Course Description
This interdisciplinary Honors seminar prepares students for immersive field research in Japan through three connected but distinct lenses: Harmony, Reciprocity, and Encounter. Harmony introduces students to Wa, the social, aesthetic, and ethical pursuit of balance and relational responsibility. Reciprocity provides the course's framework for exchange among visitors, host communities, traditions, institutions, and environments. Encounter introduces Ichigo Ichie, the understanding that each meeting is unique, unrepeatable, and therefore deserving of presence, humility, and care. Together, these frameworks help students move beyond a general introduction to Japan toward critical analysis of culture, memory, religion, Indigenous knowledge, sustainability, and field research.
This Summer A study abroad course is the field-based continuation of IDH 4007. Students observe and experience culture in Japan using three connected but distinct lenses: Harmony, Reciprocity, and Encounter. Harmony introduces Wa, the social, aesthetic, and ethical pursuit of balance and relational responsibility. Reciprocity provides the ethical framework for exchange among visitors, host communities, institutions, traditions, and environments. Encounter introduces Ichigo Ichie, the understanding that each meeting is unique, unrepeatable, and deserving of presence, humility, and care.
The course moves from Nagasaki to Kyoto, Sapporo, Nibutani, Akan Kotan, and Tokyo. Each location functions as a living classroom where students connect scholarly preparation to direct observation, reflection, and digital storytelling. The course does not treat travel as immersive learning alone, learning emerges through disciplined observation, critical writing, respectful engagement, and synthesis of field evidence. Throughout the trip students will encounter various sites and communities including universities, historical cultural sites, and Ainu communities.
Students will ask various questions as they encounter several sites across Japan: How is social harmony practiced? What ethical obligations exist between guests and hosts? How does a single encounter become meaningful evidence for intercultural understanding?
For more information on the travel portion of the two-semester program, please refer to its Study Abroad page.