H381	MODERN JAPAN	FALL 2006
email: rloftus		voice mail: 6275
web page: http://www.willamette.edu/~rloftus/		office: Walton Hall 144

Course Objectives

To explore the principal themes and issues in modern Japanese history, and to encourage thought and reflection on Japan's position in the modern world. The story of Japan's development as a modern nation is a fascinating one that revolves around several questions that we will explore in this course: 1) What is the legacy of Japan's long, stable pre-modern period, especially the Tokugawa Era? 2) What is the nature of Japan's political and economic transformation known as the Meiji Restoration? and 3) What kind of socio-political conditions were responsible for Japan's turn to the ultra-nationalism, militarism and particularism of the1930s? 4) How did ordinary Japanese people experience the war and how did people look back upon these years during the early postwar years and interpret this turn towards militarism? Our aim will be to gain insights into the Japanese mindset and its societal context during each of the periods governed by these questions. Students will be expected to keep current on assigned readings, to participate regularly in class discussion, and be involved in small-group panel discussions on the books by Wilson, Loftus and Yamashita.

Requirements

1. Regular class attendance and participation in discussion

2. Careful preparation of assigned readings

3. Conduct in-class discussions and presentations as scheduled

4. Submit three (3) analytical papers (6-8 pp.) as assigned.

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Texts

Peter Duus, MODERN JAPAN
George Wilson, PATRIOTS AND REDEEMERS: MOTIVES IN THE MEIJI RESTORATION
Ronald Loftus, TELLING LIVES: WOMEN'S SELF-WRITING IN MODERN JAPAN
Samuel Yamashita , LEAVES FROM AN AUTUMN OF EMERGENCIES

Handouts on a regular basis

Useful Web Links:

For general online resources and chronologies click here. See, also, for modern Japan, here.

Weekly Schedule of Class

Lecture/Discussion Topics

Week 1

Aug. 29	Introductions/Expectations for Course	Web Link for Japan's Ancient Past: The Asuka Period
31	The Pattern of Japan's Past	Duus, Ch. 1

Week 2

September 5	Establishment of the Tokugawa Regime See screens of Edo c.1650s	Duus, Ch. 2 Click here for Daimyo Classification See Link on Tokugawa Neo-Confucianism
7	Tokugawa Political and Social Order See also the Bushido Page and Samurai Archives	General Overview of the Samurai class General Overview of Merchant class

Week 3

12	Social, Economic and Cultural Change See some data and images here See the Virtual Tour of Edo site Link to images of Edo merchants	Duus, Ch. 3 What does it mean to be modern? For link tp Tokugawa Art Museum click here Click for replica of wealthy landlord house See info on merchant culture
	Link to Sankin-kotai system and Online material on Perry and more.	Link: Coming of Perry Treaty of Kanagawa
14	Crisis in Late Tokugawa/ Coming of the West The Tempo Reforms and other Interpretive Questions	Images of Perry /Black Ships Link Japan Opened The Harris Treaty of 1858

Week 4

19	Toward Restoration Pivotal Moments	Click here for chronology, Duus, Ch. 4
	Useful vocabulary	The Charter Oath
21	The Meiji Restoration A brief overview Detailed chronology Important Links for the Meiji Restoration	Article: Thomas Smith, "Japan's Aristocratic Revolution" What constitutes a Revolution? See also, Colin Barker on Marxism and the Restoration

Week 5

26	The Meiji Restoration and Millenarianism: Begin Student Panels on Patriots and Redeemers On the "Eijanaika" Movement	George Wilson, Patriots and Redeemers What does "Eejanaika" mean?
28	Continue Student Panels on Patriots and Redeemers	Class Presentations/Discussion on Wilson

Week 6

First Paper Topic

Oct. 3	The Meiji Revolution (I)
5	The Meiji Revolution (II)-Video On Industrialization and the Zaibatsu, click here	The Last Samurai

Week 7

10	The Popular Rights Movement	Duus, Ch. 5-6 FIRST PAPER DUE
12	Women in the Meiji Period Link to the Meiji Constitution of 1889	Telling Lives , Introduction and Ch. 1

Week 8

17	Japan's First Industrial Revolution Modern Economic Growth See the details on Japan's first major pollution incident, the Ashio Mine Incident	Duus, Ch. 7; Video Telling Lives, Ch. 2
19	The Rise of Socialism and "Imperial Democracy"	Duus, Ch. 8-9

 Mid-Semester Break

Week 9

24	"Taisho Demokurashii" and Politics Power Point Presentation	Duus, Ch. 10
26	"Taisho" or the Interwar Years? Japan in the 1920s On Taisho Women	Telling Lives , Ch. 3- 4 First Student Panles on Telling Lives: Chs. 2, 3, 4

The Great Kanto Earthquake, Sept. 1, 1923

Week 10

31	Politics and Culture 1918-1932: Taisho Liberalism and Illiberalism Kita Ikki's Plan for Reconstruction	Duus, Ch. 11 Handout: article by Henry Smith
Useful Links:	Parliamentary Politics 1912-1918	Links to Marxism
Nov. 2	Women Writers and Leftwing Ideologies in the 1920s Chronology	Telling Lives, Ch. 5-6 Article on Café Waitresses in Taisho Japan         Second Student Panel Presentations: Telling Lives Chs. 5, 6

 See Leftist Posters Exhibition at:

Second Paper Topic

See fascinating Dentsu Adverstising Museum Pages

Photos from Prewar Japan

Week 11

7	The Rise of Militarism Excellent site on Japan's Aggression The Manchurian Incident	Duus, Ch. 12 Hull's Four Points
9	The Road to War 1931-1941 "Know Your Enemy: Japan" Chronology Key Dates More on Militarism Some important documents Relevant Links	See<Attack on Pearl Harbor> A good gateway site on PH attack See also an aerial photo of ships on Battleship Row More on Pearl Harbor SECOND Paper Due

See web sites on the Controversy over the Rape of Nanking/Nanjing

Nanjing Massacre

Comprehensive site for Nanjing Massacre

See Web Links on Carrier Battles in the Pacific

Japan Imperial Navy Page

Week 12

14	The Pacific War 1941-1945 Battle of Midway Site	Duus, Ch. 13-14 Read Yamashita Chs. 2-3
		See Showakan Exhibits
16	The War in Japanese Eyes: Leaves in an Autumn of Emergencies	Student Led Discussions Chs 2-3

Week 13

21 23	Leaves in an Autumn of Emergencies Chs 4-6 THANKSGIVING BREAK	Discussion Chs. 4-6 in Yamashita
28	Leaves in an Autumn of Emergencies Chs 7-9 On the kamikaze special attack units More pilot letters, and stories	Discuss Yamashita Chs. 7, 8, 9

Paper Topic for Paper #3

Week 14

30	The War in Japanese Eyes: Twenty-four Eyes (158 minutes)	General Peace clearing-house page Some Notes on Ending the Pacific War
Dec. 5	Finish Twenty-four Eyes, Discuss	Read chapter by James Orr, "'Sentimental Humanism': The Victim in Novels and Films" Ref: See CIA studies on Final Months of War with Japan
7	Discuss 24 Eyes, Leaves and Orr article Yomiuri series on War Responsibility	Links on Burma Campaign John Dower article on War Responsibility

Third/Final Paper Due Tuesday, Dec. 12, 3:00 pm