Japanese

In support of the LaGuardia’s mission to educate and graduate its students to become critical thinkers and socially responsible citizens, the College has undertaken a team approach toward advising, designed to support you in your major from orientation through graduation.

Your Advising Team is made up of faculty, professional and peer advisors. They will guide you at every step during your college career. They are ready to help you:

• Explore your major
• Select introductory and advanced courses
• Connect you with campus support services
• Prepare an educational and career plan

Visit the Advising page to learn more about when to get advised and how to prepare for an advising appointment, and check out the Advising Calendar for information sessions, events and more.

The Liberal Arts Social Science & Humanities: Japanese Option offers an opportunity for you to learn the Japanese language and other related subjects such as Japanese literature, art of Asia, East Asian history, religions and social psychology in Asia for two years.

The curriculum is designed to prepare students for transfer to baccalaureate (4-year) programs in East Asian Studies and/or Japan Studies. The Japanese Option at LaGuardia Community College is articulated with the East Asian Studies Major (Japanese Track) at Queens College.

Explore career possibilities on Career Connect.

Current Students
Log in to My LaGuardia to review your Degree Audit to find out what classes to take. Have questions about using Degree Audit? Visit LaGuardia's Degree Audit page for tutorials and how-to guides.

Prospective Students
Review the curriculum.

Please note: Students will be held to the program and degree requirements of the year that they enter the College, unless the student changes their major in a different academic year. In that case, the student will be held to the current year requirements as listed in the catalog. Learn more.

Degree Map
Use the Degree Map and DegreeWorks to assist in academic planning and creating your own graduation plan in ePortfolio. See a full list of Flexible Core courses on the Pathways page.

For information about this program’s retention and graduation rate visit the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment website page.

Learning Communities are groupings of two or more courses, often surrounding a common theme. There are two types of Learning Communities, Clusters (consisting of three or more classes) and Pairs (consisting of two classes).

Learning Communities can help you:

• Make connections among courses
• Form a community with your classmates
• Work closely with faculty
• Be more successful in your courses
• Be more likely to stay in school and graduate

Continuing students are encouraged to select a Cluster or Pair in their second semester.

Recent Learning Community Themes include:

• American Cultural Identities in Poetry, Prose, Beats and Rhymes
• Technology, Power and Freedom: Building your Digital Identity
• Truth, Lies and Video
• Alienation and Inquiry

Review Liberal Arts Learning Communities for the current semester.

This course invites you to consider a topic in an interdisciplinary manner, drawing on the various courses you have taken as well as experiences outside of college; therefore, it is recommended that this capstone course be taken in your last semester. The themes available for this class the course varies from semester to semester—previous themes include "American Museum," "Epidemics," "Genocide," "Modern Medical Practice," and "Performance and Disability." Review LIB200 themes for the current semester.

The Japanese culture is undoubtedly a major attraction to those who seek to learn the language. Japanese food, such as sushi and ramen, has become a popular choice among New Yorkers. Most college students in the U.S. have played Japanese video games in their youth (or even now) and have gone to karaoke to hang out with their friends.

Pop-culture, including anime and TV drama, is another major interest among Japanese language learners. In addition to these contemporary culture, Japan has rich traditions and classical literature, such as karate and judo (Japanese martial arts), The Tale of Genji (classical novel written in the 11th century), and nihonga (classic Japanese fine art) to name a few.

The goal of the Japanese Option is to develop your interests and prior knowledge in Japan for professional careers. We will deal with Japanese language/culture in a serious approach (beyond casual interest in Japanese pop culture and anime). Those who are interested in the Japanese Option should try reading some of the reference books listed below to identify if you are really interested in pursuing Japanese as your future career option.  

• Japanese Language/Linguistics: Tsujimura, N. (2014). An Introduction to Japanese Linguistics. Cambridge, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell. (ISBN: 9781444337730)
• Japanese Pop Culture (anime, manga, J-pop etc): Drazen, P. (2002). Anime Explosion! The What? Why? & Wow! of Japanese Animation. Stone Bridge Press. (ISBN: 9781880656723)
• The History of Japan: Mason, R. H. P. & Caiger, J. G. (1997). A History of Japan. Tokyo, Japan: Tuttle Publishing. (ISBN: 9780804820974)
• Economics/Business in Japan: Liker, J. and Convis, G. (2011). The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership: Achieving and Sustaining Excellence through Leadership (ISBN: 9780071780797)
• Sociology of Japan (The Japanese people, the Japanese society etc): Sugimoto, Y. (2003). An Introduction to Japanese Society. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press.