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네이버 공유 카카오 공유 트위터 공유 페이스북 공유

New Developments in Korean Studies at Waseda University

Cradle of Korean-Language Education

Two kinds of Korean-language lessons were first offered at Waseda University in Tokyo in 1961, courses for professors and those for students. These lessons continued through the 1960s, while from April 1977 Prof. Omura Masuo? Korean-language classes were officially adopted by the university? Institute of Language Teaching. Waseda University thus became the center of Korean-language education in Tokyo.

The Korean-language classes are currently administered by the university? Institute of Language Teaching, which also dispatches teachers to different academic departments to teach Korean. For students in a few departments, such as law, education, and business, Korean-language is a required subject. Apart from basic language lessons at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, there are also special lectures in Korean conversation and contemporary poetry. In the department of business, for example, there is a class for ?eadings in Korean Economics.?Korean-language lessons are conducted by two full-time professors at the Institute ― Prof. Omura Masuo and guest professor Kim Eung-gyo ― as well as five other instructors.

According to a 1999 report, a total of 465 students studied the Korean-language that year, including 239 at the Institute, 97 in the department of business, and 129 in the department of literature. This number does not include those who took classes in Korean history, culture, or economics, but is the figure for those who took language courses only. The number of student studying Korean has been rising recently by an average of 50 students each year, and this trend is expected to continue again this year.


Promotion of Korean Studies and the Korean Culture Festival "Sinbaram"


In 1999, on the occasion of the 101st anniversary of Korean students graduating from Waseda, the first Korean culture festival was held at the university. Though there are currently about 400 Korean students enrolled in the undergraduate program at Waseda, none had made any effort to promote Korean culture at the school, and thus this festival was part of an effort to provide Japanese students with a better understanding of Korea. The plans for the festival also reflected the desires of Japanese students studying Korea, the Korean students themselves, and Korean studies-related professors.


The festival ran for one week and featured a movie festival, book exhibition, lectures, seminars, and music concerts. Last year's festival held in November saw some noteworthy events, including presentations on the ?omfort women's issue and a music concert. One Japanese student read a report on his visit to a shelter for those Korean women forced into prostitution for the benefit of Japanese soldiers during World War II and later participated in the 2000 Tokyo tribunal on comfort women. Meanwhile, a performance by the Waseda Samulnori Troupe, consisting of three Japanese students, four Korean students studying in Japan, and four members of Jochongryeon, an organization of pro-North Korean residents in Japan, exemplified everyone's wish for a peaceful future in Northeast Asia, and as such was quite an emotional event.

As a result of the performance, the Samul-nori troupe has now been registered as a Waseda campus club, while several students admitted that their first experience of Korean movies, traditional dance, and Samulnori came as a pleasant cultural surprise. Certainly, one hopes that such Korean festivals will help to promote Korean studies in Japan at many levels.



Expansion of Korean Studies

Lectures in Korean studies are presented by a number of Japanese professors at Waseda. The main course is "Korean History and Culture," by Prof. Miyata Setsuko, who conducts research on the Japanese colonial period and modern Korean history.

The next course to contain the name "Korea" was this writer's own "Korean Culture and Society." This course, which was established in 1999, consists of 30 lectures over a one-year period. This course concentrates on discourses on all areas of Korean culture, from architecture, painting, and literature to movies and cartoons. Through comparative studies of Korean and Japanese culture, students are encouraged to explore the similarities and differences between the two in-depth and examine the possibilities of a symbiotic culture.

Because of the broad scope of material covered, there is the danger of this course being rather superficial, but this is overcome through regular presentations by graduate and doctoral students. This course has also been offered as a video course at other universities, with full support from Waseda University. Lecture material is handed over to the digital department two weeks in advance, where it is edited and processed to enable lecture presentations using the entire classroom as a giant digital screen. The high-tech lecture room actually allows more diverse delivery of visual and written information to the students. Finally, the lectures are recorded on video so that students can view them again in the video room at anytime.

The school? support extends not only to providing a theater-style lecture hall but also to two assistant professors. This year, these lectures should include even greater detail than before.


Korean "Theme College"

Though given the distinction of being a "college," the concept of a "theme college" is quite different from being an academic department in Korea. A ?heme college?refers to the collection of several similar general studies subjects under one unit. For the first time in its 119-year history, Waseda University has tied together its Korea-related subjects into a Korean theme college, which itself is a sign of significant progress in the field of Korean studies.

Beginning with the first semester of 2001, one-year lecture courses at the Korean theme college will include Prof. Lee Sung-si? ?ncient History,?Prof. Omura Masuo? ?odern and Contemporary Literature,?my own ?ontemporary Korean Popular Culture,?Prof. Okauki Michizane? ?tudies in Archeology,?Tokyo University? Prof. Yoshida Mitsuo? ?radition and Society,?and a new course entitled ?ntroduction to Contemporary South Korea and North Korea,?which will focus on a different theme each week by various lecturers. These lectures will be linked to existing Korean-language courses as well as the ?orean Culture?and ?orean Cul-ture and Society?subjects to provide more depth to the university? Korean studies program.

Profs. Omura Masuo and Lee Sung-si, as well as the program's other instructors, are all striving to firmly establish the field of Korean studies at Waseda University. It is hoped that their efforts will result in promoting Korean studies not only at Waseda but also at other universities in Tokyo.
Korean Studies Organizations

The Korean Culture Research Association was formed in 1979 by Prof. Omura Masuo, and since then has been conducting advanced research on Korea. In 2000, Prof. Hotehi Toshihiro, a long-time researcher of Korea, joined the association and has since taken it to a higher level. Meetings are held two or three times a year with the Institute? leading professors, scholars, and researchers gathering to present their work. At times, Korean researchers have also participated in these meetings, including literary critic Yim Hun-yung, Seoul National University Professor Kwon Young-min, and Korea University Professor Kim In-hwan.

Last year, the Korean Culture Research Institute was established by Prof. Lee Sung-si. Though the institute has no office or full-time researchers at present, all of the country? Korean studies professors are keenly interested in its development, as it is anticipated to play an important role in the cultivation of Korean studies specialists.



Conclusion

Korean studies is becoming increasingly systemized at Waseda University and is expected to serve as a model for the future development of the field throughout Japan. First, is the school? integrated language education system for providing Korean-language lessons. Second, is the promotion of Korean culture through the ?inbaram?festival. Third, is the organization of related subjects under the Korean ?heme college.?And fourth, is the cultivation of future Korean studies scholars through the Korean Culture Research Associ-ation and the Korean Culture Research Institute.

There is no point in painting an unrealistically rosy picture for Korean studies in Japan in the future. But to ignore even the faintest hint of potential is like letting a fish already caught on the line to get away. It is hoped that Waseda University and the Korean government will help sow the seeds and reap the rewards from the Korean studies program at Waseda University in Japan.





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