Elective Course History

AKP mirrors the academic standards and emphasis on a sound liberal arts education that remain the hallmark of our thirteen consortium institutions.

For a taste of what you can learn as a student on AKP, take a look at some of the English-language elective courses that AKP has offered over the years.

Resident Director: James Orr

Chair: Peter Flueckiger

 

Fall Semester 2022

  1. James Orr (RD Bucknell) and Taro Futamura (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Sharon Akimoto (VFF Carleton): Cross-Cultural Psychology in Japan
  3. David Flath (Ritsumeikan University): Japanese Economy
  4. Marc Los Huertos (VFF Pomona): Environmental Science, Policy, and Culture
  5. Catherine Ludvik (Kyoto Sangyo University): Kyoto and the Visual Arts of Japan

Spring Semester 2023

  1. James Orr (RD Bucknell): Lens on Postwar Japan: Culture and Community
  2. Catherine Ludvik (Kyoto Sangyo University): Religion, Tradition and Temple-Tourism in Kyoto
  3. Naoko Nemoto (VFF Mount Holyoke): The Japanese Language: Its Past, Present and Future
  4.  Ann Sherif (VFF Oberlin): Living with the Bomb: A Comparative Study of Gender, Race and Nationalism in Japan and the United States, 1945-Present

Resident Director: Elizabeth Armstrong

Chair: Peter Flueckiger

 

Fall Semester 2019

  1. Elizabeth Armstrong (RD Bucknell) and Taro Futamura (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Erik Lofgren (VFF Bucknell): Desire in Japanese Cinema
  3. Catherine Ludvik (Kyoto Sangyo University): Kyoto and the Visual Arts of Japan
  4. Mizuki Takahashi (VFF Bucknell): Environmental and Conservation Issues in Japan

Spring Semester 2020

  1. Elizabeth Armstrong (RD Bucknell): Japanese/English Translation
  2. Shizuka Hsieh (VFF Trinity Washington University): Pollution and Waste in Japan: Chemistry and Society
  3. Erik Lofgren (Bucknell): Desire in Japanese Cinema
  4. Catherine Ludvik (Kyoto Sangyo University): Religion, Tradition and Temple-Tourism in Kyoto
  5. Linus Yamane (VFF Pitzer): Japanese Economy

Resident Director: Elizabeth Armstrong

Chair: Peter Flueckiger

 

Fall Semester 2018

  1. Elizabeth Armstrong (RD Bucknell) and Taro Futamura (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Catherine Ludvik (Kyoto Sangyo University): Kyoto and the Visual Arts of Japan
  3. Chie Sakakibara (VFF Oberlin): Nature, Culture, Interpretation: Kyoto and Japanese Environmentalism
  4. Noboru Tomonari (VFF Carleton): World of Japanese Manga in Translation

Spring Semester 2019

  1. Elizabeth Armstrong (RD Bucknell): Japanese/English Translation
  2. David Flath (Ritsumeikan University): Japanese Economy
  3. Eric Faden (VFF Bucknell): Transmedia Storytelling in Japanese Cinema
  4. Kimberly Besio (VFF Colby): Nature in Chinese and Japanese Literature & Culture

Resident Director: Maki Hubbard

Chair: Erik Lofgren

 

Fall Semester 2017

  1. Maki Hubbard (RD Smith) and Susan Pavloska (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Jamie Hubbard (VFF Smith): Sites and Sights: A Pilgrim’s History of Buddhist Kyoto
  3. Jill Grigsby (VFF Pomona): Changing Japanese Families
  4. David Flath (Ritsumeikan University): Japanese Economy

Spring Semester 2018

  1. Maki Hubbard (RD Smith): Language in Globalizing Japan
  2. Catherine Ludvik (Kyoto Sangyo University): Kyoto and the Visual Arts of Japan
  3. Charo D’Etcheverry (VFF University of Wisconsin-Madison): Genji’s Guide to Kyoto: Emotion, Environment, and the Shining Prince
  4.  James Orr (VFF Bucknell): Phoenix out of the Ashes: Contemporary Japanese History

Resident Director: Maki Hubbard

Chair: Erik Lofgren

 

Fall Semester 2016

  1. Maki Hubbard (RD Smith) and Susan Pavloska (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Terry MacDougall (Stanford University): Minorities and Immigrants in Contemporary Japan
  3. Samuel Morse (VFF Amherst): The Tea Ceremony and Japanese Culture
  4. Emer O’Dwyer (VFF Oberlin): Kyoto as Source: Japan’s Premodern and Early Modern Experience

Spring Semester 2017

  1. Eric Faden (VFF Bucknell): Japanese Cinema
  2. Peter Flueckiger (VFF Pomona): Introduction to Classical Japanese
  3. Linus Yamane (VFF Pitzer): Japanese Economy
  4.  Maki Hubbard (RD Smith): Language in Globalizing Japan

Resident Director: Thomas Rohlich

Chair: Erik Lofgren

 

Fall Semester 2015

  1. Thomas Rohlich (RD Smith) and Susan Pavloska (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. John Einarsen (Photographer): Elements of Photography in Kyoto
  3. Catherine Ludvik (Kyoto Sangyo University): Kyoto and the Visual Arts of Japan
  4. Miri Nakamura (VFF Wesleyan): Screening Japanese Modernity: Focus on Kyoto
  5. Mizuki Takahashi (VFF Bucknell): Environmental and Conservation Issues in Japan

Spring Semester 2016

  1. Catherine Ludvik (Kyoto Sangyo University): Religion, Tradition, and Temple Tourism in Kyoto
  2. Thomas Rohlich (RD Smith): Kyoto Through the Ages: A Cultural History Then and Now
  3.  Kathryn Sparling (VFF Carleton): Mothers/Daughters; Fathers/Sons: Generational Change in Modern Japanese Literature
  4. Kasumi Yamamoto (VFF Williams): Japanese Language and Its Linguistic Analysis

Resident Director: Suzanne Gay

Chair: Erik Lofgren

 

Fall Semester 2014

  1. James Dobbins (VFF Oberlin): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Suzanne Gay (RD Oberlin): Kyoto Past and Present: Community, Conflict, Commitment
  3. Catherine Ludvik (Kyoto Sangyo University): Japanese Religion
  4. Chester Michalik (VFF Smith): Kyoto: A Photographic Profile

Spring Semester 2015

  1. Thomas Rohlich (VFF Smith): Literature, Space, and Place in Kyoto
  2. Zhiqun Zhu (VFF Bucknell): International Relations of Japan
  3. J. Kim-Wachutka (Ritsumeikan University): Marginality, Ethnicity, and Gender in Contemporary Japan
  4. Catherine Ludvik (Kyoto Sangyo University): Kyoto and the Visual Arts of Japan

Resident Director: Nobuo Ogawa

Chair: Akira Takemoto

 

Fall Semester 2013

  1. Nobuo Ogawa (RD Middlebury) and Susan Pavloska (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Catherine Ludvik (Kyoto Sangyo University): Japanese Religion
  3. Monica Bethe (Otani University): Japanese Theater, Noh and Kyogen
  4. Tamae Prindle (VFF Colby): Tradition and Innovation in Japanese Anime

Spring Semester 2014

  1. Kimberly Kono (VFF Smith): At Home and Away: Japan and Travel
  2. Masahiro Hosoya (Doshisha): Postwar History of Japan-US Relations
  3. Catherine Ludvik (Kyoto Sangyo University): Japanese Buddhist Art
  4. Shizuka Hsieh (VFF Smith): Industrial Pollution and Waste in Japan

 

Resident Directors: Erik Lofgren/Terry MacDougall

Chair: Akira Takemoto

 

Fall Semester 2012

  1. Erik Lofgren (Fall Semester RD Bucknell) and Susan Pavloska (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Neil Waters, (Ray A. Moore VFF Middlebury): The History of Pre-Modern Japan
  3. Nancy Campbell (VFF Mount Holyoke): Visual Investigations: Kyoto
  4. Catherine Ludvik (Kyoto Sangyo University): Japanese Religion

Spring Semester 2013

  1. Terry MacDougall (Robert Wood Memorial VFF/ Spring Semester RD Stanford University): Minorities and Immigrants in Contemporary Japan
  2. Naoko Nemoto (Bardwell Smith VFF Mount Holyoke):  Comparative Linguistics Studies in English and Japanese
  3. Sayumi Harb (VFF Connecticut): Word and Image in Japanese Poetry
  4. Thomas O’Connor (Williams): Kyoto Performances

Resident Director: Shinko Kagaya

Chair: Akira Takemoto

 

Fall Semester 2011

  1. Shinko Kagaya (RD Williams) and Susan Pavloska (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Sharon Goto (Robert Wood Memorial VFF Pomona): Lenses of Culture: A Comparative Analysis of Japanese Cognitions, Values, and Behaviors
  3. Keiko Hara (VFF Whitman): Exploring Japanese Cultural Icons and Symbols Through the Art-Making Process
  4. Shizuka Hsieh (VFF Smith): Industrial Pollution in Japan: Chemistry and Society
  5. Thomas O’Connor (Williams): Contemporary Performance in Kansai

Spring Semester 2012

  1. Chester Michalik (Ray A. Moore VFF Smith): Kyoto: A Photographic Profile
  2. Terry Kawashima (Bardwell Smith VFF Wesleyan): The ‘Classics’ Reconsidered: The Politics of Premodern Japanese Literature
  3. Terry MacDougall (Stanford University): Minorities and Immigrants in Contemporary Japan
  4. Catherine Ludvik (Kyoto Sangyo University): Japanese Religion

Resident Director: Maki Hubbard

Chair: Akira Takemoto

 

Fall Semester 2010

  1. Maki Hubbard (RD Smith) and Susan Pavloska (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Mary Beth Mills (Robert Wood Memorial VFF Colby): Anthropology of Modernity: Japan in Regional Perspective
  3. Jamie Hubbard (Ray A. Moore VFF Smith): Sites and Sights: A Pilgrim’s History of Buddhist Kyoto
  4. Noboru Tomonari (VFF Carleton): The Other in Postwar Japanese Cinema
  5. Catherine Ludvik (Kyoto Sangyo University): Kyoto and the Visual Arts of Japan

Spring Semester 2011

  1. Suzanne Gay (Bardwell Smith VFF Oberlin): History of Kyoto: Community and Culture
  2. Paolo Zamperini (VFF Amherst): Fashion Practices in East Asia
  3. Christopher Bolton (VFF Williams): The Masks of Japanese Fiction
  4. Walter Edwards (Tenri University): Japanese Antiquity and Its Political Uses in the Modern Era
  5. Terry MacDougall (Stanford University): Minorities and Immigrants in Contemporary Japan

Resident Director: Nobuo Ogawa

Chair: James Dobbins

 

Fall Semester 2009

  1. Kathryn Sparling (Robert Wood Memorial VFF Carleton) and Susan Pavloska (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Nobuo Ogawa (RD Middlebury): Japanese Language and Popular Media
  3. Ann Sherif (Bardwell Smith VFF Oberlin): Living with the Bomb: Culture in the Nuclear Age
  4. James Mark Shields (VFF Bucknell): Shinto: The Way of the Japanese Kami
  5. David Boggett (Seika University): The History of Kyoto
  6. Catherine Ludvik (Kyoto Sangyo University): Japanese Buddhist Art

Spring Semester 2010

  1. Wako Tawa (Ray A. Moore VFF Amherst): Language and People
  2. Janet Goff (VFF University of Michigan): Classical Japanese Theater
  3. Jill Grigsby (VFF Pomona): Japanese Families in a Globalizing World
  4. Bettina Langner-Teramoto (Architect): Kyoto and the History of Its Housing: Japanese Lifestyles Through its Domestic Architecture
  5. Terry MacDougall (Stanford University): Minorities and Immigrants in Contemporary Japan

 

Resident Director: Erik Lofgren

Chair: James Dobbins

 

Fall Semester 2008

  1. Erik Lofgren (RD Bucknell) and Masami Izumi (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Nobuo Ogawa (Robert Wood Memorial VFF Middlebury): Japanese Language in Popular Media
  3. Carole Cavanaugh (VFF Middlebury): Japanese Animation
  4. David Slawson (VFF Indiana University): Japanese Landscape Gardens: Sources in the Natural World and Human Nature
  5. David Boggett (Seika University): The History of Kyoto
  6. Shigeyuki Abe (Doshisha): Japanese Economics

Spring Semester 2009

  1. Erik Lofgren (RD Bucknell): Desire in Japanese Cinema
  2. Robert Askins  (Ray A. Moore VFF Connecticut): Conservation and Ecology in Japan
  3. Sarah Strong (Bardwell Smith VFF Bates): Nature and Place in Pre-Modern Japanese Literature: Kansai Paradigms
  4. Elizabeth Armstrong (Bucknell): Translation: Theory and Practice
  5. Terry MacDougall (Stanford University): Minorities and Immigrants in Contemporary Japan
  6. Catherine Ludvik (Kobe University): Japanese Religion

Resident Director: Thomas Rohlich

Chair: James Dobbins

 

Fall Semester 2007

  1. Thomas Rohlich (RD Smith) and Masumi Izumi (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Joel Upton (Ray A. Moore VFF Amherst): Ai-no-Ma: Constructing Space in Japan
  3. Kathryn Sparling (Robert Wood Memorial VFF Carleton): Kansai Fictions
  4. Shinko Kagaya (Bardwell Smith VFF Williams): Premodern Japanese Literature and Performance: Focus on Kansai
  5. Stephen Vlastos (VFF University of Iowa): Japan-US Relations
  6. David Boggett (Kyoto Scholar): History of Kyoto

Spring Semester 2008

  1. Chester Michalik (VFF Smith): Kyoto: A Photographic Profile
  2. Barbara Hofer (VFF Middlebury): Cultural Psychology: Japan and the US
  3. Thomas Rohlich(RD Smith): The Literature of Space and Place in The Tale of Genji
  4. Walter Edwards (Tenri University): Japanese Antiquity and Its Political Uses in the Modern Era
  5. Terry MacDougall (Stanford University): Minorities and Immigrants in Contemporary Japan
  6. Bettina Langner-Teramoto (Architect): Kyoto and the History of Its Housing: Japanese Lifestyles Through Its Domestic Architecture

Resident Director: Tamae Prindle

Chair: Thomas Rohlich

 

Fall Semester 2006

  1. Tamae Prindle (RD Colby) and Masumi Izumi (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Erik Lofgren (Bardwell Smith VFF Bucknell): Desire in Japanese Cinema
  3. Michael Flynn (Robert Wood Memorial VFF Carleton): The Linguistics of the Japanese Writing System
  4. Walter Edwards (Tenri University): Japanese Antiquity and Its Political Uses in the Modern Era
  5. David Boggett (Kyoto Scholar): History of Kyoto

Spring Semester 2007

  1. Tamae Prindle (RD Colby): Masterpieces of 20th-Century Japanese Fiction
  2. Jonathan Lipman (Ray A. Moore VFF Mount Holyoke): The Meiji Revolution
  3. Jacques Hymans (VFF Smith): Perspectives on War
  4. Cynthea Bogel (University of Washington): Temples, Icons, and Buddhist Visual Culture in Ancient Japan
  5. Terry MacDougall (Stanford University): Immigration, Citizenship, Identity in Japan

 

Resident Director: Naoko Nemoto

Chair: Thomas Rohlich

 

Fall Semester 2005

  1. Naoko Nemoto (RD Mount Holyoke) and Masumi Izumi (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Neil Waters (Bardwell Smith VFF Middlebury): Pre-Modern History of Japan
  3. Peter Schumer (Robert Wood Memorial VFF Middlebury): The Game of Go
  4. Abraham Ravett (VFF Hampshire College): Japanese Cinema
  5. Sharon Yamamoto (Kyoto Scholar): Introduction to Visual Culture at Buddhist Temples

Spring Semester 2006

  1. Sussana Fessler (Ray A. Moore VFF State University of New York at Albany): Landscape and Literature in Japan
  2. Naoko Nemoto (RD Mount Holyoke): The Structure of Japanese Language: “Missing” Elements in Japanese Grammar
  3. Terry MacDougall (Stanford University): Minorities and Immigrants in Contemporary Japan
  4. James Baxter (Kyoto Scholar): Japan and Its People in Modern Times
  5. Thomas Schalow (Kyoto Scholar): Japanese Economic History

Resident Director: Kathryn Sparling

Chair: Thomas Rohlich

 

Fall Semester 2004

  1. Kathryn Sparling (RD Carleton) and Susan Pavloska (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Leonard V. Smith (Ray A. Moore VFF Oberlin):  World War II in Asia: 1931-1945
  3. Terry Kawashima (VFF Wesleyan):  Kansai in Performing Arts and Film
  4. David Boggett (Kyoto Scholar): History of Kyoto
  5. Yasuo Sakakibara (Doshisha): Introduction of the Japanese Economy

Spring Semester 2005

  1. Kathryn Sparling (RD Carleton): Kansai Fiction(s)
  2. Cynthia Atherton (Robert Wood Memorial VFF Middlebury): Journey of the Three Jewels: Buddhist Arts in Japan
  3. Beverly Nagel (Bardwell Smith VFF Carleton): Immigration and Ethnicity in Japan
  4. Naoko Nemoto (VFF Mount Holyoke): The Structure of the Japanese Language
  5. Aaron Isgar (Kyoto University): Environmental Issues in Japan

Resident Director: Maki Hubbard

Chair: Thomas Rohlich

 

Fall Semester 2003

  1. Maki Hubbard (RD Smith) and Susan Pavloska (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Jonathan Best (Robert Wood Memorial VFF Wesleyan): Temples of Traditional Japan: Visual Dimensions of the Religious Past
  3. Sarah Strong (Bardwell Smith VFF Bates): Nature and Place in Kansai Literature
  4. Peter Mauch (Kyoto University): The Twentieth Century and the Japanese Experience

Spring Semester 2004

  1. Maki Hubbard (RD Smith): Japanese Language and Culture
  2. Kenji Shinohara (VFF Wesleyan): The Art of Sumi-e
  3. James Hubbard (VFF Smith): Japanese Buddhism in the Contemporary World
  4. Yumiko Yamamoto (University of Utah): Postwar Japanese Economy
  5. Aaron Isgar (Kyoto University): Environmental Issues in Japan

 

Resident Director: Nobuo Ogawa

Chair: Akira Takemoto

 

Fall Semester 2002

  1. Nobuo Ogawa (RD Middlebury) and Susan Pavloska (Doshisha): AKP-Doshisha Joint Seminar
  2. Barbara K. Hofer (Middlebury): Culture and Cognition: A Psychological Exploration of Mind and Culture.
  3. T. James Kodera (Bardwell Smith VFF Wellesley): Issues in Japanese Religion.
  4. Bettina Langner-Teramoto (Kyoto Scholar): Kyoto: Urban History, Architecture, and Living Culture.

Spring Semester 2003

  1. Thomas Rohlich (Robert Wood Memorial VFF Smith): The Literature of Space and Place in The Tale of Genji.
  2. Nobuo Ogawa (RD Middlebury): The Japanese Language
  3. Aaron Isgar (Kyoto University): Japan and the Environment: Interactions Between Nature and Culture.
  4. Yumiko Yamamoto (University of Utah): Postwar Japanese Economy.