The Graduate School of Arts and Letters offers nine majors: Japanese literature, English literature, French literature, German literature, drama and theatre arts, Literary Arts and Media, history, geography and clinical anthropology. The history major is further divided into four specialized courses: Japanese history, Asian history, European history and archaeology, while the clinical anthropology major is divided into clinical psychology and clinical sociology courses. Each major and course is designed to give students a multifarious education in the basic science of humanities and, at the same time, contribute to the resolution of the universal problems facing mankind in modern society. It is our aim to produce outstanding graduates who can balance deep sensibilities and sharp rationality, nobleness of spirit and a scientific awareness of time and space. More specifically, the goal of the Master’s Degree Program is to develop students into becoming a member of society with specialist knowledge in their field, while that of the Doctorate Program is to develop students into highly specialized researchers.
Students majoring in Japanese literature study the full spectrum of Japan’s literature from classics to modern works from a diverse perspective so as to achieve a uniform comprehension of the body as a whole. While based on conventional literature research and text review methods, this major looks to foster a wide-ranging interest in history and thereby encourages students to pioneer new fields of research in order to further unlock the secrets regarding the relationship between literature and society. Through these activities, we hope to turn our students into expert researchers and educators in the field of Japanese literature, and to provide them with a broad general education with a strong emphasis on Japanese culture.
The Master’s Degree Program in English literature is comprised of four specialized courses: English literature, American literature, English language and English education. The English literature, American literature and English language courses are designed to provide students with specialized knowledge in their field to move on to doctoral studies and a rewarding career in research. Also, the aim of the English education course is to produce teachers of English with highly specialized skills for Japan’s junior and senior schools.
Similarly, the Doctorate Program is divided into three specialized courses: English literature, American literature and English language. Here, students strive to leverage the knowledge acquired over the course of their master’s degree studies to pursue more specialized research, earn their doctorates and carve out careers as skilled, independent-minded researchers.
The French major is characterized by a solid grounding in two areas: Greco-Roman tradition on the one hand, Judeo-Christian tradition on the other. Students use this steadfast base as a launch pad for consistent innovation and creation in a range of fields with the aim of becoming men and women of research, culture and of society with a wealth of skills. These include a broad-based knowledge of French culture, philosophy and literature from the French-speaking world, which covers some fifty countries in Europe and around the world, as well as a high degree of skill in practical French and a compassionate yet bold sense of internationalism.
The aim of the German literature major is to produce graduates with the wherewithal to make a real contribution to Japanese-German relations by deepening students’ understanding of German culture and society through a research regime that examines German literature from a far-reaching perspective, incorporating historical context and modern actuality.
To this end, we strive to raise students’ German abilities to the stage where they can participate in academic debate in that language and, at the same time, pursue a general education that affords students an extensive knowledge of their Japanese culture so that they can speak in depth about their country in German.
The Master’s Degree Program in drama and theater arts seeks to develop students into expert researchers, and to allow students to pursue careers as playwrights, directors, translators of historical and theoretical works on play and drama, and theatrical producers. We also offer a Doctorate Program, in which students strive to earn doctoral degrees and move on to careers as researchers in the brilliant field of drama.
The Literary Arts and Media Program positions literary art in the media environment and, with a firm awareness of what media is, undertakes literary art studies and media studies from the viewpoint of "media as literary art" and "literary art as media." We aim to produce graduates who have in-depth academic knowledge of literary art and intellectual insights into the interactive relationship between the literary texts and their media environment.
The history major is divided into four specialized courses: Japanese history, Asian history, European history and archaeology. Studies are positivist, with a solid foundation of analysis of historical materials, and practical, with a strong emphasis on the fields that have given rise to historical subjects.
The MA in history has a long tradition of interdisciplinary and international research. Indeed, in recent years, the course has sought successfully to leverage the qualities of the Graduate School of Arts and Letters to forge close, cooperative ties with the school’s various other major programs. Through such broad-based education and research, we aim to produce expert researchers and educators in the field of history, and to provide students with a high level of general education with a strong emphasis on history.
The Japanese history course brings a broad perspective to the study of Japan’s past so as to achieve a uniform comprehension of the country’s long history. This course is focused on empirical research through critical analysis of historical materials and fieldwork, and is characterized by a wide-focus perspective that borrows aspects from neighboring academic fields and incorporates them into an international viewpoint. The aim of the course is to leverage its education and research to develop students into expert researchers and educators in the field of Japanese history, and to provide students with a high level of general education with a strong emphasis on Japanese history.
The Asian history course is centered on research into Chinese, Korean and other East Asian histories, and also incorporates West Asia into the curriculum. Students not only analyze literature and artifacts, but are also required to do field studies and interact proactively with foreign researchers. The Master’s Degree Program in Asian history seeks to provide students with high level of general education with a strong emphasis on Asian history, while the aim of the Doctorate Program is to produce researchers with sufficient credentials to gain a voice in the international research community.
The European history course is focused on historical research of human society itself through the prism of European history from ancient times through to the present day. The course encourages students to view the world from a broad perspective; its aim is to develop a deep understanding of history and provide students with a wide-ranging general education, and seeks to produce graduates who can use that educational foundation as a means of expressing themselves and contribute to the advancement of mankind.
The archaeology course uses materials like ancient ruins and artifacts to decipher and recreate the history of ages when written language had yet to be invented. This course is focused on fieldwork and empirical research through archaeological digs, measurement studies and analysis of artifacts, and is characterized by a wide-focus perspective that borrows from neighboring academic fields and various countries. It is our fervent hope that our students’ archaeological research results take their rightful place in the framework of historical study.
This course revolves mainly around hard and unglamorous research work along with participation in interdisciplinary and international studies. Through these activities, we aim to set our students on the right track for careers as archaeological researchers, local government workers looking after cultural heritage, museum curators and educators, and to provide students with high level of general education with a strong emphasis on archaeology.
The geography major is characterized by the weight placed on development of a global spatial perspective. The goal of the Master’s Degree Program in geography is to produce graduates with the ability to conduct empirical studies of cities, villages and complex regional structures from a broad-based perspective that incorporates social, cultural, economic, industrial, administrative and natural conditions. To that end, we provide thorough and systematic instruction to build up a deep well of specialist knowledge, as well as ongoing practical education and research through field work.
In the Clinical Psycho-Social Sciences MA, in attempting to overcome the many psychological and sociological crises which contemporary society faces today, it is our aim to cultivate experts who can support local communities and individuals in a practical manner, practitioners who will contribute to work carried out at public centers, and researchers who are able to unravel the mechanisms behind the critical situations faced by society.
In the Clinical Psychology Course we examine the urgent mental healthcare issues of today’s society such as truancy from school, bullying, breakdown in class discipline, apathy, children and young people shutting themselves off from the world, child-rearing anxiety, child abuse, domestic violence, addiction, depression, suicide and dementia in the elderly. We aim to promote practical research and to cultivate experts in clinical psychology who use direct and practical specialist approaches to the psychological and social problems facing individuals and groups of all generations.
In the Clinical Sociology Course, which is composed of a Clinical Sociology course and a Clinical Pedagogy course, we aim to cultivate individuals who can help create a harmonious society with a better sense of social cohesion by contributing to the rejuvenation of citizens’ movements and the reorganization of local communities.
The course in Clinical Sociology aims to create graduates who will become researchers who will work in areas concerning the improvement of human and social cohesion and the rejuvenation of society, as well as individuals who will be involved in putting into practice clinical methods of supporting the formation of a harmonious society.
The aim of the course in Clinical Pedagogy is to highlight the functions and issues of society and the introduction of an education whose ideal is to lead to character building by teaching a broad cross section of systems of learning.