Academics – Overview

UNC, Duke, and NCSU offer comprehensive Japanese language programs, with beginner to advanced level courses. Each program provides a strong foundation in the spoken and written language through lecture and conversation classes. Advanced students study literary and cultural topics in Japanese. In addition to each semester’s regularly scheduled courses, special offerings are are occasionally available, such as Classical Japanese, taught at Duke in fall 2011 by Professor John Tucker, director of the Asian Studies Program at East Carolina University.

Students can earn degrees and minors in Japanese language at all three universities. An Asian and Middle Eastern Studies , AMES, major with a concentration in Japanese, and a minor in Japanese, are available at Duke. Similarly, at UNC students can major in Asian Studies with a concentration in Japanese or earn a minor in the language. NCSU offers a minor in Japanese.

Opportunities to improve Japanese language skills through study abroad in Japan are also available through sponsored and approved summer and academic year programs at Duke, UNC, and NCSU.

In addition to Elementary and Intermediate Japanese, the following Advanced Japanese courses are offered:

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

JAPN 305: Advanced Japanese
JAPN 306: Topics in Japanese Society and Culture
JAPN 408: Japanese Journalism
JAPN 409: Japanese Modernism
JAPN 410: Topics in Contemporary Japanese Literature
JAPN 411: Food and Culture in Japan
JAPN 412: Making Music in Japan
JAPN 420: Reading Japanese History
JAPN 490: Topics in Japanese Language and Literature
JAPN 519: Structure of Modern Japanese Language
JAPN 590: Advanced Topics in Japanese Language and Literature

Duke University

JPN 305: Advanced Japanese
JPN 306: Advanced Japanese II
JPN 391: Independent Study in Japanese
JPN 407S Issues in Japanese Language and Society I
JPN 408: Issues in Japanese Language and Society II
JPN 471S: Classical Japanese

North Carolina State University

FLJ 342: Classical Japanese Literature in Translation
FLJ 344: Early Modern Japanese Literature in Translation
FLJ 345: Modern Japanese Literature in Translation
FLJ 351: Contemporary Culture in Japan
FLJ 401: Advanced Japanese I
FLJ 402: Advanced Japanese II