It has a high standard of living, an educated population, and a successful, multi-dimensional economy. While Canadians believe that they do have a unique culture, based on tolerance and moderation, they find it difficult to describe. Japan, one of the world's most successful culturally homogeneous countries, has no such problem defining its identity. Others, by implication, perhaps by definition, do not. Perhaps as a result, Japan has been highly resistant to the idea of turning to immigration, Canada's chosen approach, to alleviate its labour shortages, increasingly compounded by a rapidly ageing population.
Japan has a highly educated, highly literate population and a rising standard of living.
This course will look at those, and other characteristics that distinguish Canada from Japan, and other countries, in an attempt to understand the underlying cultural constructs that lead countries down different paths, to different socila-policy responses. This course is unique in a number of ways. It is, for example, team-taught by faculty from UBC and Ritsumeikan University. We will capitalise on the presence of two broadly distinct cultural groups in the class by making it highly interactive . Students will be expected to reach out across cultures and participate in discussions and problem-solving tasks, both in class and in tutorials.