Field schools

The Department of Pacific and Asian Studies is pleased to offer our students field schools in Japan, China, and Indonesia. Unlike an exchange opportunity, a field school is a UVic course which brings students and an instructor out of the classroom to a setting “in the field;” in our case, in Asia itself.

For more information, please keep reading below, or contact for details of the language-immersion course; or Dr. Timothy Iles:  for details on Japan field school, or Dr. Angie Chau:  for details on China field school.

PAAS 397 Field School in Pacific and Asian Studies: Japan

This three-unit course on the theme of Empire consists of two weeks of lectures at UVic, followed by fourteen days in Osaka, Japan, with excursions to Nara, Kyoto, and Hiroshima. The course will follow the origins, development, consequences, and continuing influences of the Japanese empire, from the earliest times to the present day. No knowledge of Japan or the Japanese language is required. We cover issues of aesthetics, ideology and religious influence, colonialism, militarism, ethnicity, economic transformation, and contemporary international relations around key aspects of soft power and cultural exportation, to see how social structure across many hundreds of years can lead to both cohesion, tension, consequences, and recovery.

Work experience at Tokiwa Bekkan - a Japanese style Inn in KinosakiWork experience at Tokiwa Bekkan (a Japanese style Inn in Kinosaki) 2017 - photo by Hiroko Noro.

Eirakukan Playhouse at IzushiEirakukan Playhouse at Izushi. 2017 - photo by Hiroko Noro.

Cooking lesson held at Kinosaki International Arts Center by Okesho Fish StoreCooking lesson held at Kinosaki International Arts Center by Okesho Fish Store. 2017 - photo by Hiroko Noro.

PAAS 397 Field School in Pacific and Asian Studies: China

PAAS 397 satisfies the experiential learning requirement for PAAS majors, and may also be taken as MDIA 490 with permission from Media Studies.

Program dates: July 6-July 17 in Victoria, July 18-July 31, 2026 in Shanghai.

The course consists of two weeks of coursework and pre-departure preparation in Victoria, followed by two weeks of experiential learning in Shanghai. Before arriving in Shanghai, students will learn about the century social, cultural, and historical shifts in the 20th and 21st centuries that have shaped China’s most cosmopolitan city, by reading the popular fiction of writers such as Shi Zhecun, Eileen Zhang, and Anni Baobei. We will also watch films that take place in Shanghai by directors like Xie Jin, Jia Zhangke, and Guo Jingming. By examining how this global urban center has been depicted in a diverse range of forms of Chinese pop culture, the course explores how literature and film creatively reflect the multilayered connections between modern Chinese history and contemporary Chinese society. In Shanghai, students will be based near the East China Normal University campus, and will visit a variety of historical and literary landmarks, as well as globally renowned art institutions such as the Power Station of Art and Centre Pompidou x West Bund Museum Project.

Some funding support is available for students.

If you are interested in applying for the course, please contact Prof. Angie Chau by email at by February 28, 2026.

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Please contact  for more information.