• Offered by Crawford School of Public Policy
  • ANU College ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
  • Course subject Policy and Governance
  • Academic career PGRD
  • Course convener
    • Dr Shiro Armstrong
  • Mode of delivery In Person
  • Co-taught Course
  • Offered in Winter Session 2019
     See Future Offerings
Issues in Japanese Policy (POGO8220)

This course is offered 17, 30 September, 1, 7 and 8 October 2016

Japan is the world’s third largest economy; it is modern, its people enjoy longevity and very high living standards. It is also safe, has a peace clause in its constitution and has played an important role in economic development in Asia. But Japan faces major challenges with an ageing and shrinking population, two decades of slow growth, rising inequality, a democracy dominated by one party, rapid and major change in its immediate regional neighbourhood and unresolved history and uneasy relations with its neighbours upon which it relies for economic prosperity. Japan is a unique country in a unique situation. 
 
This course tackles the big policy questions facing Japan - many of which can be applied to thinking about other countries. The course exposes students to the key policy debates in Japan and draws upon not only the strong academic expertise at ANU but also the expertise and experience of a range of top scholars and thinkers on Japan who will guest lecture and join the student debates and presentations. The course includes participation at the annual Japan Update conference and connects policy relevant research to teaching in an innovative way.
 

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Become familiar with the brief history of Japan’s economic development and features of Japan’s economic institutions, political system and society 
2. Be able to identify and critically analyse a major reform priority for Japan 
3. Gain a deeper understanding and be able to critically analyse, discuss and debate Japan’s changing role in the world and relations with other states. 
4. Work in groups to discuss and debate domestic and foreign policy challenges through more than one disciplinary lens. 
5. Improve written and oral communication of complex policy ideas. 

Indicative Assessment

• Group presentations around an aspect of Japan’s changing role in the world (10%) (learning outcome 3, 4)
• Paper of 1,000 words on an aspect of Japan’s changing place in the world (40) (learning outcome 3, 4)
• Longer paper of 3,000 words identifying and arguing for the most important policy reform facing Japan whether it be economic, political, foreign policy or social. (50%) (learning outcome 1, 2)

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

33 contact hours
Expected 60 hours reading, essay writing and preparation for seminars

Requisite and Incompatibility

This course is incompatible with ASIA3027.

Prescribed Texts

There is no prescribed text for this course

Preliminary Reading

‘A Japan that can say “yes”’, East Asia Forum Quarterly, Vol.6 No.3, 2014.

Funabashi, Yoichi (ed) Examining Japan’s Lost Decades, Routledge, Oxford, 2015  
Flath, David, The Japanese Economy, Oxford University Press. Chapters 2-4, 6 and 9. 

Fees

Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.  

If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.

Student Contribution Band:
1
Unit value:
6 units

If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.  Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.

Units EFTSL
6.00 0.12500

Course fees

Domestic International
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee
2019 $3840
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2019 $5460
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

The list of offerings for future years is indicative only.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
2019
2020
2021

Winter Session

Class number Class start date Last day to enrol Census date Class end date Mode Of Delivery Class Summary
6453 16 Aug 2019 23 Aug 2019 30 Aug 2019 16 Oct 2019 In Person View

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