2009 Kentucky Institute for International Studies (KIIS) Japan Summer Program

The Kentucky Institute for International Studies (KIIS) offers a full-month study program in Japan including a full week Shinkansen bullet train trip to Tokyo, Hiroshima, and other cities in the summer of 2009. The program takes place between June 1st and July 1st at three locations: Tenri, Nara, and Kyoto. In Nara, students will stay with host families. Students can select from among six courses: JPN 110: Basic Conversational Japanese, JPN 210: Intermediate Conversational Japanese, PSY 302–70: Psychology of Film: Anime Archetypes, PSY 302–74: Psychology of Religion, RGS 200: Introduction to Comparative Religion, and RGS 350: Religion in Early Japan. Prior study of the Japanese language is not required except for Intermediate Conversational Japanese. In addition to the courses above, students experience traditional Japanese arts including calligraphy, a tea ceremony, and a flower arrangement. Students will also have a chance to visit educational institutions and participate in a cultural exchange with Japanese students. The cost of the program is $3,250 (without airfare), which includes most ground transportation, most excursions and field trips in Japan, and room and most meals. The application fee is $150. KIIS is a consortium of 21 institutions with 33 years of experience in study abroad programs. Participants from non-consortium-member schools must add $300 to the program cost.

More information and application materials: KIIS, Murray State University, PO Box 9, Murray, Kentucky, 42071. www.kiis.org. 270–809–3091. Specific questions about the academic portion of the program may be directed to Ms. Yoko Hatakeyama, KIIS Japan Program Director, 270–809–3419 or yoko.hatakeyama@murraystate.edu.

HIF 24th Annual Summer Intensive Japanese Language Program with Homestay

Hokkaido International Foundation (HIF) is offering an eight-week intensive and proficiency-oriented program combined with homestay from June 11–August 7, 2009. In addition to the language program, students have the opportunity to study and practice traditional Japanese arts: calligraphy, tea ceremony, flower arrangement, kimono culture and etiquette, go, pottery making, etc. This program consists of six levels of small-sized classes (Intermediate to High-Advanced) that enable participants to enhance their communicative skills in all aspects of Japanese.

HIF welcomes applications from college students and professionals from all over the world. Program cost: $4,400 including tuition, teaching materials and homestay fee. Application deadline: February 18, 2009 (postmarked) Contact: Hokkaido International Foundation, 14–1, Motomachi, Hakodate, Hokkaido 040–0054 Japan. Tel.: 81–138–22–0770 Fax: 81–138–22–0660. jj@hif.or.jp. www.hif.or.jp/en.

New KCJS Summer Program in Advanced and Classical Japanese

The Kyoto Consortium of Japanese Studies (KCJS) is pleased to announce its new Summer Program in Advanced and Classical Japanese. This six-week program offers intensive training in advanced and classical Japanese for highly motivated undergraduate and graduate students who have completed three years of college-level Japanese or the equivalent. Students enroll in one of two courses: Advanced Japanese or Introduction to Classical Japanese. Eight points of credit are awarded on a Columbia University transcript upon completion of the course. Language instruction will be provided by the regular faculty of KCJS, which is now in its 20th year as a highly successful junior-year-abroad program in Kyoto, and by visiting faculty from member schools of the KCJS consortium. For the summer of 2009, Introduction to Classical Japanese will be taught by Professor Jamie Newhard of Washington University in St. Louis. Classes will be small, with five to seven students in each of the three sections of modern Japanese and an anticipated 10 to 15 in classical Japanese. Field trips, guest lectures, and other activities that utilize Kyoto's rich cultural resources complement classroom instruction. In 2009, the program will begin on June 1 and end on July 14 (just prior to the Gion Festival). The program fee is $3,750, and limited financial support is available from KCJS; the program should also be eligible for Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) summer language support for graduate students. The application deadline is March 1, 2009. Further details: http://kcjssummer.columbia.edu.

Summer MA Program in Japanese Pedagogy at Columbia University

The Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at Columbia University invites applications for the 2009 summer M.A. program in Japanese Pedagogy, from June 1 (Monday) to July 31 (Friday). The following courses will be offered: Intermediate/Advanced Japanese Pedagogy (6/1–6/19), Professor Seiichi Makino and Dr. Tomoko Shibata of Princeton University; Pragmatics (6/22–7/3), Professor Mutsuko Endo Hudson of Michigan State University; History of Japanese Language (7/6–7/17), Professor Peter Hendriks of Australian National University; Second Language Acquisition Theory (7/20–7/31), Professor Yoshiko Mori of Georgetown University.

Degree candidates may fulfill the requirements for the M.A. degree in three consecutive summers or in any three summers within a period of six years by taking 11 courses and writing an M.A. thesis with a focus on a particular area of Japanese Pedagogy. During these three summers, students take courses for six weeks in one summer and nine weeks during the other two summers. We also accept applications for the Intermediate/Advanced Japanese Pedagogy course by non-degree candidates with years of experience teaching Japanese at the college level. More information: www.columbia.edu/cu/ealac/japanese/pedagogy.html.

Unless you have highly unusual circumstances affecting your application, please apply for the program online: https://app.applyyourself.com/?id=COL-GAS. Application deadline is February 15, 2009. Contact Shigeru Eguchi, Administrative Director of the Summer M.A. Program in Japanese Pedagogy, Dept. of East Asian Languages and Cultures (EALAC), 407 Kent Hall, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027. Tel.: 212–854–3523. Fax: 212–678–8629. Successful applicants will be notified of their admission by the middle of March. On-campus housing is available during the summer.

Waka Workshop 2009 at Yale University

The Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures and the Council on East Asian Studies at Yale University will host the next "Waka Workshop" (fourth in the series started at the University of British Columbia and continued last year at Columbia University) on March 6th and 7th, 2009. Readings and discussions at the 2009 workshop will focus on selected texts featuring meisho of the Omi region, from the Daijoe waka of the mid-Heian period to 16th c. texts related to the configuration of the "Omi hakkei" (Eight Views of Omi) topos. All readings will involve a consideration of the interaction between waka and the visual arts, and there will be an opportunity to view a late 17th c. "Omi hakkei" handscroll by Yamamoto Soken held by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscripts Library, as well as related works found in other Yale collections. More details concerning readings, speakers, and guest scholars from Japan will be announced in the near future, and a web site devoted to the workshop will be launched shortly. The co-organizers of the workshop are Edward Kamens (Yale University) and Christian Ratcliff (Kanagawa University). Further information: waka.eall@yale.edu.