JAPAN 101RElementary Japanese 1
- Units
- 0.50
- Faculty
- Arts
- Subject
- Japanese
When it runs
- F24
- W25
- S25
- F25
- W26
- S26
- F26
- W27
- S27
Ran in 7 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: scheduled, 4 lecture sections. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.
This is an introductory course for students with little or no previous knowledge of Japanese. Students will acquire basic listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in Japanese. Students will learn how to read and write hiragana characters. Students will engage in practical oral and written exercises to build a firm grammatical foundation for further study. Students will also be introduced to relevant aspects of Japanese culture. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to introduce themselves at school, confidently shop, and talk about daily activities.
Prerequisites
None listed.
Antirequisites
- Complete all of the following
- Not completed nor concurrently enrolled in any of the following:
- JAPAN111R - Japanese for Business 1 (0.50)
- Not open to students with advanced ability
- Not completed nor concurrently enrolled in any of the following:
Leads to
Fall 2026 sections
| Section | Class | Enrolled | Meets |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEC 001 | 6864 | 41 / 40 | MW 13:00–14:20 |
| LEC 002 | 6879 | 40 / 40 | MW 11:30–12:50 |
| LEC 003 | 6941 | 39 / 40 | MW 14:30–15:50 |
Winter 2027 sections
| Section | Class | Enrolled | Meets |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEC 001 | 6503 | 0 / 40 | MW 13:00–14:20 |
| LEC 002 | 6514 | 0 / 40 | TTh 14:30–15:50 |
| LEC 003 | 6563 | 0 / 40 | TTh 16:00–17:20 |
| LEC 701 | 2430 | 106 / 9999 | Online or by arrangement |
Reviewed on UW Flow
91% liked it75% easy89% useful
From 171 ratings and 34 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.
If you are a weeaboo who is genuinely interested in learning Japanese, you will enjoy this course. The first week was Romaji but after that everything was Hiragana so make sure you memorize those characters! The class itself is very reminiscent of high school. There's a group presentation at the end in tutorial, and both Fumie-sensei and Eri-sensei are amazing and make this course so much fun. This course is ONLY hiragana, so no katakana or kanji. I had a little bit of prior listening experience from anime and jpop (lol) so I was familiar with a lot of the vocab, and I also knew a little bit of Hiragana, so this course was easy for me. For someone with no prior experience, you will need to…
May 2018 · liked it · 4 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
Fumie sensei and Eri sensei are amazing profs and their lesson plans are always smooth.
If you like Japanese culture, watch anime, or weeb-culture this course is for you. It is a lot of commitment so don't think this is an easy 90. You will need to know ONLY hiragana for 101 so make sure you memorize it early. Assignments and midterms are fair and really fun. At the end you will make a script in Japanese and present it in your tutorial session.
Like all courses you get what you put into it. I will say that it is possible to get over 90 in this course.
I came into the course having a lot of foundational knowledge already through reading visual novels but the grammar sections really…Jan 2018 · liked it · 2 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
I'll admit. JAPAN 101R is kind of a bait-course. For the first two weeks, you learn Romaji and you will think the course is the easiest course ever. However, once the Hiragana kicks in, the course speeds up exponentially. The course drops a lot of vocabulary right before the midterm and final so be prepared for it! The JAPAN courses are always enjoyable because of the group project/skits at the end. Slightly reminiscent of high school days.
Dec 2015 · liked it · 2 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
Extremely easy if you're already familiar with the basics of Japanese. Might be a challenge otherwise.
Dec 2015 · 2 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
Easy course if you study the Hiragana beforehand. You still have to work, it's not a course you can dedicate one hour to every week, especially if you are completely new to Japanese.
Nov 2014 · liked it · 2 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
Discussed on r/uwaterloo
61 posts and comments in 48 threads mention JAPAN 101R, June 2011 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.
Fall 2024
JAPAN 101R 2 points, 0 comments
u/Responsible-Sleep355: “Anyone have JAPAN 101R course outline or has taken it?”
Spring 2024
Social Science & Humanities courses transfer 1 point, 3 comments
“I'm wondering if it's possible to take Social Science / Humanities courses at another university to fulfill Breadth requirements or they have to be taken at UWaterloo?”
u/Laeriana: “… JAPAN 101R, 102R and 201R). …”
Fall 2023
Does anyone know if we need to bring anything / come prepared for the JAPAN 101R Tutorial? 1 point, 0 comments
u/bananamilk7: “It's my first time taking JAPAN 101R and I'm confused whether we need to come to class with assignment 1 completed. It says it's due Wednesday though, so I'm not sure. Do we need to be prepared when coming to the tutorial? Or is it just speaking practice?”
Winter 2023
How is JAPAN101R and CHINA101R (First-Year Japanese and Chinese)? 2 points, 6 comments
u/IntrovertNeptune: “… Should I take JAPAN101R, or just continue on with the Korean courses? I was also thinking of taking Chinese (I'm Chinese, but have no knowledge of the Chinese language). I know that the writing system and pronunciation is a whole lot harder than Korean and Japanese (I.e. …”
u/SkittlePiez: “I'm doing JAPAN 101R this term and I think it's also pretty straightforward. You just follow the textbook, review vocabulary and grammar, do the weekly assignments, quizzes, and participate in the tutorials. …”
u/MelanieMFalcon: “I'm in JAPAN 101R right now and although it's very fun it's definitely not easy. If you have no previous experience with japanese the course moves very fast and goes over quite a lot of content in a relatively short period of time. …”
u/shib8: “I thought JAPAN101R was pretty hard honestly but I got 90s+ easily on CHINA101's assignments and tests. I actually found Chinese characters easier because there were ways to memorize or guess meanings, and it's only 1-2 characters per word. …”
Spring 2022
JAPAN 101R or French 151 1 point, 3 comments
u/33okbaku: “What is the work load like for JAPAN 101R and French 151 at the university of waterloo? I need to pick an elective.”
do u realize how many weeaboos are in uwaterloo 242 points, 21 comments
u/oreoham: “You actually would get noticed if you tried to audit a Japan 101 class though. The class size is like 30 and the prof tries to know everyone by name.”
u/valryuu: “Well, I'm looking up JAPAN 101R on classes.uwaterloo.ca now, and even in the Spring term, the Lectures are at a 72 student enroll cap. LEC 001 has 68/72, and LEC 002 has 71/72. Winter 2022 and Fall 2021 had similar numbers. …”
u/oreoham: “Yeah I'm certain it was JAPAN 101R. Maybe it was just an outlier that particular term.”
Bird Courses for Spring 2022 10 points, 10 comments
“Looking for bird courses, preferably fully online. Drop recommends below!!”
u/Frozen5147: “… - JAPAN 101R (First-Year Japanese 1) - or really, any language course. They probably all require some amount of practice and work, but at least from my experience with JAPAN 101R, you can easily get 70s or 80s without too much effort. …”
Fall 2021
JAPAN assessment 1 point, 10 comments
u/Stranger_Natural: “I tried to get an override into JAPAN102R because of some scheduling conflicts with JAPAN101R, so I emailed the department and they sent me an assessment. After I did the assessment, they recommended me to take either JAPAN 202R or JAPAN 301R. …”
Winter 2021
What electives are you taking next term? 6 points, 18 comments
“I’m looking for an interesting course to take! Doesn’t necessarily have to be birdy - I feel like esp. if you’re not interested in the bird course it might turn out to be more work than anticipated :p”
u/tendstofortytwo: “ENGL 306A looks pretty interesting, and it fulfills my depth, so I'm taking that next term. Other cool electives I want to take at some point: PHIL 145, ECON 212, other PHILs, some PSYCHs, FR 151, JAPAN 101R...”
Fall 2020
CS Course Plan 3 points, 6 comments
u/BlazingMuddy-6305: “My plan: Humanities: JAPAN 101R, 102R, 201R. \[I'm thinking of taking some ENGL courses if I cannot enroll in the next-level JAPAN course.\] Social science: ECON 101, 212. Pure and applied sciences. PHYS 121, 122, 256. …”
Alum/4th year students of UW, are there any professors/courses that you recommend every student should take? 11 points, 16 comments
u/EternityCode: “JAPAN 101R.”
Spring 2020
Going into my final year, anyone have info on these electives 1 point, 2 comments
u/Noct_98: “… Also, if anyone has any other bird course suggestions, preferably something that doesn't require essays and no exams would be nice :) \- JAPAN 101R, ANTH 204, HLTH 101, HLTH 204, GEOG 222”
u/jaydashnine: “I've taken JAPAN101R in person and I am taking JAPAN102R online. The course is very straightforward with low workload, but you are expected to learn the new vocabulary words and verb conjugations for each chapter. …”
Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026
- Undergraduate Calendar, 2026–27The official entry
- Requirements for Fall 2026Waterloo’s requisite checker
- Schedule of Classes, Fall 2026Instructors, rooms, live seats
- Quest Class SearchWhere you enrol
- Course outlinesSyllabi from past terms (UW login)
- UW FlowStudent ratings and reviews
- WClassesPast sections back to 2004, and who taught them