Contemporary Japanese Society: What Has Been Happening Behind Demographic Change?

The main aim of this course is to give an overview of how contemporary Japanese society has been stratified, from the perspective of changing demographic, familial, and socio-economic structure. Basic statistics will be presented to provide a concrete idea of the changes that have taken place in Japan. By the end of the course, students should have an awareness of similarities and differences across nations regarding social issues including aging population, gender gaps in work and family, and socio-economic inequalities.

• Obtain basic knowledge of how various structural aspects of Japanese society have changed or remained unchanged.
• Understand the basic mechanism of social stratification in Japanese society.
• Develop awareness of similarities and differences between the social problems affecting many advanced capitalist societies.
• Think actively about how these social problems can be alleviated.

• Interest in Japan and East Asia
• This is course is particularly for first- and second-year college students.