Shibuya Crossing
Ferris Wheel
Country side

Welcome to the UC Berkeley Japanese Language Program!

Teaching of all of the three major East Asian languages in the United States commenced in the University of California, Berkeley's Oriental Languages Department: Chinese in 1872, Japanese in 1900, and Korean in 1943.

During the 1960s and 70s, the Japanese Language Programs grew steadily, replenished with three years of instruction. In the 1980s, demands upon the East Asian Languages and Cultures Department were unprecedented, largely due to the rapid economic growth in East Asia.

All three language programs continued to expand during the 1990s and 2000s. The overall enrollment in the Japanese Language Program was 852 in the 2000-01 academic year, and escalated to 1,028 in 2009-10. Its fourth-year course commenced in 1994, and fifth year in 2000. In addition to the regular course offerings, the Program also provides summer sessions for J1A, J1B, J10A, and J10B.

Japanese Program Mission

As the first institution to commence teaching all the three major East Asian languages in the United States, one of our important missions is to train Japanese majors to become experts in the humanistic study of the languages, literatures, and cultures of Japan. In addition to welcoming Japanese majors and minors, our program invites diverse student populations with a multitude of goals and personal interests in Japanese and its cultures. We are committed to instilling passion and motivation, fostering core skills in individuals as engaged lifelong learners and citizens who promote intercultural communication in the global society.

To Prospective J1A Students

If you intend to take J1A in the fall 2024 semester, we recommend that you start learning hiragana and katakana during the summer break. They are collections of characters used in Japanese writing, like the Roman alphabet in English orthography. Unlike the Roman alphabet, however, hiragana and katakana represent syllables (a consonant and a vowel combined). Japanese has a very simple sound structure, so there are not many syllables to remember. The links below will take you to our character pages

To Transfer Students in Our Program

Are you a transfer student who is taking, or has taken, our Japanese language course? How was your experience during the transition from your previous Japanese courses to ours? Was there anything particularly challenging? Do you have some ideas that might make the transition smoothier? Please share your advice in writing like that found in the Advice from Senpai section, but target specifically prospective transfer students. If interested in this project, please contact Kayoko Imagawa.

Summer & Fall Career Forums

Students with some degree of both Japanese and English language abilities are invited to come speak and interview with hiring companies for full-time and internship positions at this summer and fall's Career Forums. Positions are located worldwide.

In the U.S.

  • Boston Career Forum
    *Approximately 200 hiring companies.
    *Scholarships available for students to help cover travel expenses.

In Japan

If you have questions about any of the Career Forums, contact cfn@careerforum.net.

Kinkakuji

Testing Requirements

If you wish to enroll in Japanese 1B, 10A, 100A and 103 in the Fall semester 2024, and you have never enrolled in a course in the UC Berkeley Japanese Language Program, but you have had formal instruction in Japanese elsewhere (or extensive experience living in Japan), you need to take the placement test, which consists of four parts:

  1. Online Placement Test
  2. Student Information
  3. Writing test; and
  4. Oral interview

First you must take the Japanese Online Placement Test between 12:01 AM, Thursday, August 15, 2024 and 11:59 PM, Wednesday, August 21, 2024. This test will be open 24 hours/day during this period, and you can take it from anywhere with an internet connection by using your Cal ID. There is only one Japanese Online Placement Test for all levels, so you don’t have to worry about which test you should take. Just log on to the site and follow the instructions. If you have any questions about the Japanese Online Placement Test, please e-mail Takata-sensei.

Students who have taken the Japanese Online Placement Test will be given access to bCourses and once there, please submit the "Student Information Form." You will also receive an email from one of the instructors in the Japanese Program by 5pm (PT) on August 23. Please read the email carefully and follow the instructions for taking the writing and oral parts of the Placement Test. If you did not finish the Japanese Online Placement Test, you will not receive an e-mail.

We are going to conduct the final assessment online beginning at 10:00 am (Pacific Time) on Monday, August 26. You may also be contacted by the instructor of the course you were placed into with further instructions.

If there is any change in this procedure, we will post it on this webpage, so please check it from time to time. If you have any questions about the writing and oral parts of the placement test, please email the instructor on the e-mail which you will receive after taking the Online Placement Test.

The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures offers a proficiency test in Japanese to students who are seeking to have their foreign language and/or other academic requirement waived rather than taking Japanese courses at Cal. The Proficiency Test is scheduled only twice each year, during the week right before the first day of instruction of the fall and spring semesters. No sample tests are available. Your test scores are interpreted into the equivalent number of semesters of instruction in the UC Berkeley Japanese Language Program (ranging from zero to eight-plus semesters).

*If you are a native Japanese speaker and attended high school in Japan through the 10th grade, you do not need to take the exam. For incoming students, e-mail asklns to request a review. For continuing students, please follow the instructions the instructions posted on CEU's website CEU's Website.

The next date for the Japanese Proficiency Test is at 11:00 am (Pacific Time) on Monday, August 26, 2024. You will take the test in the computer lab (B-21) in Dwinelle Hall. If you wish to take the test on that day, please notify Takata-sensei as soon as you can. Even if you have already e-mailed her about this, please email her again by noon on Thursday, August 22, 2024, to be sure your name is on the list. Takata-sensei will send you instructions by e-mail by 5pm (PT), Friday, August 23. If there is any change in this procedure, we will post it on this webpage, so please check it from time to time.

The Proficiency Test will only be available on that day during the fall semester. If you are unable to take it then, you will have to wait until January 2025. There will be NO EXCEPTIONS to this rule.

If you wish to enroll in Japanese language courses in the J1B, J10A and J10B during the summer, and you have never enrolled in a course in the UC Berkeley Japanese Language Program, but you have had formal instruction in Japanese elsewhere (or extensive experience living in Japan), you need to take the placement test. It consists of three parts:

  1. Online Placement Test
  2. Writing test
  3. Oral interview

You must take the online placement test for the summer sessions during the week before the first day of class. If you have any questions, please contact Miyamoto-sensei.

In the Community

Yukata

Yukata Workshop in J101

Sponsored by Professor Hiroko Kawabata from Saitama University and her colleagues. September 15, 2017.

Naginata at the Cherry Blossom festival

51st Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival

Naginata Demonstration by Kyung Oh-san from J1B.