Chinese philosophy generally will cover first the pre-Qin era schools: legalism, mohism, Confucianism-1 (meaning Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi) and Taoism. Some of the key ideas to consider are the meaning of Dao (道), the role of different virtues such as Ren (仁) and Li "rite" (禮), the relationship between what later became codified as distinct schools, and the relationship between Confucius and the Ruist tradition more generally.
It will then look at the arrival of Buddhism and how this changes the thought landscape of China. Next it should consider how Confucianism-2 develops as a state philosophy for the dynasties of China focusing especially on the 12th Century CE and Zhu Xi in what is called "Neoconfucianism." These views made Li "the principle" (理) a prominent component and provided a cosmogony to respond to the Buddhists.
It will then generally skip forward to the 20th Century and look at contemporary appropriations of these traditions such as Mou Zongsan, Roger Ames, P.J. Ivanhoe, Wu Teiming, Chengyang Li, and others. While doing so, there will be a strong focus on ethics and social philosophy -- though some questions about the nature of mind are generally addressed in terms of Taoism. One major issue is that the ancient texts are a little scrambled in sequence and have been re-edited over time.
Japanese philosophy generally will focus on the native animistic religion of Japan and the reconstructed Shinto, different strains of Buddhism, and somewhat on the Tokugawa appropriation of Confucianism. Here, there will be Dogen, Pure Land Buddhism (Jyoudo and Shinjyoudo), Zen Buddhism (Chan Buddhism as Chinese Buddhism), questions of the compatibility of Buddhism and violence, and the Kyoto School. It may also address questions of the integrability of these different philosophies as was forced under the title Tokugawa regime. Overall, Japanese philosophy will probably look at more Buddhism than Chinese philosophy and in this respect be more "religious" (depending on how we define that term).
In both cases, there should also be coverage of the problems posed by doing comparative philosophy. One of the biggest questions is whether different world views can be commensurate or not. While everyone believes they are at least some what commensurate -- it is not trivial to make them work together in any coherent way. Derek Parfet for instance posits a secular Buddhism that denies there is a self. the New Confucians look at whether Confucianism can be compatible with "rights" and democracy.
References
- Any of the numerous translations made by Ames and Rosemont of classical Chinese text
- Teaching Confucianism edited by Jeffrey L. Richey (Oxford 2008)
- Sourcebooks for Chinese and Japanese Philosophy