Japanese Studies Program @ York University　 ヨーク大学日本研究科

The Japanese program at York University has been steadily growing since its inception in the 1960's, a time when Japan emerged as one of the major economic powers in the world. The twenty-first century is called “the century of Asia.” Having a good command of an Asian language is an enormous asset for professional opportunities. The Japanese Section at York University has been offering a Japanese language program up to the fourth year level, designed to provide students in various fields with a working knowledge of the language and useful information concerning Japanese people, society and culture. Learning Japanese with reference to cross-cultural communication is emphasized so that students will be able to adapt to a foreign environment without much difficulty. The communicative, eapathic and narrative approach has been adopted to help students to become creative, autonomous and sensitive language learners. Students learn how to make maximal use of their knowledge at their own levels, including non-verbal communication skills.

The Japanese program at York University is the only language program fully web-based and offers an open-learning environment for anyone who is interested in learning Japanese. Textbooks were replaced by web-based instructional materials specifically developed for York Students. A modular approach has been adopted to enhance synergistic effects in language learning and teaching. Online interactive materials help students to learn on their own even during vacation periods. The Japanese Program at York University is considered as one of the top Japanese Studies programs in Canada, based on the excellent achievement by students in the regional and national speech contests.

The Japanese Section has been the leader in developing a distance-education program using video-conferencing and video-streaming. Students at Glendon College, St. Mary’s University and Mt. Alison University have benefited from this outreach program. The Japanese Section has spearheaded international cooperation as well, in assisting the Japanese Program at the Faculty of Foreign Languages at the University of Havana in Cuba. This initiative has been in place since 2004 and offers seminars for the faculty to improve their teaching strategies in a variety of fields, including Teaching of Japanese as a Foreign Language (TJFL), Japanese linguistics, Japanese history and culture, translation and interpretation and classical Japanese. The Cuban faculty and students have been using the instructional materials developed at York University and they are currently developing Spanish versions for Spanish-speaking learners of Japanese. Every year, one of the participants of this seminar is invited to York University for four weeks as a part of a teaching practicum. As all the faculty members teach two languages at the Faculty of Foreign Languages in the University of Havana, they have been applying the teaching methods learned in this seminar to teaching other languages as well. This outreach project indirectly helps foreign-language education in Cuba.

As stated above, York students’ achievements in both the regional and national Japanese speech contests have been outstanding. York students won at least 60% of the top prizes including the grand prizes in the past 43 Ontario Japanese speech contests, and approximately 30% of the top prizes in the 36 National Japanese speech contests. No other institution has achieved this kind of excellence.  

The Japanese Section has been promoting, and has been actively involved in, students’ exchange programs with four partner institutions in Japan – Meiji University, Dokkyo University, Keio University, Waseda University, Hitotsubashi University, Nagoya University and Aoyama Gakuin University for through which students study in Japan for one year.

The Japanese Section has been hosting the Japanese Language Proficiency Test successfully on behalf of the Japan Foundation since 1997 for the Eastern region of Canada and hit a new record — 855 applicants in 2024. Many York students write the test every year, and most of them pass it.

Every year, many York students are accepted into the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program, which gives them great opportunities for learning about Japanese culture and society. The Section has been supporting this Program very strongly and was involved in the selection procedure.

Honours Minor Degree Program in Japanese Studies

The honours minor degree program in Japanese Studies, which was approved in 2013 and started in 2014, provides comprehensive language education in tandem with foundational knowledge and skills to better understand, analyze and approach issues related to culture and society of Japan from a cross-cultural perspective.

It is expected that students will have the opportunity to develop communicative competence and performance in advanced Japanese, cross-cultural understanding of the language and culture of Japan, business and language use, Japanese linguistics, media and language, reading knowledge of classical Japanese, pedagogy for teaching Japanese, skills in translation and interpretation between English and Japanese. The program is augmented by various exchange programs, internship and co-op work, the Japanese Language proficiency Test, regional and national speech contests, and other academic and professional opportunities. The program makes use of IT effectively and rigorously to provide students with access to instructional materials on line. This program will particularly emphasizes the value of learning the language and culture of Japan in an increasingly pluralistic and interdependent world. The aim is to educate students to be ‘agents of change’ who will be risk-takers and leaders not only in Canada-Japan relations, but also in global environments. This program will prepare students to be autonomous language learners to develop language skills further; independent thinker and risk-taker with sense of accountability and sensitivity; ability to understand cross-cultural issues and situations; readiness for on-the-job training such as a summer internship program or co-op program in combination with their major programs.