Syllabus & Courses

You may view and download the course syllabi for the JD Transcultural Studies below. The PDFs contain the name of the lecturer(s), date and time as well as an abstract for the courses’ content where available.

You can access more detailed descriptions of courses offered at the GSL via the Kyoto University Student Affairs Information System (KULASIS) and via the Information System of Heidelberg University (LSF) for courses at the HCTS (You do not have to log-in to view the course information on the LSF).

Course Rooms at KU
Most classrooms are located on the 2nd floor of the Faculty of Letters Main Building (no. 8 on the campus map). Some, however, e.g., seminar rooms 8-12 or lecture rooms 8-9 are in Research Building No. 2 (総合研究2号館), no. 34 on the campus map (opposite the Letter’s building). Most of the seminar rooms there are on the first floor, and the lecture rooms are in the basement. Please check this excerpt from the student handbook (Japanese only with some English notes).

Current Academic Year
Course Syllabus for Spring and Fall Terms 2022: PDF.
Course Schedule for Spring and Fall Terms 2022: PDF.
CATS (Courses on Asian and Transcultural Studies) leaflet 2022: PDF.

First Semester Modules

Please find descriptions of the program’s first semester modules below. Please be advised, that individual courses as well as rooms and times may be subject to change! Check KULASIS for up-to-date information.
You may also look for courses in a particular study focus via the links below:

Introduction to Transcultural Studies

Introduction to Transcultural Studies

Basic Research Skills (Tutorium)

Introduction to Indian Aesthetics

Fieldwork and Qualitative Research of Japanese Society

Japanese Contemporary Popular Culture: Media Practices in a Global Context

Documentary Traditions

Issues in Environmental History: Nature, Knowledge, Place, and Surroundings

Skills for Transcultural Studies

Advanced Skills for Humanities Research in English

Translation of Japanese and its History

Focus 1 – Foundations

Scripts, Languages and Buddhist Scriptures

What Is Transcultural History?

Philosophy of Science in Japanese Context: Advanced Introduction to Philosophy of Science

Cinematic Imaginations: Feminist and Queer Film Criticism

Russo-Japanese Cultural Dialogue Through Images

Transcultural Dialogues in Modern Japanese Architecture

Morality, Culture and Relativism

A transcultural introduction to knowledge, belief, and religion

Transcultural Rural Gender Studies

Second and Third Semester Modules

For courses during a student’s stay at Heidelberg University, please refer to the syllabus on the LSF platform (choose “Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies (CATS)” > “MA Transcultural Studies.”
Students in Kyoto can choose courses from the list below.

Research 1 – 3

Economic and Business History

An Introduction to Bioethics

Contemporary Japanese Philosophy in a Global Context

Heidi in Japan

Selected Readings in Classical Japanese Literature

Monarchy and modernity in Japan, Asia and Europe

A History of Tantric Yoga

Welfare Regime and Cross-Border Migration

Digital games in a transcultural perspective

Critical Consumption Studies

Introduction to East Asian Economies

Japan’s early diplomacy during the last decade of the Tokugawa Shogunate

SocSci Research Methods in Education

Comparative Development Studies: Situating Sustainability within Development

Ecocinema: From Plastic Garbage to Art

Transcultural Asian Cinemas & Transcultural Cinema Forum 2022

Modern East Asian History

Historical Seminar: Animals and Borders

Transcultural Psychiatry

East Asian Origins: Ancient History and Material Culture

An Introduction to Esoteric Yoga

Reading Japanese academic texts

International Development Assistance Policy

Transnational Japanese History Seminar: Migration, Labor, and Environment

Weekly Writing Practicum

Buddhist Art and Manuscript Cultures along the Silk Road

Italian Neorealism in World Cinema

The Memory of the Second World War in Asia and Europe

International Relations in the Early Modern East Asia: The Role of “Intermediaries”

Fourth Semester Modules

The fourth semester focuses on writing the MA theses and includes a colloquium, where students present the progress of their research and receive feedback from supervisors and peers.

Past Academic Years
CATS Syllabus for Spring & Fall Terms 2021
CATS Syllabus for Spring & Fall Terms 2020
CATS Syllabus for Spring & Fall Terms 2019
CATS Syllabus for Spring & Fall Terms 2018
CATS Syllabus for Spring & Fall Terms 2017
CATS Syllabus for Spring & Fall Terms 2016
CATS Syllabus for Fall Term 2015