Spring 2025: JPN 398 Senior Seminar focused on SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) in Japan, taught by Mariko Schimmel, Japanese.
This course is designed to advance the students’ language skills through reading and writing assignments based on authentic Japanese materials and to prepare them to conduct research projects utilizing primary sources in Japanese. In this iteration of the seminar, the students will focus on how the United Nations SDGs are pursued in Japan. The seminar will culminate in a senior research paper in English or a media project in Japanese. Conducted in Japanese.
Explore some of the groups’ different experiences from their time in Japan!
Caelan Bratland ’25 and Budhil Thijm ’25 look for their evening snack in the local convenience store.
The class at JICA, Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Budhil Thijm ’25, Assistant Director of International Student Programs Emily Perry, Henry Loomis ’26, and Ruby Brent ’25 crack a smile when comparing America’s SDG progress to Japan’s progress at JICA headquarters.
Howard Youngdahl ’25, Ruby Brent ’25, and Budhil Thijm ’25 listen intently to JICA’s guide when explaining the importance of interdependence in how Japan grows food.
Ruby Brent ’25 and Henry Loomis ’26 slowly examine the books in the Chiyoda Public Library.
A class picture in front of Yanaka Ginza street known for its historical structures and knick-knack goods.
James Kim ’25, Ruby Brent ’25, and Melanie Oden ’25 at Avatar Robot Café, a restaurant where the robots are directed by people who have difficulty going out for various reasons.
Paul Lim ’27, Howard Youngdahl ’25, and James Kim ’25 look down on the glass separation process at the Arakawa Recycling Center.
James Kim ’25, Henry Loomis ’26, and Ruby Brent ’25 look down on the separation process at the Arakawa Recycling Center.
Henry Loomis ’26 posing at a sustainable and environmentally friendly park in Ota, Tokyo made of tires.
The class sits through a presentation about Takoppetan, an iconic local school lunch item sold Ota Wards’s Ito Yokado in collaboration with a local public school.