HIST381 |
|
Fall 2011 |
email: rloftus |
|
voice mail: 6275 |
|
web page: http://www.willamette.edu/~rloftus/ |
MWF 1:50-2:50 |
office: Walton Hall 144 |
James L. McClain, JAPAN: A MODERN HISTORY |
![]() |
George Wilson, PATRIOTS AND REDEEMERS: MOTIVES IN THE MEIJI RESTORATION |
![]() |
Ronald Loftus, TELLING LIVES: WOMEN'S SELF-WRITING IN MODERN JAPAN |
![]() |
Michio Takeyama, HARP OF BURMA |
![]() |
FILMS: |
Harp of Burma, Twenty-Four Eyes |
Useful Web Links:
For general online resources and chronologies click here. See, also, for modern Japan, here.
Week 1
August 31 |
Introductions/Expectations for Course |
Web Link for Japan's Ancient Past: The Asuka Period |
September 2 |
Discussion: Short reading from Tetsuo Najita in a PDF.Establishment of the Tokugawa Regime Map of Japan at time of Meiji Restoration |
McClain, Ch. 1, pp. 5-47 |
Week 2
5 |
Labor Day--No class |
|
7 |
Tokugawa Political and Social OrderClick here for Daimyo ClassificationSee WISE PDF for Tokugawa Military Hoouse Codes
|
McClainCh. 2, pp. 48-75See Link on Tokugawa Neo-ConfucianismNeo-Cconfucian 4-tiered class systemGeneral Overview of the Samurai classGeneral Overview of Merchant class
|
| 9 | Social, Economic ChangesSee some data and images here See also the Bushido Page and Samurai Archives |

Week 3
12 |
Factors in Japan's Pre-Industrial GrowthLook at the Osaka Tonya PDF on WISE Edo Life and CulturePrints of Ando Hiroshige and HokusaiSee the Virtual Tour of Edo siteLink to images of Edo merchants |
McClain,Ch.3, pp. 76-112What does it mean to be modern?
See info on merchant culture |
14 |
Urbanization and Cultural Change |
|
16 |
Crisis in Late Tokugawa/ Coming of the WestThe Tempo Reforms and other Interpretive QuestionsSee the Shinron--New Theses PDF on WISE |
George Wilson, Patriots and Redeemers, Preface, ix-xii and Ch.1,1-11Link: Coming of PerryOnline material on Perry. And here.Images of PerryPerry Journal Treaty of KanagawaThe Harris Treaty of 1858 |
Week 4
19 |
Toward RestorationPivotal Moments |
Click here for chronology,Read Wilson, Chs. 2-4, pp. 13-75McClain, Ch. 4, pp.113-154 |
21 |
The Meiji RestorationMeiji Restoration and McClain's TakeUseful vocabulary |
Conrad Totman's "take," handoutThe Charter Oath
|
23 |
The E.H. "Norman Thesis" and Marxist Interpretion of the Meiji RestorationDetailed chronology |
PDF: Thomas Smith, "Japan's Aristocratic Revolution"McClain, Ch. 5, pp. 155-182Wilson, chs.5-7, 77-131What constitutes a Revolution?See also, Colin Barker on Marxism and the Restoration, sections starting with "The Social Character of the Meiji Restoration" |

Week 5
26 |
The Meiji Restoration and Millenarianism: Begin Student Panels on Patriots and RedeemersGeorge Wilson, Patriots and Redeemers Chs. 1-4On the "Eijanaika" Movement |
What does "Eejanaika" mean? |
28 |
Continue Student Panels on Patriots and Redeemers Chs 5-7 |
Class Presentations/Discussion on Wilson |
| 30 | The Meiji Revolution Two Japanese Views on the Meiji Ishin (also available on WISE) |
For another "take" on the Meiji Restoration, see the PDF "H381 MR Conservative" under Resources on WISE |
Week 6
First Paper Topic
October 3 |
The Meiji Revolution (I) |
McClain Ch. 6-7, pp. 183-245 |
5 |
The Meiji Revolution (II)-On Industrialization and the Zaibatsu, click here |
The Last Samurai |
| 7 | The Popular Rights Movement and the Origins of the Political Parties Imperial Rescript on Education |
Read PDF on "Fukuzawa" found on WISE |
SPECIAL EVENT MONDAY OCTOBER 10 The English Department and the Center for Asian Studies Present A Reading by Contemporary Japanese-American Writer
Kyoko Mori
7:00 pm Cone Chapel Read a PDF excerpt from Polite Lies |
Week 7
10 |
Living the Meiji Dream |
McClain Ch. 8-9, 246-315 |
12 |
The Meiji Constitution/End of Meiji and the Taisho Political CrisisPower Point on Taisho Political Crisis |
FIRST PAPER DUETelling Lives , Ch. 1and 2 |
| 14 | How "Democratic" Was Taisho Democracy? Read the PDF: "The Non-Liberal Roots of Taisho Democracy" by Henry Smith
|
McClain Ch. 10, pp. 316-356 |
Week 8
17 |
Japan's First Industrial RevolutionModern Economic Growth |
Telling Lives, Ch. 3Yosano Akiko's poem to her brotherNew Awakenings, New Modernities --See article by Vera Mackie on "Women and Pacificism" |
19 |
The Political Context for the Interwar Years:"Imperial Democracy" and The Tumultuous TwentiesMore on "Taisho Demokurashii"Politics and Culture 1918-1932: Taisho Liberalism and Illiberalism |
McClain, Ch. 11, 357-97 |
| 21 | Mid Semester Day No Class | Telling Lives Chs 4-6 |

The Great Kanto Earthquake, Sept. 1, 1923
Week 9
24 |
First Student Panels on Telling Lives: Chs. 1-3
|
McClain, Ch. 11, 357-397 |
26 |
Second Student Panel Presentations: Telling Lives Chs. 4-5 |
|
| 28 | Finish Telling Lives, Ch. 6, Fukunaga Misao |
Week 10
31 |
Taisho and the Interwar Years: Women in Late Meiji and Early Taisho WomenDiscussion of Second Paper Topic
See the details on Japan's first major pollution incident, the Ashio Mine IncidentSee also this article on Tanaka Shozo |
Telling Lives, Ch. 6PDF on Hiratsuka Raicho, 80-118 and Seito (Bluestockings) |
Nov 2 |
Parliamentary Politics 1912-1918Prewar Chronology |
Links to Marxism |
4 |
The Interwar YearsEntering a "Period of National Eemergency"Kita Ikki's Plan for Reconstruction |
McClain, Ch. 12, pp. 405-440Article on Café Waitresses in Taisho JapanorAnd also, PDF by Elise Tipton, "The Cafe: Contested Space of Modernity in Interwar Japan," pp. 119-36 |

Week 11
7 |
The Washington Naval Conference v. Unilateralism in the World Order |
|
9 |
Militarism and The Road to War 1931-1941 (I)Fundamental Principles of National Policy 1936Excellent site on Japan's Aggression |
McClain, Ch. 13, pp. 441-481Read Michio |
| 11 | The Manchurian Incident | Slide show |

Week 12
14 |
The Road to War 1931-1941 (II)"Know Your Enemy: Japan" ChronologyKey DatesSome important documentsHull's Four PointsA good gateway site on PH attackPearl Harbor Site with lots of video, including FDR's "Day of Infamy" speech See also an aerial photo of ships on Battleship RowAnother Pearl Harbor SiteMore on Pearl Harbor |
McClain, Ch. 14, 482-515Read Michio
|
16 |
The Pacific War 1941-1945 |
Battle of Midway Site |
18 |
The End of the War and the Imperial BroadcastSome Notes on Ending the Pacific War |
Read Michio
|
Week 13
21 |
The War in Japanese Eyes: The Harp of Burma (1956, 116 mins)--Begin watching filmOn the" Divine Wind": the kamikaze special attack unitsMore pilot letters, and stories
|
|
23 |
The War in Japanese Eyes: Continue with The Harp of Burma |
|
Thanksgiving Break
Week 14
28 |
Finish Harp of Burma, Begin discussion The Harp of Burma, novel and filmBegin wtching : Twenty-four Eyes (total 158 minutes) |
|
30 |
View Second part, Twenty-four Eyes) |
Read chapter by James Orr, "'Sentimental Humanism': The Victim in Novels and Films." Also available on WISE under OrrVuictim pdf. |
Dec. 2 |
Finish viewing Twenty-four Eyes |
Links on Burma
Campaign
|
| Dec. 5 Full Discussion:Twenty-four Eyes, Harp of Burma, Read and discuss Orr Chapter and the notion of victimhood | ||
7 Discuss Paper Topic for Paper # Watch excerpts from The Human Condition? 3
|
||
9 Final Class: Thoughts on the Issue of War Responsibility See Yomiuri series on War Responsibility
Tomiyama Taeko,Imagination Without Borders:Feminist Art and Social Responsibility |
