Sound daunting?  Remember that you will be doing all this over the course of three months and that you will have lots of help along the way.  Students often find this material pretty difficult in the first month of class but pick up speed in reading in the second half of the class.  Students in the past felt proud of all they had accomplished by the end of the course.
 

Most days you can find me in my office, 305 New West. You are welcome to drop in anytime I'm free though it is best to make an appointment for longer consultations. I also will be in the classroon after the  seminar and would enjoy talking with you then, too, or just helping you read Japanese.

• You will gain experience in reading diverse sources in Japanese and in using dictionaries to help you do this.
• You will begin to develop your own philosophy about how to translate Japanese into English. 
• You will learn how to talk about literature and history in Japanese through our class discussions.
• You will continue to expand the number of kanji and grammar patterns that you can recognize.
• This course offers an excellent introduction to college-level research skills using Japanese. 
• I also encourage you to participate in the Japanese language lunch table.

• Our classroom is a "Japanese speaking zone."  If you need to use English at all, do so outside the classroom or at rare points in the class session designated as "English q & a."  We are fortunate to have a volunteer conversation coach:  Ms. Chiko Akiyama will be doing the readings and attending class to help lead discussion sessions.  She will speak with you only in Japanese.
  
• Be on time for class.  If there is any reason you need to leave the class early, inform the instructor.
• Turn off cell phones before you enter the classroom. Turn off your laptop before class begins.
  
• Japanese essays should be word-processed in Japanese.  All English written work must be typed.  All work must be handed in during class on the due date. Printing glitches, computer crashes occur--save time for the unexpected.
  
• No work should be turned in via email unless the instructor requests you to do so.
• When sending e-mail to the instructor, put your name in the subject line.  This helps ensure that your message will be read and answered promptly.
• Doing your homework together with a classmate or two is an efficient and effective way to study for this class. 

• Everyone is allowed one absence.  This covers illness, family emergency, and any other event that might unexpectedly come up, and any other personal time you need to take.  Please notify the instructor by phone or email if you cannot attend class. Unless there is a medical emergency, two or more absences will count against your grade.  I
  
• To get attendance credit, you must be present during the entire class meeting. 
• Every student must attend two campus events this semester related to Asian Studies,  These can include lectures, performances, and films.   Announcements about upcoming events can be made in class. Check fliers on campus, too. One of these event visits must be completed before Fall Break. A one-page summary of the first event and reaction to it, written in Japanese, should be handed at the first midterm; reaction to the second event at the second midterm.
  
• Three consecutive unexcused absences without any consultation with the instructor constitutes an automatic F in the course and would disqualify the student from further seminar attendance. Please let the instructor know if anything comes up in your personal life that makes your college work overwhelming.  There are lots of sources of help at UNC-CH and I can aid you in finding them.
• To get an "excellent" in participation means that you have prepared the day's reading assignment and listened to the Japanese tapes.  You should be able to read the Japanese assignment aloud at a natural speed (as in the tape).
  

• Tutorials take about one hour, comprise a small group of three or four students and the instructor, and are scheduled three times in the semester outside of the regularly scheduled class times.Your tutorials will be graded upon your active participation in the discussion and on the tutorial essay.
• Students generally like the tutorial format. It's useful to read novels in translation and history relevant to the time period we're talking about.  Speaking in English allows us to approach the topic in more depth.
• Each student writes a short essay in English (3 pages, double-spaced) on the reading we discuss. The essay topic is given out one week before the tutorial.

• Exams serve a useful purpose in pushing us to organize material. In the process of doing this, we develop new ideas about the topic.  You will be given study guidelines one week before each exam.
• These exams are entirely in Japanese and test such knowledge as kanji recoginition, historical and literary information that has been presented in class.  See schedule for dates.
  

• You will design your own research and translation project.  The resulting English paper should be about 15 pages of translation and analysis, with footnotes; kanji notes; and a copy of the Japanese original.
• You will choose one Japanese document (essay, short story, book chapter) or a series of newspaper articles or excerpts from articles to translate into English.  The document needs to have been published between 1905 and 1930.
• How will you find the topic?  One idea:  Look at the Japan Times in English on microfiche in Davis Library.  What looks like an interesting news story to pursue in Japanese?  Then, go to the East Collection at Duke Library and search for articles in Japanese newspapers related to the same story.  Another idea is to talk with Jan Bardsley about what topics you're interested in; we can discuss possible ways to look for short documents in Japanese that would fit that interest.  For example, let's say you're interested in the controversy in the early 1910s related to geisha dancing at the enthronement ceremonies of the Emperor Taisho. First, find essays in the Japan Times, look for others in a Japanese language newspaper such as the Asahi shinbun; in the process, you may find a book or story that looks intriguing and worth obtaining through inter-library loan.  You will work with Jan Bardsley to refine your topic and identify the document(s) you'll translate. We can choose the documents and topic in a way that matches your interests and your Japanese reading skills.
  
• We'll put abstracts (short summaries) of everyone's research on the class website.
  

• At the final exam, you'd each turn in a 5-page paper on "The Gender Trouble of Modernity." This paper would draw on characters in Some Prefer Nettles and also from two of the Kawabata stories. You could focus on the men's love lives, the aloof modern girls, the interest in the psychology of love--that'd be up to you. You'd quote from Nettles and would need to translate your quotes from the stories.
  
• FINAL EXAMINATION:  Friday, December 14th, 4:00pm.  To comply with University policy, final papers must only be turned in at this time and place