2015 Volume 2015 Issue 25 Pages 287-313
The Japanese Literature Department introduced its "Basic Seminar I" for first-year students as part of the new curriculum, which launched with the 2014 academic year. The goal of this course is primarily to provide students with the foundation necessary for their training, including research and presentation skills, as a way of facilitating their entry into university-level studies. In order to achieve that goal, the instructing faculty members established six topics to be covered during the course, and then worked together to develop the necessary teaching materials.
In Japan today, society is directing increased scrutiny at the significance and efficacy of a university education. This experiment by the Japanese Literature Department has become an opportunity for faculty themselves to reconceive of the form that Humanities should take, rather than being a superficial attempt to meet the demands of the neoliberal marketplace.
