonial, queer, settler colonial, sexuality, and technoscience studies. We focus on these issues in Africa, Americas, Europe, and the Pacific region, as well as east, south, and west Asia. Our disciplinary affiliations include anthropology, ethnic studies, history, literature, and political science. As of July 2014 we have 11 core and 51 affiliated faculty members, plus 24 graduate students.

Other resources include the UCLA Center for the Study of Women and the UCLA Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Program plus 17 departments, centers, and programs at other UC campuses .

Sharon Traweek

Sharon Traweek teaches and conducts research on 20th and 21st century “technosciences,” attending to their embodied gendered performance of subject formation of expertise, knowledge crafting, migration, and narrative practices, including their strategic engagements with the global political economies in which they are embedded. She is active is studies of the aftermath of the 3.11 quake, tsunami, and reactor failures. Her ethnographic, archival, and theoretical work is informed by feminist epistemology and science studies, plus debates about affect, governmentalitym intersectionality, performance, and practice. She is now engaged in or advising research collaborations based in Denmark, Japan, Sweden, UK, and the US. She has worked with graduate students engaged in studies of how media, public health, reproduction, science, sex work, and technology are part of Japanese nation-state formation from the 17th to 20th centuries. Former students and postdoctoral researchers with whom she has worked are now faculty members, researchers, and administrators at colleges and universities in Brazil, Ireland, Japan, Qatar, South Africa, Sweden, and the US.

The UCLA History Department is acknowledged as one of the great centers for the study of history in the world.

The Japan field constitutes a vital and respected part of the department, with a long history of distinguished scholarly activity, and dozens of graduates teaching at prestigious institutions throughout the country. Its current faculty (Hirano and Marotti) offer complementary approaches and cutting-edge research and instruction across the early modern and modern periods. Our highly selective graduate students form a collegial and energetic cohort, with a diversity of research interests and backgrounds, and receive flexible and comprehensive training facilitating innovative new work. Beyond the resources within the department, students avail themselves of research, instructional, and collaborative activities across the university and the region through a variety of interdisciplinary, regional and intercollegial institutes and exchanges.

Katsuya Hirano

Katsuya Hirano’s teaching and research explore the intersection between history and critical theory with a focus on questions of ideology, political economy, and subject/subjectivity. His first book, The Politics of Dialogic Imagination: Power and Popular Culture in Early Modern Japan, (Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 2013) outlines a general theory of the transformation in modes of subject-formation from the Tokugawa regime (1603-1868) to Japan’s first modern state, the early Meiji government, through an analysis centered on the regulation of popular culture. His current book project examines, through the prism of biopolitics, the correlative operations of capitalism and racism in the making of the Japanese empire. Taking the colonization of the Ainu people as the locus of analysis, the project explores the relation between the state’s drive for primitive accumulation (deterritorialization and reterritorialization of Ainu lands) and the construction and implementation of racial categories through academic (linguistic, economic, and anthropological) and legal discourse. The project ultimately seeks to deepen our understanding of the history of Ainu experiences through the perspectives of global histories of empire, capitalism, and colonialism. Hirano is also co-editing a translation volume with Professor Gavin Walker, entitled The Archive of Revolution: Marxist Historiography in Modern Japan. This volume will be the first major introduction of the rich yet long neglected Japanese Marxist historiography that played the decisive role in the formation of critical social science in modern Japan from the late 1920s to the 1970s. Lastly, Hirano has been conducting a series of interviews with the people who have been vocal about the seriousness of Fukushima nuclear disaster and calling for the abolition of nuclear power plants in Japan. He plans to publish them in English translation in the near future.

William Marotti

William Marotti, Assistant Professor in the Department of History. His publications include several journal articles, book chapters, reviews, commentaries and translations. He is currently working on two projects: Money, Trains, and Guillotines: Art and Revolution in 1960s Japan, which is a manuscript based on his dissertation due to be published by Duke University Press in Spring 2012. It is a historical investigation of the politics of culture in postwar Japan, viewed through an analysis centered on movements in avant-garde artistic production and performance; and “The Politics of Violence: Protest, Voice, and the Police in late-1960s Japan”, which is a second, complementary book project exploring the distinctive forms of activism which arose toward the end of the 1960s, and their complex struggles with the state over political recognition and legitimacy.

Established in 1911, the Department of Geography consistently ranks among the top departments in the United States.

Recognized internationally as a leader in research and education in both physical and human geo­graphy, the Department offers under­graduate degrees (B.A.) in Geography and Environ­mental Studies, and graduate degrees (M.A., Ph.D.) in Geography.

Lieba Faier

Lieba Faier is Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her first book, Intimate Encounters: Filipina Women and the Remaking of Rural Japan (University of California Press, 2009) is an ethnography of cultural encounters among Filipina migrants and their Japanese families and communities in rural Nagano. She is working on a second book, currently entitled, The Work of Freedom: Bureaucratic Collaborations to Fight Human Trafficking to Japan, that focuses on ongoing efforts among NGOs, government agencies, and international organizations to fight the trafficking of migrant women to Japan. She is also part of The Matsutake Worlds Research Group, a collaborative research team studying matsutake commodity chains across the globe. She has published articles in the Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, American Ethnologist, Cultural Anthropology, Environment and Planning A, and Gender, Place, and Culture.

Founded in the depth of the Great Depression, UCLA Anderson School of Management now ranks among the top-tier business schools in the world.

An award-winning faculty renowned for research and teaching, highly selective admissions, successful alumni and world-class facilities combine to provide an extraordinary learning environment in the heart of Southern California. UCLA Anderson's faculty comprises outstanding educators and researchers who share their scholarship and expertise in areas such as accounting, decisions, operations and technology management, finance, global economics and management and organizations, marketing, and strategy. Leadership themes permeate the curriculum at UCLA Anderson. MBA students have many opportunities to develop leadership skills in safe surroundings. This includes working in teams on real world management challenges through the Applied Management Research and the Global Access Programs. There are also a multitude of leadership experiences available through the school's many student associations and activities.

George Abe is a lecturer and Faculty Director of the Strategic Management Research (SMR) Program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. His teaching responsibilities include entrepreneurship, business plan development and field study program advisories. SMR is the field study program, required of all Executive MBA students. He was Business Development Manager for the UCLA Office of Intellectual Property, which is responsible for patent protection and commercialization of UCLA research. Previously, he was a venture partner with Palomar Ventures, a VC firm in Santa Monica, California. Before Palomar, he was a Business Development Manager at Cisco Systems. Prior to that he was with Infonet Services Corporation (NYSE:IN, now BT) where he designed Infonet's IP data service. From 1998 until 2006, he was a member of the board of directors of Switchcore AB, a publicly traded fabless semiconductor designer in Sweden. He has also held board of director positions with various startup companies and not-for-profit organizations. He is the author of Residential Broadband, which presents an analysis of high-speed residential networking, published by Cisco Press.

Mariko Sakakibara

Mariko Sakakibara, Professor of Management at the Anderson School of Management specializing in Strategy. Her book, Can Japan Compete?, 224 pp., (Perseus Publishing, 2001) was selected as one of the “Books of the Year” by The Economist (2000), featured on the front page of The New York Times (Feb. 2001), and was a finalist at the WH Smith Book Awards in the business category (April 2001). It was also translated into Chinese, Japanese and Korean. She focuses her research on alliances, innovation, entrepreneurship, and multinational corporate strategy. She teaches business strategy, international business and innovation, and initiated a study-trip progam to Japan for the student in all management programs, She is also currently on the Faculty Advisory Committee for the International Institute and the Paul I. and Hisako Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies at UCLA, and Area Editor for Journal of International Business Studies and on the Editorial Board of Research Policy

Political Science

Michael thies.

Michael Thies, Associate Professor in the Political Science Department. His most recent book publication is Japan Transformed: Political Change and Economic Restructuring. (Princeton University Press, 2010). He is currently the Chair of the International Institute Undergraduate Area Studies Interdepartmental Programs (East Asian Studies, European Studies, Latin American Studies, Middle East &North African Studies, Southeast Asian Studies) at UCLA and is Chair of the Gabriel Almond Prize Committee for the Best Dissertation in Comparative Politics at the American Political Science Association.

Japanese Language

About the Program

The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures offers a PhD program in Japanese Language. The department only admits students into the PhD program.

As a rule, students wishing to enter the graduate program should have completed an undergraduate program comparable to the undergraduate major in this department. Students who do not have BA or MA degrees in East Asian Languages and Cultures (or Japanese) or in similar fields can be considered for admission. If admitted, these students are often required to make up deficiencies in their course work. This can result in a lengthening of the normative time to degree (seven years).

The department only admits students into the PhD program. You must indicate that a PhD is your degree goal on the application materials. Students who have not completed an MA degree before beginning study at Berkeley will have to complete the requirements for the MA before proceeding to the PhD program. After completion of the MA requirements (coursework and thesis), students are evaluated for permission to proceed to the PhD portion of the program. Students who have completed an MA degree before beginning study at Berkeley may apply for admission directly to the PhD program. After one year in the PhD program, such students will be evaluated before being permitted to continue in the program.

UC Berkeley graduate students from other disciplines who are considering transferring into the degree program in Japanese language undergo the same faculty review as first-time applicants. However, they do not complete the Graduate Application. Students in this category should contact the department graduate assistant for instructions.

The length of time needed to complete an advanced degree in the department depends on financial considerations, the extent of the student's earlier preparation, and other factors. Under optimum conditions, the MA can be earned in two years and the PhD in an additional four to five years.

Step by Step. To learn how best to prepare for study at the graduate level in the humanities and the social sciences, current undergraduates may find useful Step by Step , a resource for UC Berkeley students to enrich their undergraduate academic experience and to prepare for graduate school.

Visit Department Website

Admission to the University

Applying for graduate admission.

Thank you for considering UC Berkeley for graduate study! UC Berkeley offers more than 120 graduate programs representing the breadth and depth of interdisciplinary scholarship. The Graduate Division hosts a complete list of graduate academic programs, departments, degrees offered, and application deadlines can be found on the Graduate Division website.

Prospective students must submit an online application to be considered for admission, in addition to any supplemental materials specific to the program for which they are applying. The online application and steps to take to apply can be found on the Graduate Division website .

Admission Requirements

The minimum graduate admission requirements are:

A bachelor’s degree or recognized equivalent from an accredited institution;

A satisfactory scholastic average, usually a minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 (B) on a 4.0 scale; and

Enough undergraduate training to do graduate work in your chosen field.

For a list of requirements to complete your graduate application, please see the Graduate Division’s Admissions Requirements page . It is also important to check with the program or department of interest, as they may have additional requirements specific to their program of study and degree. Department contact information can be found here .

Where to apply?

Visit the Berkeley Graduate Division application page .

Admission to the Program

Applications are reviewed and ranked by the entire faculty. The faculty makes its selection on the basis of academic records and on whether or not the applicant's academic goals can be met by the department's programs. Those chosen are recommended to the Graduate Division, which sets the number of students the department can admit, makes a final review of the applications, and issues an official letter of admission to the student. The number of students the department can admit is usually very small and standards for admission are highly competitive.

The graduate application is submitted electronically; the online application becomes available in September for admission effective the following year. See the Graduate Division website for details. All applicants must use the online application.

Transcripts . Applicants will submit unofficial transcripts, GRE scores, and other admissions materials online as part of the application. Admitted students will be required to submit two copies of all official transcripts in envelopes sealed by the issuing institutions at a later date.

Letters of Recommendation . Three letters of recommendation are required. As part of the application you will have to submit the names and contact information for the letter writers. Letters in languages other than English should be translated into English, but the original letter, in the original language, must be included. The department recommends that letters of recommendation come from faculty members who can comment on the applicant's intellectual capacity, analytical skills, ability to write English, and general aptitude for scholarly work. Letters from nonacademic referees are rarely helpful. All letters must be submitted online by the recommenders no later than two weeks after the application deadline to ensure that they are included in the review process.

Academic Writing Sample . A writing sample in English must be included with the online application. The writing sample is intended to gauge an applicant's academic writing ability, and should be a paper that the student feels best represents the quality of his/her work. An ideal writing sample will be around 20 pages on a topic related to East Asian studies, but a paper on another topic or of a different length may be acceptable.

GRE Test Scores . The GRE is currently required.

Applicants from Abroad . International applicants are urged to examine closely the requirements for certification and translation of records and TOEFL requirements provided in the graduate application and the information on legal residency and fees.

Doctoral Degree Requirements

Application to degree programs.

All prospective graduate students must apply for the PhD program. The department does not offer terminal MA degrees; instead, an MA degree may be earned while progressing toward the PhD.

Normative Time Requirements

Normative Time to Advancement: The total normative time to advancement is five years. Normative Time in Candidacy: The total time in candidacy is two years. Total Normative Time: The total normative time of the program is seven years.

PhD Curriculum

Language Requirements

Japanese MA

Fluency in modern and classical Japanese. The classical Japanese requirement must be satisfied by completion of a classical Japanese seminar taken for four units for a letter grade. Students entering the program without having taken an introduction to classical Japanese elsewhere are expected to take J120 as well.

Japanese PhD

Reading competence in a language other than Japanese relevant to the program, chosen in consultation with the Primary Advisor. Competence will normally be demonstrated by three years of language study at Berkeley or its equivalent. (Coursework must be taken for a letter-grade.) Native speakers of a language other than English do not automatically fulfill the language requirement; the language must be appropriate to advanced research in the program.

MA Requirements

• EA LANG 200 , "Proseminar: Approaches to East Asian Studies" is required, normally in the first year.
• A minimum of three graduate seminars (four units each) in the Japanese language field in the department will be required, for a letter grade. EA LANG 200  will not count toward the three required seminars. The department also encourages students to take a "Materials and Methods" seminar as part of the MA program.
• 8 additional units, in consultation with the primary adviser.

All courses required for the degree must be finished by the last day of the semester in which the student expects the degree to be conferred.

Students will have the option of taking additional seminars beyond the three required for the MA degree for two units, in which case no seminar paper is required. Each EALC seminar is structured with a 4 unit norm and 2 unit option.

Students who will need to acquire a second language from scratch to satisfy PhD requirements (q.v.) will be advised to begin work on that language as early as possible.

MA Thesis An MA thesis, usually based on a previous research paper and limited to 50 pages, is required. If the MA thesis involves a translation, the translation may be added as an appendix, which will not count toward the page limit.

Mechanism for Continuation or Termination at the MA Level A review of graduate students will take place in the middle and at the end of their first year and annually thereafter, and conveyed to the students in writing.

PhD Requirements

Two JAPAN graduate seminars for four units and for a letter grade in the department are required after completion of the MA, as well as at least one course outside the department in a cognate discipline, also for four units and for a letter grade.

Qualifying Examination The following will be required:

• Three written examinations on fields within the department.
• One written examination on a field outside the department.
• Oral examination.

The purpose of the qualifying examination is to ensure that the student possesses adequate breadth and depth of preparation needed to conduct dissertation research and teach. The student will normally choose reading lists in consultation with examiners and then meet regularly to discuss those readings with them. The written examinations will be based on those readings and discussions. The oral examination that follows is not meant to be a separate field of inquiry; instead, it is designed to pursue issues raised in the written segments.

The oral examination will take place one week after completion of the last written examination. It will last three hours and be attended by all four members of the qualifying examination committee. It will be devoted to further investigation of issues raised in the written examinations.

Dissertation A dissertation is required. Students should meet with their dissertation chairs to decide on appropriate timelines for research abroad and the completion of individual chapters. Students are not required to defend the dissertation once the dissertation committee has decided the dissertation is finished.

JAPAN C225 Readings in Japanese Buddhist Texts 2 or 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2021, Spring 2021 This seminar serves as an introduction to a broad range of Japanese Buddhist literature belonging to different historical periods and genres, including liturgical texts; monastic records, rules, and ritual manuals; doctrinal treatises; biographies of monks; and histories of Buddhism in Japan. Students are required to do all the readings in the original languages, which are classical Chinese (Kanbun) and classical Japanese. It will also serve as a tools and methods course, covering basic reference works and secondary scholarship in the field of Japanese Buddhism. The content of the course will be adjusted from semester to semester to accommodate the needs and interests of the students. Readings in Japanese Buddhist Texts: Read More [+]

Rules & Requirements

Prerequisites: Consent of instructor

Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.

Hours & Format

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3-3 hours of seminar per week

Additional Format: unit(s):three hours of seminar per week; 4 unit(s):three hours of seminar per week.

Additional Details

Subject/Course Level: Japanese/Graduate

Grading: Letter grade.

Also listed as: BUDDSTD C225

Readings in Japanese Buddhist Texts: Read Less [-]

JAPAN 230 Seminar in Classical Japanese Poetry 2 or 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2021 Topics run from Japan's earliest extant poetic anthologies in Chinese (Kaifuso) or Japanese (Man'yoshu) to medieval linked verse (renga) and Edo haikai. Seminar in Classical Japanese Poetry: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Two semesters of classical Japanese

Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.

Seminar in Classical Japanese Poetry: Read Less [-]

JAPAN C231 Japanese Studies: Past, Present... and Future? 2 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2015, Spring 2014 Offers an overview of the history and current state of the field in Japanese studies, with faculty presentations, selected readings, and orientation sessions with East Asian Library staff to acquaint participants with relevant resources for research. Requirements will include completion of course readings and preparation of a research prospectus. Japanese Studies: Past, Present... and Future?: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1 hour of seminar per week

Additional Format: One hour of seminar per week.

Also listed as: HISTORY C231

Japanese Studies: Past, Present... and Future?: Read Less [-]

JAPAN 232 Japanese Bibliography 2 or 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2016, Spring 2010 An introduction to research tools for Japanese studies. The course gives primary consideration to literary sources but also presents an overview of basic texts and web sites dealing with bibliographical citation, lexicography, history, religion, fine arts, geography, personal names, biographies, genealogies, and calendrical calculation. Internet access is required. Japanese Bibliography: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Reading ability in modern Japanese; classical Japanese helpful but not required

Japanese Bibliography: Read Less [-]

JAPAN 234 Seminar in Classical Japanese Drama 2 or 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2019, Spring 2013, Fall 2004 Topics may include examples from the Noh, Kyogen, Joruri, or Kabuki theaters. Seminar in Classical Japanese Drama: Read More [+]

Seminar in Classical Japanese Drama: Read Less [-]

JAPAN 240 Seminar in Classical Japanese Texts 2 or 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022 Topics may include works of Heian fiction such as The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari) and memoirs such as The Pillow Book (Makura no soshi). Seminar in Classical Japanese Texts: Read More [+]

Grading: The grading option will be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.

Seminar in Classical Japanese Texts: Read Less [-]

JAPAN 242 Seminar in Medieval Japanese Texts 2 or 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2006, Fall 2001 Topics may include medieval war tales (gunki monogatari), essays (zuihitsu), and diaries in Japanese or Sino-Japanese (kanbun). Seminar in Medieval Japanese Texts: Read More [+]

Seminar in Medieval Japanese Texts: Read Less [-]

JAPAN 255 Seminar in Prewar Japanese Literature 2 or 4 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Spring 2021 Reading and critical evaluation of selected texts in prewar (roughly the 1860s though the 1940s) Japanese literature and literary and cultural criticism. Texts change with each offering of the course. Seminar in Prewar Japanese Literature: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Graduate standing and consent of instructor

Seminar in Prewar Japanese Literature: Read Less [-]

JAPAN 259 Seminar in Postwar Japanese Literature 2 or 4 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2021, Spring 2018 Reading and critical evaluation of selected texts in postwar (roughly the 1940s through the present) Japanese literature and literary and cultural criticism. Texts change with each offering of the course. Seminar in Postwar Japanese Literature: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Graduate standing and permission of instructor

Seminar in Postwar Japanese Literature: Read Less [-]

JAPAN 298 Directed Study for Graduate Students 1 - 12 Units

Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Spring 2022 Special tutorial or seminar on selected topics not covered by available courses or seminars. Directed Study for Graduate Students: Read More [+]

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-12 hours of independent study per week

Summer: 3 weeks - 5-60 hours of independent study per week 6 weeks - 2.5-30 hours of independent study per week 8 weeks - 1.5-28 hours of independent study per week 10 weeks - 1.5-20 hours of independent study per week

Additional Format: One to twelve hours of independent study per week. One and one-half to twenty hours of independent study per week for 10 weeks. One and one-half to twenty eight hours of independent study per week for 8 weeks. Two and one-half to thirty hours of independent study per week for 6 weeks. Five to sixty hours of independent study per week for three weeks.

Directed Study for Graduate Students: Read Less [-]

JAPAN 299 Thesis Preparation and Related Research 1 - 12 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015 Thesis Preparation and Related Research: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Consent of thesis supervisor and graduate adviser

Summer: 6 weeks - 2.5-35 hours of independent study per week 8 weeks - 1.5-28 hours of independent study per week

Additional Format: One to twelve hours of independent study per week. One and one-half to twenty eight hours of independent study per week for 8 weeks. Two and one-half to thirty five hours of independent study per week for 6 weeks.

Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.

Thesis Preparation and Related Research: Read Less [-]

JAPAN 601 Individual Study for Master's Students 1 - 8 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015 Individual study for the comprehensive or language requirements in consultation with the graduate adviser. Units may not be used to meet either unit or residence requirements for a master's degree. Individual Study for Master's Students: Read More [+]

Prerequisites: Consent of graduate adviser

Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-8 hours of independent study per week

Summer: 6 weeks - 2.5-20 hours of independent study per week 8 weeks - 1.5-15 hours of independent study per week

Additional Format: One to eight hours of independent study per week. One and one-half to fifteen hours of independent study per week for 8 weeks. Two and one-half to twenty hours of independent study per week for 6 weeks.

Subject/Course Level: Japanese/Graduate examination preparation

Individual Study for Master's Students: Read Less [-]

JAPAN 602 Individual Study for Doctoral Students 1 - 8 Units

Terms offered: Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015 Individual study in consultation with the major field adviser, intended to provide an opportunity for qualified students to prepare for various examinations required of candidates for the Ph.D. Individual Study for Doctoral Students: Read More [+]

Additional Format: Hours to be arranged.

Individual Study for Doctoral Students: Read Less [-]

Contact Information

Department of east asian languages and cultures.

3413 Dwinelle Hall

Phone: 510-642-3480

Fax: 510-642-6031

[email protected]

Department Chair

Robert Ashmore

3403 Dwinelle Hall

[email protected]

Director of Graduate Studies

Andrew Jones

[email protected]

Graduate Student Affairs Officer

Grant Tompkins

3414 Dwinelle Hall

Phone: 510-642-4497

[email protected]

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Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies

• Doctoral Programs

Explore the Ph.D. program in Japanese

The Ph.D. program in Japanese allows you to specialize in Japanese language and culture while preparing you for an academic career at the university level.

You will learn from renowned faculty doing research in this region and graduate with expertise in the Japanese language, research methods in an academic discipline, and pedagogy.

Learn more on the East Asian Languages & Cultures website

Interdisciplinary, yet focused

The Ph.D. program consists of at least 30 credit hours in courses in East Asian Studies, as well as 12–15 credit hours in an outside field that you choose, such as fine arts, history, political science, folklore, or comparative literature.

Hone your language skills

Japanese language study is an integral part of the Ph.D. program. Proficiency in a second modern East Asian language or a classical East Asian language may be necessary depending on your area of research. In addition, reading proficiency in French, German, or another European language related to your research is required.

Find out more about learning languages at HLS

Ph.D. students in Japanese are required to take qualifying exams and write a dissertation.

Take the next step

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PhD in Japanese Language and Literature Requirements

The PhD in Japanese Language and Literature at Washington University provides students with a solid foundation in all periods and forms of Japanese literature while requiring expertise in one’s research concentration.  Students select a complementary minor field in a second Asian literary tradition or another area of Japanese Studies as appropriate. Given present faculty strengths, students are encouraged to focus on Japanese literature of the twentieth century, while appreciating the strong “traditionalist” current that marks much of this literature.

I.  General Degree Requirements

The primary focus of this doctoral program will be the study of classical, pre-modern, and modern Japanese literature, with a secondary focus in an appropriate minor field, bolstered by relevant methodologies.  Doctoral students will be afforded a range of teaching experiences as part of their professional training, with extensive hands-on instruction in pedagogical methodology.  Some students may have the opportunity to teach in related programs outside the Department as well.  Toward the end of their program, students will conduct research in Japan.

PhD candidates:

1)  Complete 72 hours of graduate units, which may include up to 12 hours of dissertation research credit. Students who have completed their MA at Washington University may transfer up to 30 units; students coming with a similar MA from another American university may transfer up to 24 units.  Transfer credits for students from non-American universities are treated on a case-by-case basis.  The total will include:

• A maximum of 48 units from courses, comprised of seminars and advanced classes selected so as to yield a broad and deep familiarity with Japanese literary and cultural history and one’s area(s) of concentration.
• Of the 48 required units, the following distribution will apply:
• 9 units of required courses in literary and cultural theory, methodology, and pedagogy to be determined in consultation with advisor.  (May include CompLit 402 Introduction to Comparative Literature: Theory and Methods; Japan 537 Proseminar; Japan 573 Seminar in Japanese Language Teaching.) 
• 6 units must comprise Japan-related courses offered through other departments and programs.  Students will either concentrate on one discipline for their secondary area or take courses from several in order to broaden their expertise.
• 6 units must comprise courses in the literary and cultural traditions of China or Korea.

2)  Demonstrate native or near-native competence in both Japanese and English.

3)  If needed for research in the chosen area of specialization, achieve sufficient proficiency in one or more languages in addition to Japanese and English (normally French or German among the European languages, Chinese or Korean among Asian languages).

4)  Successfully complete the Qualifying and Comprehensive examinations. 

5)  Successfully complete a doctoral dissertation based on extensive research on a literary or cultural topic that produces new knowledge of publishable quality in the field of Japanese studies.  Normally dissertation research and writing is completed in the last two years of graduate study.

Examinations:

Qualifying Evaluation : toward the end of the first year of the PhD program, students submit a portfolio including all research papers written for classes taken in the first semester and work in progress for the second semester as determined in consultation with the advisor and advisory committee.  Students subsequently meet with the committee to discuss the contents of the portfolio and their progress in the program.  During the discussion, the student will also be asked to describe future research goals. The second element of this qualifying evaluation assesses students' progress in their primary languages. (This will be waived in the case of native speakers of Japanese.)

Comprehensive Examinations : Near the end of formal courses, normally at the end of the third year of full-time study, students complete three Comprehensive Examinations, preferably in a single semester, on: 1) Major field: premodern or modern/contemporary Japanese literature, 2) Minor field: premodern Japanese literature in the case of students whose major field in modern literature; modern and contemporary Japanese literature for those whose major field is premodern, and 3) A comparative and/or theoretical field relating to the candidate’s area of research specialization, defined in consultation with and approved by the advisory committee.  For guidance and preparation of their field exams, students will prepare a comprehensive bibliography.  Following successful completion of the three examinations, students will present their dissertation prospectus in a public forum before a panel of relevant faculty.

• In conjunction with the Comprehensive Examinations, and before the beginning of the fourth year, students must submit a Dissertation Prospectus for committee approval.

Implementation Plan for the Japanese Literature PhD Advanced level communication

In order to give our graduate students ample opportunity to experience advanced level communication, the faculty in the Japanese Literature PhD program will conduct the following:

1) require presentations in graduate-level seminars.

2) actively encourage participation (paper presentation, panel organization) in regional and national conferences, such as the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs.  In addition, we encourage participation in annual graduate-student-organized conferences (Columbia University, University of Colorado-Boulder, etc.)  We also expect our students to participate yearly in the symposium sponsored by the Comparative Literature Program.

3) in preparation for these conferences we arrange for our students to give small-group readings of their work.

4) we develop symposia and seminars on campus, and expect our students to participate actively.  We arrange for them to have lunch or otherwise interact with the guest speakers.

5) in preparation for job interviews, we arrange for our students to conduct mock interviews and job talks.

6) following committee approval of the dissertation prospectus, we require students to offer a colloquium-style presentation of the dissertation project

Probation and Dismissal Policy

Refer to the EALC Probation and Dismissal Policy for details.

II. Selection of Candidates and Admissions Criteria

Applicants for this program will be expected to have advanced proficiency in modern Japanese and a demonstrated ability to write analytically and to think critically in English.  Applicants should have completed the MA degree in: a) Japanese literature or cultural studies, b) East Asian Studies with focus on Japanese literature/culture, or c) another relevant field.  Additionally applicants will be screened for their commitment to the study of Japanese literature and culture, and their interests in areas of research strength among our faculty (early modern, modern, and contemporary Japanese literature). The Japanese Graduate Committee, comprised of tenure-line Japanese literature faculty in East Asian Languages and Cultures, will choose candidates from among applicants for recommendation to the Office of Graduate Studies in Arts & Sciences.

III . Resources and Support

The Office of Graduate Studies in Arts & Sciences will provide the usual support in the form of A&S Fellowships.

Washington University has several special fellowship programs such as the Olin Fellowship for Women or the Chancellor's Graduate Fellowship Program for outstanding and diverse American students interested in careers as college or university professors. The McDonnell International Scholars Academy may also be an additional source of support for candidates in this program, given the strengths of the Academy’s connections with top-ranked Tokyo University.

IV. Language Study and Research Abroad 

The Department maintains ties with other institutions in this country and abroad where the students might carry out their advanced studies and research.  Exchange arrangements may be made with Tsukuba University near Tokyo, where students may apply for government-sponsored funding.  Faculty may also be able to assist students in making arrangements with Dôshisha University in Kyoto.

Other ways to search:

• Events Calendar
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Graduate Program in Japanese

The MA in Asian Languages and Civilizations may be pursued with a specialization in Chinese or Japanese. Graduate students work in a broad interdisciplinary context, requiring a study of literary, historical, and cultural texts across the millennia of Chinese and Japanese written materials. The MA requires 30 hours of approved graduate coursework or 24 hours of coursework plus a thesis.

The MA program in Japanese is designed to provide advanced-level training in Japanese language, literature and civilization, with the aim of preparing students for both Japan-related professional careers and doctoral study in Japanese literature and culture. The program boasts four professors with specializations in the literature and performing arts of classical, medieval, early-modern and modern Japan. In recent years our MA students have gone on to PhD programs in Japanese literature, art history and religious studies at this and numerous other first-rank institutions in the U.S. and abroad. See  Japanese alumni stories .

PhD Program

The PhD programs in Japanese offer extensive training in the modern and pre-modern literatures of Japan for students seeking to pursue research and teaching careers at the collegiate level. The program offers specializations in Japanese with concentrations in literary and/or cultural studies of either the pre-modern or modern periods. The PhD requires a minimum of 45 credit hours in graduate courses numbered 5000 or above in Japanese, and 30 credit hours of dissertation work beyond the required coursework. PhD students may transfer to the department up to 21 hours of acceptable graduate-level credit. Academic preparation is expected in both classical and modern language.

Apply to PhD

The Graduate School accepts about 60 full-time graduate students per year. This ensures low numbers of students for each faculty member so that we can deliver best-in-the-world teaching to our graduate students. The basic requirement for the OIST Graduate Program is completion of a bachelor’s, master’s, or equivalent degree before the admission date. Students may submit an application at any time. Your application will be considered at the next admissions committee meeting. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to the Admissions Workshop , held on-campus twice a year, as part of the selection process.

OIST strives to create and maintain an inclusive, equitable, and diverse environment that does not discriminate against gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability, medical condition, race, ethnicity, ancestry, culture, national origin, religion, or marital status. Applications from women and other underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged.

For more details, please refer to the OIST Graduate School Three Policies.

Selection Schedule

*The schedule is tentative and subject to change.

Eligibility

Those who graduated with a bachelor's or master's degree or expect to complete their degree before the enrollment date are eligible to apply.

Application Procedure

We only accept application documents online. To apply for the program, you must create an account. Please prepare all required documents in English, save them as a PDF file, and upload them to the application website .

You can complete the application in one session or save your progress and return to finish it later.

Note: We recommend using a computer when preparing the online application. If you prefer using a mobile device, please make sure to have the latest operating system for the application website to work properly.

Required Documents

Scanned copies of your current academic transcript and any other transcript from your past degree (BSc, MSc, etc.) along with completed diploma (BSc, MSc, etc.) in PDF format.

• A scan of an unofficial transcript or other record of grades may be uploaded to the application website.
• English explanation is required for transcripts that are not written in English.
• If you have not graduated and do not have a diploma yet, please upload a certificate of enrollment from your institution, preferably indicating your expected graduation date.

This should be no more than 400 words (2500 characters) and should address the following points:

• The applicant’s scientific interests and aspirations.
• What the applicant hopes to gain from undertaking graduate studies at OIST.

Each applicant is required to have at least two and no more than five letters of recommendation from appropriate academic recommenders. Two is the minimum requirement, but as a rule, it is very helpful for the admissions committee to have more than two letters.

Please ensure you obtain permission and confirm that you have the correct email address before entering contact information. Your recommender will receive an automatic message from OIST requesting them to submit a recommendation letter. Recommenders must follow the instructions provided in the email. OIST does not accept recommendation letters submitted directly by applicants.

Please be considerate of your recommenders and ensure they have ample time to submit their recommendation letters before the application deadline. OIST does not grant any deadline extensions.

OIST declines to disclose any submitted recommendation letters. To ensure the objectivity of the evaluation, recommendation letters will remain confidential, and applicants will not be permitted to view the letters submitted.

You can only submit your application after at least two recommendation letters are received in the application system.

An applicant who is seeking admission on the basis of a qualification from a university for which the language of teaching and/or examination is not English is required to provide a TOEFL iBT or IELTS score obtained within the last two years. Please upload a digital copy of your official score report to the application website.

There is no minimum score required but the information is needed to determine preparatory course requirements.

The application system requires applicants to provide their passport number and upload a scan of the passport photo page. It is essential for applicants from outside Japan to have a valid passport for travel to Japan. Ensure that you include your passport details during the application process.

If you do not have a passport at the time of application, you can upload other government-issued identification documents instead. However, if you are shortlisted for the interview, OIST will need a copy of your valid passport immediately to prepare your visa application and travel arrangement to attend the Admissions Workshop in Okinawa.

Please upload a recent photo taken within the last three months, showing your face from the front in standard passport orientation.

Optional Documents

The following documents may be submitted optionally, and will be taken into consideration if available:

• Additional evidence of academic ability such as Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test or specific test scores obtained within the last two years.
• Additional material such as the title and abstract of publications and oral presentations, and other evidence of achievement.

Note: The OIST Graduate School reserves the right to request an external evaluation of academic qualifications from any applicant.

Application Fee

There is no application fee to apply for the OIST PhD program.

Japanese Graduate Programs

M.a. in japanese language & linguistics.

The M.A. program in Japanese Language/Linguistics is designed to produce Japanese language specialists who are trained in all the fields of Japanese Linguistics (pedagogy, sociolinguistics, pragmatics, historical linguistics, phonology and morphology, and syntax and semantics) with one of the fields as their specialization. The program also provides practical teaching experience for future teachers of Japanese.

Ph.D in Japanese Language & Linguistics

The Ph.D. in Japanese Language and Linguistics is designed to produce scholars with high-level competence in the field of specialization within Japanese Linguistics (pedagogy, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, phonology and morphology, and syntax and semantics). The program also aims to develop well-rounded Japanese language specialists who are competent in multiple subfields of Japanese Linguistics and equipped to execute comparative research in East Asian Languages.

Japanese Linguistics Ph.D. Program Requirements (since Fall 2018)

M.A. in Japanese Literature

The M.A. degree is offered in the field of Japanese literary studies, with emphasis on poetry, prose and drama of both the premodern and modern eras. The program offers students training in the history, theory, and culture of literary genres from specific periods, providing a solid foundation for a subsequent Ph.D. course of study.   Academic training in Japanese language teaching is also available.

Ph.D. in Japanese Literature

The Ph.D. degree in East Asian Languages & Literatures aims to train future scholars for the academic profession. The Ph.D. specialization in Japanese literary studies offers students the opportunity to develop scholarly expertise in the classical, medieval, early modern, and modern periods. The program also encourages comparative and interdisciplinary studies exploring the relationships between the histories, cultures, and literatures of East Asia.

Japanese Literature Ph.D. Program Requirements (since Fall 2018)

All Japanese graduate programs are recognized WICHE regional graduate programs. Residents of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming with a GPA of 3.5+ are eligible, upon admission, to enroll at resident tuition rates. Instructions on how to apply can be found  here , on the Prospective Students page of the Office of Graduate Education at UH Manoa.

East Asian Languages & Literatures • 1890 East-West Road Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822 Moore Hall 382 ©2022 University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa • 2500 Campus Road • Honolulu, HI 96822 • (808) 956-8111 The University of Hawaiʻi is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution

• Schools & departments

Japanese PhD

Awards: PhD

Study modes: Full-time, Part-time

Funding opportunities

Programme website: Japanese

Introduction to Postgraduate Study at the University of Edinburgh

Join us online on 25 September to learn more about Scotland, the city of Edinburgh and postgraduate study at the University.

Find out more and register

Research profile

Doctorate-level study is an opportunity to expand upon your interests and expertise in a community that really values research; and to make an original, positive contribution to learning in Japanese and East Asian Studies.

First taught at Edinburgh in 1976, Japanese Studies has developed to encompass a thriving postgraduate research programme covering a wide spectrum of interests in history, politics, and the performing and literary arts.

Research excellence

In the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021), our research was submitted in the categories of:

• Modern Languages and Linguistics
• Politics and International Studies
• Theology and Religious Studies

The results reaffirm Edinburgh’s position as one of the UK’s leading research universities - third in the UK based on the quality and breadth of its research in Modern Languages and Linguistics alone, according to Times Higher Education's REF power ratings.

Join our community and undertake a specialised research project under the guidance of experienced and well-published supervisors. We have particular strengths in:

• Japanese performing arts, both traditional and contemporary
• Japanese-Chinese relations
• media and politics
• the history of Japanese religion
• traditional and modern Japanese literature
• the Meiji period and empire studies

Explore our range of research centres, networks and projects in Asian Studies

Working with colleagues elsewhere in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, and across the wider University, we are able to support PhD theses crossing boundaries between languages and/or disciplines, including comparative literature, film studies, and translation studies.

Be inspired by the range of PhD research in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures

Over the course of your PhD, you’ll be expected to complete an original body of work under the expert guidance of your supervisors leading to a dissertation of usually between 80,000 and 100,000 words.

You will be awarded your doctorate if your thesis is judged to be of an appropriate standard, and your research makes a definite contribution to knowledge.

Go beyond the books

Beyond the Books is a podcast from the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at research and the people who make it happen.

Listen to a mix of PhD, early career and established researchers talk about their journey to and through academia and about their current and recent research.

Browse Beyond the Books episodes and hear our research community talk about their work

Programme structure

Find out more about compulsory and optional courses.

We link to the latest information available. Please note that this may be for a previous academic year and should be considered indicative.

Training and support

This programme includes optional training on research skills, methods and problems.

Between the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC), the Careers Service and the Institute for Academic Development (IAD), you’ll find a further range of programmes and resources to help you develop your postgraduate skills.

You will also have access to the University’s fantastic libraries, collections and worldwide strategic partnerships.

As part of our research community, you will be immersed in a world of knowledge exchange, with lots of opportunities to share ideas, learning and creative work.

Activities range from a regular seminar series in Asian Studies (with talks by staff, research students and visiting speakers) to film and anime screenings, noh performances, and workshops, including those hosted by the Consulate General of Japan, the Japan Society, and the Japan Foundation.

Our graduates tell us that they value LLC’s friendliness, the connections they make here and the in-depth guidance they receive from our staff, who are published experts in their field.

Based in the Main University Library, the Centre for Research Collections is unique in the UK. It brings together:

• a collection of more than 400,000 rare books
• six kilometres of archives and manuscripts
• the University’s collections of art, historical musical instruments and other objects

Notable collections include the East Asian Studies Collection of some 50,000 print and digital resources, of which 5,000 are in the Japanese language. We also have a specialised collection of Japanese journals and reference works.

As a PhD candidate here, you will be based at the heart of the University of Edinburgh in a world-leading festival city with a thriving East Asian cultural scene.

Many important collections are a short walk from our buildings, including those in the National Library, Museum and Galleries of Scotland.

Entry requirements

These entry requirements are for the 2024/25 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2025/26 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2024.

A UK 2:1 honours degree and a masters degree, or their international equivalents, in a related subject. We may also consider your application if you have equivalent qualifications or experience; please check with the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) before you apply.

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

• Entry requirements by country
• English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.5 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
• TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 23 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
• C1 Advanced ( CAE ) / C2 Proficiency ( CPE ): total 185 with at least 176 in each component.
• Trinity ISE : ISE III with passes in all four components.
• PTE Academic: total 70 with at least 62 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS , TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE , in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

• UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

• Approved universities in non-MESC

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old* at the beginning of your programme of study. (*Revised 05 March 2024 to extend degree validity to five years.)

Find out more about our language requirements:

Fees and costs

Scholarships and funding, featured funding.

There are a number of scholarship schemes available to eligible candidates on this PhD programme, including awards from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Please be advised that many scholarships have more than one application stage, and early deadlines.

• Find out more about scholarships in literatures, languages and cultures

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

• Search for funding

Further information

• Phone: +44 (0)131 650 4086
• Contact: [email protected]
• School of Literatures, Languages & Cultures
• 50 George Square
• Central Campus
• Programme: Japanese
• School: Literatures, Languages & Cultures
• College: Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

Select your programme and preferred start date to begin your application.

PhD Japanese - 3 Years (Full-time)

Phd japanese - 6 years (part-time), application deadlines.

We strongly recommend you submit your completed application as early as possible, particularly if you are also applying for funding or will require a visa. We may consider late applications if we have places available.

• How to apply

You must submit two references with your application.

The online application process involves the completion of a web form and the submission of supporting documents.

For a PhD programme, you should include:

• a sample of written work of about 3,000 words (this can be a previous piece of work from an undergraduate or masters degree)
• a research proposal - a detailed description of what you hope to achieve and how

You will also need to supply two references.

• Guidance on the application process and writing a research proposal

Before you apply, you should also look at the interests and expertise of our research community on the programme website. This will help you decide if this programme is right for you and your supervision needs.

Programme website - research projects, centres and networks in Asian Studies

Programme website - our postgraduate environment in Asian Studies

Find out more about the general application process for postgraduate programmes:

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• Study in Kobe

Graduate School Admissions - Doctoral programmes

In order to enter Degree programs, students have to take and pass the entrance examinations and an interview conducted by Kobe University. Following are the general information on eligibility, selection method, and admission information for each Graduate School.

Eligibility

Applicants must be foreign nationals who do not hold Japanese nationality and have successfully completed 16 years of school education or the equivalent. Those who are expected to graduate by March 31 of the year they are entering are also eligible.

• For detailed information on each Graduate School’s eligibility requirements, please refer to each School’s website.

Selection Method

Students are selected by academic records and the result of the paper based and oral examinations conducted by each Graduate School. The types of examinations vary according to each Graduate School.

• Many international students choose to enter Kobe University as a Research Student non-degree seeking student conduct research while improving their Japanese language ability for about 1 year, and then move on to a degree-seeking program after passing the entrance examination.

How to Apply

1. find your future supervisor.

Graduate Schools either do or do not require students Graduate School, but it is always better to decide the faculty member by whom you wish to be supervised, considering your own research topic. Check the information about the faculty members at Master’s Programs and Doctoral Programs and contact the faculty member directly.

How to find the future academic supervisor?

• Make use of our Directory of Researchers in Kobe University .
• When contact information is not available on the website of Graduate School, contact the Student Affairs Section of relevant Graduate School .

2. Obtain Application Information and Application Forms

When to request.

Application information is usually available on the Graduate School website and also on the website of Japan Study Support. However in order to apply, applicants have to obtain the original application forms. Each Graduate School distributes application forms at certain period usually once a year or twice a year.

Where and How to request

Applicants can obtain application forms either by visiting the office of each Graduate School directly or requesting by post. When requesting by post, be sure to enclose a return envelop with the necessary stamp attached to the Student Affairs Section of respective Graduate School.

• The return envelop should be a size that can enclose an A4-size Legal size without folding the forms.
• Please attach the necessary amount of stamp to the return envelop.
• For detailed information, please check the website of the relevant Graduate School.

When to apply

Each Graduate School has certain application period usually once a year or twice a year.

Where and how to apply

Send the Student Affairs Section of respective Graduate School the necessary application materials by post. Must reach by the deadline, late arrival would not be considered for admission.

• Students who have different educational background than that of shown on page 59 need to be pre-assessed before application. Please inquire Student Affairs Section of respective Graduate School for detailed information.

4. Take the Examination

Each Graduate School has its own examination schedule. All examinations are conducted at Kobe University. Applicants should make arrangement to come to Kobe at this time.

5. Acceptance

How to find out the result.

In early March, applicants will receive an admission notice and other information by post if they passed the examination. Applicants who failed the examination will not receive the notice. If accepted, applicants must make the payment of admission fee by bank transfer, and submit the necessary documents.

6. Prepare for Coming to Japan

Prepare passport and visa (when applicants reside overseas).

In order to enter Japan, international students must have a passport and a “College Student Visa”. Please refer to “Procedure for Entering Japan” for details on how to apply for the visa.

Secure Accommodation

There are University housings and other accommodation that students can apply for through the university, but these rooms are limited. Please use the “Kobe University Student Apartment Search System” to look for private apartment. This system has been established with Nasic National Student Information Center for Kobe University international students. Students can also use this search system to reserve an apartment from overseas. It is available in 4 languages (Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean) and will also support students with lease agreement. For more information please refer to “Housing information”.

Students can also search apartment through Kobe University Co-op Service Center after arrival in Kobe.

Reserve an airplane ticket and purchase a traveler’s insurance. (Recommended but optional) (when applicants resides overseas)

7. after arriving in japan, come to kobe university during the designated period to complete the necessary entrance procedures., participate in new student orientation, classes begin, make payment of tuition fees, for more information.

• Intercultural Studies
• Human Development and Environment
• Business Administration
• Health Sciences
• Engineering
• System Informatics
• Agricultural Sciences
• Maritime Sciences
• International Cooperation Studies
• Science, Technology and Innovation

School of Languages and Cultures - Japanese College of Liberal Arts

We have MA and Ph.D. programs in Japanese Language Pedagogy and an MA program in Japanese Literature. Students wishing to pursue a Ph.D. with a focus on Japanese Literature may apply to the Comparative Literature program, and, if accepted, will work with literature faculty in Japanese as well as other languages. 

Financial support

Currently, all graduate students in the department majoring in Japanese are supported by departmental assistantships. The number of teaching assistantships varies from year to year. They include full tuition remission and an annual salary of approximately $22,000 (2023 figure). The standard teaching load is 3 courses a year (1 in Fall, 2 in Spring, or 2 in Fall, 1 in Spring).

Our graduates

All Ph.D. graduates that the Japanese faculty-mentored have full-time jobs so far, many of them tenured and tenure-track.

• Tatsushi Fukunaga, Associate Professor, Shizuoka University of Art and Culture
• Mayu Miyamoto, Assistant Professor, Nagoya University of Foreign Studies
• Katsuhiro Ito, Assistant Professor, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
• Yumi Takamiya, Assistant Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Shih Lieh-Ting, Associate Professor, Kainan University
• Kazuaki Nakazawa, Associate Professor, Yuan Ze University
• Kazumi Matsumoto Cantrell, Associate Professor, Ball State University
• Shogo Sakurai, Associate Professor, Nagoya University of Foreign Studies
• Maki Hirotani, Professor, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
• Kaori Schau, Assistant Professor, Calvin College
• Yasufumi Iwasaki, Associate Teaching Professor of Japanese, Carnegie-Mellon University
• Masumi Tajima, Professor, Chuo Gakuin University
• Hiromi Tsuchiya Dollase, Associate Professor, Vassar College
• Noriko Asato, Associate Professor, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Graduate Faculty

Kazumi hatasa.

Kazumi Hatasa received his Ph.D. in Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1989. He started teaching at Purdue University in 1988. He is currently a professor in the School of Languages and Cultures. He was the Director of the School of Japanese at Middlebury College from 2004 to 2018. His primary area of specialization is the computer application of technologies in Japanese language teaching. He has published articles and book chapters in this area both in English and in Japanese, and regularly makes presentations at conferences of professional organizations including AATJ, ACTFL, and CALICO. His current interests are applications of augmented reality and immersive virtual reality in language instruction. Prof. Hatasa is a co-author of “IT Literacy for Japanese Language Instructors” (2015, Kurosio Publisher, Tokyo) and a co-author of the Japanese language textbook series “Nakama 1” and “Nakama 2.” (Cengage Learning) He has also been working with professional rakugo performers to introduce students to this traditional performing art. He is authoring an advanced-level textbook in Japanese focusing on Japanese culinary culture. It is expected to be published by Kurosio Publisher (Tokyo) in 2020.

Prof. Hatasa regularly teaches JPNS 361 (Elementary Survey of Japanese Linguistics), JPNS 485 (culinary culture of Japan), and JPNS 596 (IT Applications in Japanese language instruction).

Atsushi Fukada

Atsushi Fukada received his Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1987. After teaching at Nagoya University for 7 years, he joined the Purdue faculty in 1994. He has directed the Center for Technology-Enhanced Language Learning since 1997. His research interests include Japanese linguistics, pragmatics, corpus and computational linguistics, language pedagogy, and learning systems development. An example of his corpus & computational work is Meidai Conversation Corpus and Chakoshi corpus search system ( linked here ). In the learning systems development area, he developed an online oral practice/assessment platform Speak Everywhere ( linked here ). His current major project is the development of an online textbook series titled Learn Japanese Online , of which he and Dr. Mariko Wei (see below) are Managing Authors. In the graduate program, he teaches JPNS 560 (Survey of Japanese Linguistics) regularly.

Mariko Wei received her Ph.D. in Linguistics from Georgetown University in 1998, the same year she joined the Purdue faculty. While Mariko’s research interests include second language acquisition and language pedagogy, her current research focuses on bilingualism and heritage language maintenance for children with autism spectrum disorder and the development of online Japanese textbooks.

She has previously taught at Columbia University, Georgetown University, John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and Princeton in the Ishikawa Program.  She is a faculty coordinator of the Japanese Language Program and has developed and taught a variety of courses on the Japanese language, Japanese language instruction, Japanese studies, and applied linguistics at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Her passion for teaching and mentoring has previously been recognized with the Kenneth T. Kofmehl Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award in 2012, the Charles B. Murphy Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching in 2013, and the College of Liberal Arts Award of Outstanding Graduate Teacher in 2016.

Pedro Bassoe

Pedro Bassoe received his Ph.D. in Japanese from the University of California, Berkeley in 2018 and joined the faculty at Purdue University in 2019. His primary research focuses on illustration, visual culture, and the relationship between text and image in the development of the modern novel in Japan. He is currently editing a book manuscript titled Eyes of the Heart: Illustration and the Visual Imagination in Modern Japanese Literature based on his dissertation. He has also begun research projects on the literature of the fantastic in Japan and literary connections between Japan and Brazil in the work of both canonical Japanese authors and various diasporic writers. He has published one article on Natsume Sōseki, art nouveau, and book design in The Review of Japanese Culture and Society, which was recently translated into Japanese for inclusion in a volume on Sōseki. He has also had one article accepted by the Journal of Japanese Studies on Ozaki Kōyō and the photographic imagination in Japanese literature. Dr. Bassoe teaches classes on Japanese literature from the classical to contemporary eras, in both the original Japanese versions and English translations, as well as classes on Japanese film, visual culture, literary pedagogy, popular culture, and literature of the fantastic in the School of Languages and Cultures. He has recently become affiliated with the program in Comparative Literature at the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, for which he plans to offer classes in the near future.

Useful Links

School of Languages and Cultures Graduate Program Page: https://cla.purdue.edu/academic/slc/graduate/

Graduate Application Instructions: https://cla.purdue.edu/academic/slc/graduate/documents/ApplicationInstructions_UPDATED_October2018.pdf

Graduate School English Proficiency Requirements: https://www.purdue.edu/gradschool/admissions/how-to-apply/apply-toefl.html

All inquiries about the Japanese graduate programs should be directed to Prof. Atsushi Fukada .

MA in Japanese Pedagogy

Students must be rated at ACTFL advanced high or higher in Japanese proficiency.

Required courses: (12 credit hours)

JPNS 521 Teaching Japanese JPNS 594 Teaching Japanese Literature JPNS 560 Japanese Linguistics JPNS 679 Second Language Acquisition

Elective courses: (15 credit hours with thesis/18 credit hours without thesis)

Japanese Literature & Culture

JPNS 543 Modern Japanese Popular Literature & Culture JPNS 596 Postwar Japanese Cinema

Research Design and Measurement

LC/ENG 618 Research Design in Language and Linguistics STAT 501 Experimental Statistics I

Second Language Acquisition

ENGL 618 Qualitative Research ENGL 629 Second Language Acquisition ENGL 630 Seminar in Second Language Writing LC/JPNS 679 Bilingualism & Lang Acquisition LC/JPNS 679 Research Design Study L2 Reading LC/JPNS 679 Vocabulary and Reading in SLA LC/JPNS 679 Classroom SLA LC/JPNS 679 Corpus Linguistics SLA LC/JPNS 679 Pragmatics

Language Testing

ENGL 674 Seminar in Language Testing

Language Curriculum

ENGL 516 Teaching ESL: Theoretical Foundations ENGL 518 Teaching ESL: Principles and Practices

Computer-Assisted Language Learning/Information Technology

LC 596 Technological Literacy for FL teachers LC 596 Introduction to Multi-Media Programming for FL Teaching

Linguistics

LC 596/LING 598 Introduction to Pragmatics LC 596 Politeness in Language LC/ENGL 565 Sociolinguistics PSYC 526 Psycholinguistics LING 511 Phonology I: Descriptive Analysis LING 521 Syntax I: Syntactic Analysis COM 612 Language & Gender COM 682 Discourse Analysis

Thesis Course (3 credit hours)

JPNS 698 Thesis in Japanese

MA in Japanese Literature

JPNS 521 Teaching Japanese JPNS 679 Second Language Acquisition JPNS 594 Teaching Japanese Literature JPNS 542 Pre-Modern and Early Modern Japanese Literature JPNS 543 Modern Japanese Popular Literature and Culture JPNS 594 Special Topics in Japanese Literature JPNS 659 Seminar in Japanese Literature CMPL 650 Ekphrasis and Visual Theory

• News & Events

Japan Office

オックスフォード大学日本事務所.

Applying for Graduate Study

Posted: 2024/08/21 | author: uojo.

On Thursday 26 September we will be holding an information session on Applying for Graduate Study at the University of Oxford.

In this session we will have a live link with the Graduate Admissions and Recruitment and Student Fees and Funding teams in Oxford who will give a presentation in English about studying at Oxford at graduate level and how to apply to the University. There will also be information about scholarships available.

The admissions cycle for graduate programmes commencing in the 2025/26 academic year will open in September 2024. Please look at our Graduate Admissions  website to find all the information you need to apply, including exactly which documents you need. We recommend that you start preparing your application as early as possible. The Graduate Admissions website fully outlines the application steps.

Oxford is fortunate to have a number of scholarships for students, many of which are funded through the generosity of our donors. Some scholarships are particularly aimed at Japanese students, and in particular there is a scholarship called the ‘Oxford-Uehiro Graduate Scholarship Programme’ that will allow 5 scholars from Japan at any one time to undertake a graduate degree at the University of Oxford in any subject (except the MBA).

If you are hoping to study in Oxford in future, please come to this session to find out more about how to apply and what to expect.

If you would like to participate online, please indicate this in the ‘option’ section of the booking form and we will send you a link.

Thursday 26 September 18:30 – 19:30 UF Building 1F, 6-3 Sanbancho Chiyoda ku, Tokyo Map to venue

This presentation is free of charge and will be delivered in English

Make your booking here

Other Current News and Events

Further reading further reading.

St Anne’s reception

Lecture: The Ethics of Smuggling

Vice-Chancellor in Tokyo

20 PH scholars to pursue studies in Japan

TWENTY Filipinos have been chosen to make up the 22nd batch of the Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship by Japanese Grant Aid (JDS) to pursue graduate studies at leading Japanese universities.

On Friday, August 16, the scholars gathered at the Japanese Ambassador's residence in North Forbes Park, Makati City, for a send-off ceremony by Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Endo Kazuya.

Addressing guests from government agencies, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the scholars, the ambassador did his salutation in Filipino.

"The JDS is one of Japan's many commitments to the development of its partner countries' human capital. The program embodies our enduring belief in the power of education for the advancement of nations and their peoples," he said.

"Through JDS, a total of 439 Fellows from the Philippines have pursued their graduate school studies in Japan since 2002. Through your dedication and talents, you will soon count yourselves as part of this bright and select group of the program's 22nd batch," he continued.

"As we have recently witnessed the remarkable story of [Olympics 2024 Double] Gold Medalist Carlos Yulo, a young Filipino educated and trained in Japan, I find that now is a perfect time to talk about the power of education," Kazuya said.

Kazuya said: "Coach Munehiro Kugimiya, a Japanese coach, met Carlos Yulo in his early teens and saw his potential. He also saw a lack of training gymnastic facilities that could better hone his talents. He then decided to take Carlos under his wing, and at just 16, Carlos trained in Japan since 2016, in a challenging environment away from his family and surrounded by a language and culture he barely understood. Against these daunting odds, his hard work, dedication, and focus on his dream of being a world champion did pay off in the form of two gleaming gold medals."

The ambassador reminded the scholars to help the Philippines achieve further progress and prosperity through the education and training they will get through their studies in Japan when they return to the country.

"JDS Fellows, as you begin this new chapter, I encourage you to strive for your best and make the most of this opportunity. As you embark on achieving your academic goals, I invite you all to savor your experiences, embrace Japanese culture and build lasting friendships with the people you meet," he urged.

"In all your encounters in Japan, I hope to see you as ambassadors of your country in showcasing the good traits and warmth of the Filipino people. I am confident your efforts in this project will only deepen the strong ties between our two countries. We are all rooting for you!" he said.

Ambassador Kazuya wished the scholars success: "On a final note, I thank you for choosing Japan to be the host of your educational aspiration, and I wish you all a successful and unforgettable stay in Japan. Maraming salamat! Mabuhay ang pagkakaibigan ng Japan at Pilpinas (Thank you! Long live the friendship between Japan and the Philippines)."

Also delivering their messages were National Economic and Development Authority Undersecretary Joseph Capuno, who was happy that seven scholars came from NEDA; Civil Service Commission Director Fernando Porio; JICA Philippines Chief Representative Sakamoto Takema; and Department of Foreign Affairs Deputy Assistant Secretary Leah Victoria Carada.

Representing his batch, Alvin Caezar Olanday delivered the appreciation remark.

He and three other scholars revealed that they submitted project proposals that concerned the government agency they work for. They were then shortlisted before getting notification that they were included in the 22nd batch of JDS. They also underwent Japanese language training.

The scholars will leave before the end of August.

Visit https://jds-scholarship.org/ for more information.

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Nijisanji Vtuber Naruse Naru Will Graduate in August

Anycolor announced that the Nijisanji Japan Vtuber Naruse Naru will graduate on August 31, 2024. He debuted in VOIZ back in June 2018, meaning he was with the company for over six years.

Here is the official Anycolor notice about Naruse Naru deciding to graduate. While he will depart from the company on August 31, 2024, fan letters will be accepted until September 30, 2024. Also, as is customary for a Nijisanji Vtuber graduation, we will see the social media account close once he does graduate and videos could be archived. 

【卒業のご報告】 この度、2024年8月31日をもちまして、当社所属ライバー「成瀬鳴」が卒業することをご報告いたします。 pic.twitter.com/0mH4krfczQ — にじさんじ公式🌈🕒 (@nijisanji_app) August 20, 2024

Naruse Naru also took to social media to talk about his decision to graduate from Nijisanji. In his statement, he noted that he will still be a part of Vsaikyo 2024. That is the yearly Vtuber Apex Legends tournament . Naru is part of the D.D. Dogs alongside Nijisanji’s Harusaki Air, Cover Holostars Vtuber Rikka, and FENNEL’s Miki “Pinotr” Tsurumaki. That is being held August 24, 2024. 

【大切なお知らせ】 このたび6年以上お世話になったにじさんじを8月いっぱいで卒業することにしました。 みんなになんて伝えればいいのかまだ自分の中で言葉がまとまってなくて、詳細はまた後日お話しさせてください。 とりあえず今はV最がんばるのでよろしくお願いします！ — 成瀬 鳴 (@narusenaru_2434) August 20, 2024

Most recently, Naru has been playing Apex Legends during streams. He was known for playing games primarily. However, he would also occasionally perform covers of songs as well.

Naruse Naru will graduate from Nijisanji on on August 31, 2024, and he will still be in Vsaikyo 2024.

Poet Amanda Gorman's new poem celebrates democracy and unity

By rebecca picciotto,cnbc • published 6 mins ago.

• Amanda Gorman, the first U.S. national youth poet laureate, recited a new poem at the Democratic National Convention.
• Her new work focused on themes of democracy and unity to support Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.
• In 2021, First Lady Jill Biden invited Gorman to recite a poem at President Joe Biden's inauguration, making her the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history.

Amanda Gorman , the first U.S. national youth poet laureate , put themes of democracy and unity at the fore of a new poem she debuted at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night.

"Divided we cannot endure, but united we can endeavor to humanize our democracy and endear democracy to humanity." Gorman, 26, recited at the United Center arena in Chicago

24/7 New York news stream: Watch NBC 4 free wherever you are

"It falls to us, to ensure that we do not fall. For a people that cannot stand together, cannot stand at all."

Gorman's work is titled "This Sacred Scene."

In 2021, the Harvard graduate burst onto the national stage when incoming First Lady Jill Biden invited her to deliver a reading at President Joe Biden 's inauguration.

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That memorable appearance made Gorman the youngest inaugural poet in American history.

U.S. & World

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Gorman's poem "The Hill We Climb," and its message of unity in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots resonated with millions of Americans.

Her books of poetry rocketed to the top spots on Amazon's bestseller lists, and overnight, Gorman became a literary celebrity.

Read a transcript of Gorman's 2024 DNC poem below.

We gather at this hollowed place because we believe in the American dream.

We face a race that tests if this country we cherish shall perish from the Earth, and if our earth shall perish from this country.

It falls to us to ensure that we do not fall for a people that cannot stand together, cannot stand at all.

We are one family, regardless of religion, class or color. For what defines a patriot is not just our love of liberty, but our love for one another.

This is loud in our country's call, because while we all love freedom, it is love that frees us all.

Empathy emancipates, making us greater than hate or vanity. That is the American promise, powerful and pure. Divided, we cannot endure but united, we can endeavor to humanize our democracy and endear democracy to humanity.

And make no mistake, cohering is the hardest task history ever wrote, but tomorrow is not written by our odds of hardship, but by the audacity of our hope, by the vitality of our vote.

Only now, approaching this rare air, are we aware that perhaps the American Dream is no dream at all, but instead a dare to dream together.

Like a million roots tethered, branching up humbly, making one tree, this is our country. From many, one; from battles won; our freedoms sung; our kingdom come has just begun.

We redeem this sacred scene. Ready for our journey. From it together, we must birth this early republic and achieve an unearthly summit. Let us not just believe in the American dream. Let us be worthy of it.