Absolutely an amazing professor. The best I have ever met. He is never selfish when sharing his knowledge of Japanese culture, and his understanding of Japan is deep and comprehensive. He is also friendly and cute if you get to know him. It is an honor to take a course taught by an Emmy Award winner and a true master.

I like him very much. He gave us a lot of stories about his understanding of some Japanese writers. The course is not hard. You'll need to read 6-7 books. If you read the book, final is easy.

I feel like I learned nothing from his class. No analysis about any of the novel at all, just some general intros about the authors. One question on the final represents how ridiculous the course is : "what did you learn from this course?"

The best Japanese teacher I have ever had! So knowledgable on Japanese and he is nice and funny I love his classes. There r quizzes only. No finals. :) Make sure u do well on quizzes

We read Soseki Natsume's Bocchan in JAPAN146. Grading is based on short quizzes held every two weeks and how well you were able to understand the material during class (no midterm or final). You are expected to be able to read and translate the text during class so make sure to read and look up words beforehand! Very nice and great translator.

Professor Nathan knows what he's talking about and does want his students to do well. I say class is mandatory because he doesn't follow the syllabus. He'll tell you before if there's a quiz (not by e-mail), so don't skip class. His lectures are more talks about his past than lectures, but that's cool. Just read when you should and you'll pass.