Japanese Studies with International Experience

Japanese studies is a genuinely distinctive discipline, combining serious language learning with deep engagement with the history, culture, society, and contemporary politics of one of the world's most important countries. Japan is a global economic power with a cultural export that has transformed popular culture worldwide, and also a country with complex relationships to modernity, tradition, memory, and geopolitics. Studying it seriously means learning to read, listen, and think in Japanese while also developing a scholarly understanding of the society and its place in East Asia and the world.

At Birkbeck College this four-year full-time programme, which includes an international experience element, is designed to give you both near-fluent command of Japanese and critical academic expertise in Japanese culture, history, and society. Birkbeck's research in this area shapes the curriculum, which means your study is connected to genuine ongoing scholarly inquiry about Japan. The programme is offered with an international experience component, which may include study or engagement with Japanese-speaking environments.

The typical entry tariff of 72 points reflects the broad entry base of the programme, which is designed to be accessible to students who may be coming to Japanese language study for the first time.

You will develop language proficiency across reading, writing, speaking, and listening, moving towards a high level of communicative competence over the course of the degree. Alongside this, you will build a richly contextualised understanding of Japan that enables you to engage with the country and its people in informed and nuanced ways.

Graduates of Japanese studies go on to careers in international business, diplomacy, translation and interpreting, journalism, education, tourism, the cultural sector, and organisations with significant Japan-related operations. Postgraduate study in Japanese studies, East Asian studies, international relations, or translation is also a well-established route.