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).

Current Academic Year
Course Syllabus for Spring and Fall Terms 2020: 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

Skills for Transcultural Studies

Advanced Skills for Humanities Research in English

Japanese Academic Reading: Bungobun & Kanbun

Focus 1 – Foundations

Japanese Philosophy and Environmental Ethics

Readings in Global Economic History

Cinema and Media Studies Seminar: Reading Queer Theory and New Queer Cinema

What Is Transcultural History?

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

An Introduction to Bioethics

Cinematic Imaginations: Feminist and Queer Film Criticism

Russo-Japanese Cultural Dialogue Through Images

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

Contemporary Japanese Philosophy (Post-Wolrd War II Japanese Philosophy)

Franz Kafka and East Asian culture

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

Asian Families and Intimacies: Intra-regional Diversity and Transcultural Dynamics

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: Thinking on Nuke, Food, and Sustainability

Transcultural Asian Cinema

Modern East Asian History

Japan at Play: Cultural Orderings of Leisure and Asobi

Historical Seminar: Animals and Borders

Transcultural Psychiatry

East Asian Origins: Ancient History and Material Culture

Book Reading and Discussion on Japanese Thoughts and Culture: Japanese Traditional Drama, Two Plays by Chikamatsu Monzaemon

Debating Otaku in Contemporary Japan: A Labelling Approach

Japanese Academic Reading: the grammar of Bungobun

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 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