Japanese Linguistics and Literatures

This major consists of two sub-areas: Japanese linguistics and Japanese literatures.

Japanese Linguistics

The Japanese language area studies the history of the Japanese language by examining how the Japanese language has changed from ancient to modern times, based on the written literatures, the present-day Japanese, and its various dialects. In this modern world, you can surely get by without speaking, or even understanding, a word of the classical Japanese language. Nevertheless, one sometimes wonders why the language was the way it used to be. The answer to this simple question is buried under its long history. We closely work together with the Japanese area and the Chinese literature area, and come to understand the depth of the Japanese language that we take for granted in our daily life. By so doing, we also come to understand the Japanese culture.

Japanese Literatures

From ancient to modern times, Japan has witnessed the development of its own literatures unparalleled in the world. The Japanese literature area studies medieval poetries and the early modern period of stories including modern novels. We study in detail the Japanese literary works, while paying attention to our culture, society, and the philosophical thoughts on which the literatures are based. Humanities recognize the world through language and its literature, which helps us to live a better life. Albeit subconsciously, our literatures underpin our daily life and our perception of the world.