Module manager: Ayako Yoshino
Email: A.yoshino@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
Japanese Year Abroad (or equivalent)
EAST3265
This module is not approved as a discovery module
Please note this is an optional module and runs subject to enrolments. If a low number of students choose this module, then the module may not run and you may be asked to choose another module.
By the end of this module, students will:
- have gained significant knowledge of original Japanese texts dealing with intellectual history and cultural critique;
- have a high degree of competence in reading these texts;
- have a confident grasp of the broader socio-political and discursive contexts in which the texts emerged.
- close reading and translation;
- analysis and critique;
- sensitivity to the rhetorical strategies texts use in order to make their arguments.
The module will be run in student-led seminar-style classes. The selected readings, ranging from the 1890s to the present, will focus on the problems of cultural identity: how was "Japaneseness" imagined and constructed in a transnational age of capitalism and imperialism? How did Japanese intellectuals confront the implacable oppositions of the modern experience: between a past perceived as authentic and a superficial present; between individualism and belonging, politics and culture, local identifications and the national? Texts will include essays and articles by Natsume Sôseki, Tanizaki Jun'ichirô, Sakaguchi Ango, Kawabata Yasunari and others.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seminar | 20 | 1 | 20 |
| Private study hours | 180 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 20 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
90 hours preparation for classes
45 hours preparing critical essay
45 hours preparing for exam
Ongoing monitoring of comprehension, translation, and critical analysis in student-led seminars.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Essay | 3000 words | 50 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 50 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
| Exam type | Exam duration | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Standard exam (closed essays, MCQs etc) (S2) | 2.0 Hrs Mins | 50 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Exams) | 50 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 30/04/2025
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