The Japanese Studies Program is an interdisciplinary program that offers students opportunities to become familiar with various aspects of Japanese culture: language, literature, history, politics, art, and religion. Students majoring in Japanese Studies are required to study in Japan for at least one semester. (Gustavus has student exchange relationships with Hosei University in Tokyo and Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka.) The major culminates in the production of a scholarly paper on some aspect of Japanese culture, written in the senior year under the guidance of one of the participating faculty members.