2025-2026 Elective Courses

You’re used to the challenging academic standards and probing critical thinking that characterize a liberal arts education. And you’ll find that abroad with AKP. AKP mirrors its thirteen consortium institutions in disciplinary diversity and commitment to excellence among its courses. Thanks to the Visiting Faculty Fellows program, AKP recruits some of the finest professors from the consortium, allowing you to take classes that will foster a deeper understanding of Japan’s long and complex cultural history.

AKP students will take two elective courses per semester during the afternoons. The credit amount for each course will be equal to one standard semester-long course in the US.

In addition to the AKP elective courses listed below, AKP students may, if interested, take one of their two electives each semester by cross-registering for a course offered by the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies (KCJS), also housed at Doshisha University. Courses taken at KCJS will receive the same credit as AKP electives and will appear on your AKP grade report. Note that the ability to cross-register may be affected by class size limitations, time conflicts, or conflicts with class-related field trips. Enrollment in a desired course is not guaranteed.

For information about KCJS electives, see their elective course page. For more information about cross-registration, please contact the AKP US Office.

Fall 2025 (tentative)

AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
Professor Linus Yamane, Pitzer College, RD

This seminar, which is open to both AKP and Doshisha students, focuses on issues in comparative culture. The class format includes panel presentations, discussions, group projects, and a series of guest lectures by Japanese and foreign experts from the Kyoto area who will address various aspects of American and Japanese culture from a multi-disciplinary perspective.

Cross-Cultural Psychology in Japan
Professor Sharon Akimoto, Carleton College

How does culture shape what we do and how we think? What’s universal to all cultures and what’s specific to one or more cultures? This seminar will explore these questions by examining major theoretical and empirical work in the field of Cultural and Cross-Cultural Psychology, focusing primarily on Japan and the U.S. In addition to learning from scholarly texts, we are very fortunate to be able to observe psychology in action in our daily lives in Japan. Thus, a major component of this class will be to apply the scholarly literature and theoretical frameworks toward observations and interactions in the local context. The class will be conducted in an active discussion format, facilitated by in/out-of-class activities and exercises, field trips, and possible guest speakers.

Japanese Protest in the Global 1960s
Professor Matthew Swagler, Connecticut College

This course explores at the turbulent decades following Japan’s traumatic defeat in World War II, with a specific focus on the “New Left” protest movements that dramatically altered Japanese culture and politics in the 1960s and early 1970s. Direct American occupation after the war helped reshape Japan into a formally democratic, anti-Communist ally and industrial powerhouse. But while the Japanese economic “miracle” created a growing middle-class, it also created contradictions that gave rise to dissent among many segments of society. The course is mostly concerned with protest in Japan (and the Kansai region in particular), but examines the global context that gave rise to dozens of parallel movements around the world. Specifically, readings and primary sources address the concurrent rise of Japanese-American activism.

Kyoto and the Visual Arts of Japan
Professor Catherine Ludvik, Kyoto Sangyo University

This course takes students on an exploration of the magnificent visual arts of Japan, from the enigmatic excavated works of the prehistoric period, through the imposing Buddhist arts and breathtaking sliding screen paintings defining traditional architecture, to the vibrant contemporary art scene. Through a sweeping historical survey highlighting the forms and functions of representative artworks in their respective contexts, you will examine such issues as the relationship of Japanese art to Chinese and Korean art, patronage, the ritual and visual functions of Buddhist icons, the translation of concepts into artistic forms, as well as representational strategies and modes of viewing.

Spring 2026 (more courses to be added)

Japanese Economic History
Professor Linus Yamane, Pitzer College, RD

This course begins with economic conditions during the Tokugawa period, and the process of economic growth since the Meiji Restoration. It examines the high rates of growth in the post WWII period, along with the economic slowdown in the Heisei period. Participants will discuss the character of Japanese economic policy making as well as on the behavior of Japanese enterprises, financial institutions, labor force and households. Topics include macroeconomic growth, monetary and fiscal policies, international trade, industrial policy, labor markets, savings and investment. With the collapse of the Bubble economy, and the Lost Decades, the course will end with a discussion of Japan’s recent economic conditions.

Japanese Language, Gender, and Sexuality
Professor Hideko Abe, Colby College

The field of language, gender, and sexuality is one of the most interdisciplinary areas of study in sociolinguistics. This course explores ideas about gender and sexuality as they emerge through linguistic practice and embodied behavior. Drawing on the interdisciplinary pedigree to provide a wider perspective and range of tools for the study of gender, sexuality, and linguistic practice, this course examines: (1) how we evaluate issues of gender inequality in language (how linguistic presentations put a clue to the place of women and sexual minority groups); (2) how gender roles are played out in the structure of human interaction and society; (2) how we analyze various explanations for differentiated language use among people of diverse gender and sexuality; (3) how the normative ideology of language affects how we perform gender and sexuality; and (4) the historical development of gendered speech from Heian to Reiwa.

Religion, Tradition, and Temple-Tourism in Kyoto
Professor Catherine Ludvik, Kyoto Sangyo University

Filled with over two thousand temples and shrines, the ancient capital of Kyoto provides the ideal setting for the study of Japanese religions. Temples and shrines, however, are not only sites of faith, but locales where religion, tradition, culture, and tourism intersect. Against this vibrant and complex background accommodating diverse modes of religious practice and sightseeing, this course explores selected aspects of Shinto, Buddhism, and the New Religions of Japan in historical as well as contemporary context. We will examine present-day attitudes to religion, lived by many as inherited tradition, in conjunction with the enormous popularity of the city’s temples and shrines that function as promoters of cultural identity and World Heritage tourism.

Interested in our past offerings?

Thanks to AKP’s Visiting Faculty Fellows program, each AKP term is unique in terms of its electives. While it’s hard to predict what might be offered next, you can click on the button below to see what kind of faculty and specialities we’ve brought to AKP in the past!

Past elective courses