This course will give students all the skills they need to survive in Japan and to have a basic ability to read and learn Japanese in more advanced settings. Students will systematically develop their abilities in listening, speaking, writing, and reading. The fundamentals of the modern Japanese language in its daily-life context will be emphasized throughout. Because fluency in Japanese requires a sensitivity to the social settings in which you are speaking (i.e. the relative age of your interlocutor, the setting, etc.) this course will also provide an introduction to fundamental aspects of daily life and culture in contemporary Japan so as to give students basic "cultural skills" in speaking in Japanese to Japanese people.

This course is intended to give students a comprehensive introduction to Japan's history and culture from prehistorical times up to the 19^th century. Special attention will be given to social change, the historical development of political and economic institutions, and the relations between these developments and parallel ones in religion, philosophy, and the arts. Topics will include Japan's changing definition of itself vis-à-vis China, literature, gardens, the arts, Buddhism, and ceramics. Lectures will be supplemented with films and field-trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library, the Asia Society, and the Japan Society, to give students a sense of the rich cultural resources available to them for further study of Japanese culture and history.