Welcome to a course on

Japanese Politics through the lens of a Developmental

Perspective

. Over the course of 5 weeks

of this Summer course

,

we will make a foundational

review of Japan’s political system, it’s political parties, and their role and function in governance

and the formation of public policy. In turn, we will also learn how Japan’s public policy has

guided i

mportant topics in Japanese politics and history across economic and social issues.

Through readings and research you will learn how these different issues interact and intersect,

how politics manifest in Japanese society, and vice

–

versa.

Objectives

1)

Lea

rn the essentials of contemporary Japan’s political party system.

2)

Understand the pathways between political party’s and politics, through to public policy

across a range of issues including economic development, energy policy and gender.

3)

Facilitate discu

ssion in a small

–

classroom format. Lecture is important, but

especially

as a

means to establish familiarity with a topic for

students to analyze. Questions will be

provided to students to contemplate and prepare for discussion, but the class is paced to

al

low for questions and discussions at any point during the lecture.

4)

Produce an original piece of research that examines a topic related to the course but

outside of the main lecture topics.

5)

Use critical thinking and interpretation to produce original argu

ments and opinion on

topics covered in the course. The purpose of this class is

not

to simply memorize names,

dates, facts and figures. While we do wish to acquire knowledge, the most significant part

of this class is using lectures and readings in the ser

vice of creative thinking and

argumentation.