Japanese Studies

Japanese Studies at Durham dates back to the early 1980s, but interest in Japan goes back much further, with the Oriental Museum collecting Japanese objects from the 1950s onwards.

• Most of our undergraduate students study Japanese as part of our BA in Japanese Studies; all students on this BA take an East Asian history module in each of their first two years in the History department, and some take further optional modules in History
• The BA in Japanese Studies has different pathways in the language for beginners and post A-level students.
• You can also study Japanese through the Liberal Arts programme in combination with modules from Classics, English, History, Music, Philosophy or Theology
• Alternatively you can take Combined Honours in Social Sciences if you want to combine Japanese with subjects such as Politics and International Relations, Management, Economics, Geography or Anthropology
• These routes are all suitable for students who want to spend their third year abroad at a partner university in Japan studying the Japanese language
• Studying Japanese with us provides a significant boost to your employability and projected earnings

The School of Modern Languages and Cultures has six full-time Japanese language teachers, three teaching on the BA in Japanese Studies and three teaching optional courses in Japanese at the Centre for Foreign Language Study. In addition, we have three staff members researching different aspects of Japanese culture who teach modules on literature, history and film as part of the BA in Japanese Studies degree. They also contribute a Japanese dimension to other degrees at MLAC: the BA in Visual Arts and Film, the MAs in Translation Studies, in Languages, Literatures & Cultures, and in Visual Culture, as well as supervising PhD students.

Research-Led Teaching

The approaches of our research-led modules in historical, literary and visual studies are unique, and include:

• The body and the senses
• Political culture and thought in modern Japan (History)
• Science and technology in early modern Japan
• Anime, film and popular culture
• Performance, dance and installation

The Department of History and the School of Government and International Affairs also have specialists who contribute modules in East Asian history and international relations that can be taken as part of the BA in Japanese Studies degree. 

Optional modules also allow students to take subsidiary Korean or Chinese language in each year of study in Durham and to work with Japanese objects in the Oriental Museum.

^{The autumn light in Tokyo. Photo taken by our student Takeo Broadhurst on their year abroad.}

Year Abroad

Our partner universities in Japan, where Durham students study during their 3^rd year abroad, include six out of the ten top ranking universities. Studying there, in addition to the intensive Japanese language classes, offers many opportunities outside class to participate in Japanese cultural activities and practise speaking Japanese, and to keep up your Korean or Chinese by chatting to fellow students.

Teikyo University in Durham, a branch campus of a Japanese university, makes its facilities, including an extensive library of works in Japanese, available to our students, and the Anglo-Japanese Society provides a forum for Durham students to meet regularly with Teikyo students for academic, cultural and social activities.

Postgraduate Study

Japanese / English translation is taught on our MA in Translation Studies. This offers a combination of common modules which MA students of all languages take, so you get the opportunity to mix with a wide range of students, and dedicated teaching for Japanese / English translation. There is also the opportunity to go on to a PhD degree in translation studies.