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Your portal to Japan at the University of Washington

Welcome to Japan Studies at JSIS

As the study of Japan enters its second century at the UW, we continue to pursue our mission to foster greater understanding of Japan and its relationship with the global community, and also prepare students to pursue their professional goals and become better global citizens.

Our program offers a well-rounded interdisciplinary study of Japan, as well as more specialized training in each student’s particular are of interest. Courses approach Japan from a primarily social science perspective. Variety and depth are added to our student’s regular coursework through extra-curricular events. In addition, The Journal of Japanese Studies, the most important academic journal in the Japan field, is published at the UW.

Because language skills are crucial to understanding Japan, students in the program are encouraged to study Japanese to an advanced a level as possible. The opportunity to do so is provided by strong Japanese language teaching in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature and the Technical Japanese Program of the College of Engineering, as well as additional courses focusing on Japanese for language for study of contemporary society offered in the Jackson School. By focusing on courses in literature, humanities, natural and technical sciences, social sciences, and business, the UW offers language acquisition opportunities much broader than most university level institutions to strongly complement undergraduate, graduate, and concurrent degree tracks with the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs and the Michael G. Foster School of Business.

Information related to courses, requirements, and related resources are located through the links provided at the left of this page and throughout the JSIS website. For further assistance, please contact our staff at Japan@uw.edu

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