Japanese
Birkbeck’s Japanese Studies specialises in contemporary Japanese culture. Our courses offer you insight as well as in-depth academic understanding of areas including Japanese society, history, language, popular culture, cinema, literature, manga and anime.
The staff who will teach you conduct high-impact research and outreach work on modern and contemporary Japanese culture, looking into the works of canonical as well as marginalised Japanese directors, writers, artists and manga/anime creators.
Listen to Temilola Raiwe, who studied the BA Japanese with Management
Japanese courses
We offer a range of flexible courses and study modes, allowing you to deepen your interest in Japanese studies at every level, from language short courses and BA degrees, to Graduate Diploma, MA and PhD.
BA Degree
Our BA programmes are carefully designed to offer you both critical academic expertise in Japanese society, culture and language, and also important transferable skills in research, presentation, critical thinking and effective writing for your career. Have multiple interests? You can also choose among our joint honours degrees to combine Japanese with another subject.
If you are interested in how languages work and keen to orient your study towards linguistics and language learning we also offer programmes for you, as well as a language teaching programme that is particularly useful if you plan to develop a teaching career in Japan after graduation.
View Japanese BA degree courses.
BA DEGREE WITH YEAR ABROAD
We run an exciting Japanese Exchange Programme with select universities across Japan, including Hokkaido in the north, Tokyo in the east, and the Kansai region in the west. Students enrolled in BA Japanese Studies with International Experience will spend their third year of study in Japan. Our partnerships with prestigious Japanese universities also give all our students access to online conversation exchange programmes, summer schools in Japan, and other exciting opportunities
In years where the School runs a work placement module, our students have worked at key Japan-related institutions such as Japan Society, and Daiwa Foundation.
View courses with international experience.
BA Degree with Foundation Year
If you haven’t studied for a while or don’t immediately meet our entry requirements, we also offer a BA Japanese Studies with Foundation Year. This four-year degree with an in-built foundation year prepares you for study at university level, giving you the skills needed to succeed in the following three years of your course.
View courses with foundation year.
Postgraduate
You can study Japanese as part of the MA in Modern Languages and Comparative Literatures. You'll gain a thorough grounding in the theoretical basis of postgraduate study in comparative literary and cultural studies in the context of Modern Languages. Choose a comparative pathway or opt to engage with one or more specific language-speaking areas.
If you have a degree in another subject or have taken a break from studies but would like to refresh and deepen your knowledge of Japanese language and culture, we offer the Graduate Diploma. This is equivalent to the final year of our BA, and is suited if you would like to pursue a master's degree in Japanese, but need to bring your language proficiency, cultural knowledge, and research skills up to the right level.
View Japanese postgraduate courses.
SHORT COURSES and certificate of Higher Education
Enrol on our year-long short courses to improve your Japanese language skills, at one of our five language levels ranging from Beginners to Post-Intermediate (Japanese 1-4). You can enrol directly on these courses, but please contact us for a placement task beforehand so that we can ensure you are enrolling at the right level. View Japanese short courses.
Our Certificate of Higher Education (Cert HE) offers you the chance to take 120 credits (equivalent to a first-year of our BA programme) if you prefer not to commit to a full degree programme at this stage. You can always transfer your credits if you love your studies and want to continue!
STUDENT TESTIMONIALS
"Whether you've got kids or you're working, the tutors are really understanding, they really try and push you but also help you."
Stella, BA Linguistics and Japanese
CAMPUS and connecting you
Thanks to our central London location, we liaise with world-famous institutions to organise Japan-related film screenings, conferences, workshops and talks by internationally renowned scholars, artists, film-makers, writers, art curators, professionals in creative industries, cultural entrepreneurs cultural and educational policymakers. Our partners have included the Japan Foundation, the Japan Society, Japan House, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Bertha DocHouse, Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, Daiwa Foundation, and the Barbican Centre. We are also a stone’s throw from all the Japan-related events London has to offer in various museums, galleries, libraries, theatres, and gardens.