April 9, 1999

Dear New and Continuing Exchange Students:

Until recently, my "Seminar II" course was always taught as an "intensive course" (two meetings per week for one semester) in the fall. Beginning this year, however, I will teach it as a full-year course (one meeting per week from April 1999 to January 2000). As the fundamental character of the course will not change, the letter shown below should give you a fairly good idea of what to expect. Only the following points will differ:

  • Japanese students will all enroll in April 1999 and not receive credit until completion of the course in January 2000 but the exchange students may participate for either one or two semesters. I have been told that the International Office will see to it that you receive appropriate credit for your participation.

  • None of the readings assigned last year will be assigned during the Spring semester because I expect that some (I hope all) of those who participated last year will join the seminar again this year. I will do my best to make sure that the content this year is new and interesting to all participants. I will choose a current events issue to get things started but will ask participants to choose subsequent topics.

  • Last year I was very encouraged by the positive response to a formal debate we held. Also, I thought that discussions that resulted from questions posed by students (as opposed to those that I had constructed) were particularly productive. I plan to do more of these kinds of activities this year.

  • My letter does not mention an outing but I will plan at least one daytrip. This should make it easier for the participants to get to know each other while seeing some of Kumamoto's outstanding natural settings.
Best wishes,

Kirk Masden


September 21, 1998

Dear Newly Arrived Students:

Welcome to Japan!

I'm writing to invite you to participate in a seminar that I teach to second year students in the Department of International Economics. The course is listed as "Seminar II" in the course catalogue but as that title is not very descriptive it might be better to call it "Readings in Japanese Culture and Society."

The primary purpose of the course as I see it is to provide a venue for Japanese and non-Japanese students to discuss issues related to Japan. To facilitate these discussions, I provide photocopies of materials on selected topics. Participants in the seminar read the materials and come to class prepared to discuss them.

Language is a significant problem. I am aware that the language skills of most of the newly arrived foreign students are not sufficient to discuss difficult ideas in Japanese. Similarly, most of the Japanese students, though they have been studying English for many years, have difficulty participating in sophisticated discussions conducted in English. Accordingly, I do what I can to help bridge the language gap. First, all of the materials that we will read are available in both English and Japanese so all participants should be able to read the assigned materials with equal ease. Second, I sometimes act as interpreter/translator in class. Third, I prepare bilingual handouts to stimulate and/or guide discussions. Fourth, I frequently break the class down into small groups so that participants can take the time needed to try to struggle over language barriers on their own.

I view language in the course as a means to mutual understanding, not as an end in itself. Accordingly, I do not really care whether students speak Japanese or English, as long as they are able to communicate successfully. Generally speaking, however, I think it is a good idea for all participants to try to use the language of the person with whom they are speaking. In this sense, I encourage Japanese students to use English and non-Japanese students to try to use Japanese.

As the course progresses, I choose materials to read based on the interests and desires of the participants. In the beginning, however, I will set the agenda myself. I will begin with a unit on World War II. We will read essays and parts of books that deal with the American use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, atrocities committed by the Japanese in Asia, and the issue of apologizing for acts committed during the war. I have various ideas for subsequent units that I will discuss in class with participants.

It is possible to get university credit for this class. Kisada-san (Tomoko) can give you the details about that. I will grade on the basis of daily homework assignments and class participation.

I hope to see you in class.

Yours truly,

Kirk Masden

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