G369/G200 Modern Japan
Diana Lin
Spring 2008

Office: #F12, Tamarack Hall
(O)980 6981
Web page: http://www.iun.edu/~hisdcl
Email: dchenlin@iun.edu
Office hours:MW: 9:15-10am, 11:20am-2:20pm or by appointment

Bibliography on outside sources

Purpose of Course

This course gives a survey of modern Japan, from the 1860s to the present. Focusing on the 20th century, it aims at an understanding of both continuity and change in Japanese society and culture. It covers the modernizing reforms of the 19th century, 20th century Japanese imperialism, post World War II American occupation and the consequences on Japanese society, and post World War II Japanese society and culture.

This course deals with both content and methodological issues of modern Japan. Our readings offer us different approaches at understanding modern Japanese society. We examine these approaches and develop our own in our take-home papers. For course requirements please refer to the requirement part below.

This course fulfills the following general educational goals at Indiana University Northwest (listed on p.20 on IUN Bulletin 2000-2002):

Goal 2 Students will think critically.
Goal 5 Students will understand the value of the past and recognize the relationship between the past to the present and the future.
Goal 7 Students will recognize the many diversities of human experience.

Course Requirements

Requirements include

• Two take-home papers, each 8-10 pages, typed, double spaced.  The papers need citations. 

• Those who take the course at the 200 level will use the two built-in paper topics, respectively, using the required readings plus one outside reading for each paper. 

• Those who take the course at the 300 level will use the first built-in paper topic but need to find a second paper topic on their own, based on themes covered in class.  They are required to use both in-class readings and outside sources for their second paper.  And they are required to discuss their prospective paper topic with the instructor no later than the 13th week.  The paper proposal counts as part of the final grade.

• Each student is also required to do a 3-4 page book review on a monograph on modern Japan.  Book title needs to be preapproved of by instructor.

• The essay questions for each week's readings need to be answered prior to class in the Oncourse Class Chatroom--either put forward your views or add to/comment on the views put forward by others who input their answers prior to you. They are graded and due at the time of class.

Method of grading: all grades are assigned in percentages, which will be tabulated at the end of the semester and converted to letter grades. The averages of your take-home papers and of your weekly writing assignments will be taken to represent the grades for your take-home paper and weekly writing assignment. The conversion is as follows: 93-100: A; 90-92.9: A-; 85-89.9: B+; 80-  84.9: B; 75-79.9: B-; 70-74.9: C+; 65-69.9: C; 60-64.9: C-; 55-59.9: D+; 50-54.9: D; 45-49.9: D-; 44 and below: F.

• Class attendance: 3 per cent
• Writing assignments: 22 per cent
• Book review: 5 per cent
• Each take-home paper: 35 per cent

Required Readings:

The following books are required readings and available at the IUN bookstore.

Dower, John. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. W.W.Norton, 1999.

Field, Norma. In the Realm of a Dying Emperor: Japan at Century's End. Vintage Books, 1993.

Hopper, Helen. Fukuzawa Yukichi: from Samurai to Capitalist. Pearson Education, 2005.

McCormack, Gavan. The Emptiness of Japanese Affluence, rev. ed. M.E.Sharpe, 2001.

Useful links:

The following are Japanese newspapers or websites about Japan.
Asahi Shimbun.
Japan Today.
Japanese language and culture.
Japan in the world
Japan Focus
(Columbia University) Asia for Educators

The following web site contains useful information of consumer goods prices in Japan: Price check Tokyo
Yahoo: yahoo's Japan site

"Red Haired barbarians:Japanese paintings of foreigners 1800-1865

Class schedule

Map of Japan
Map of East Asia

Week 1

Jan.7 Introduction: Modern Japan.

Jan.9 Japan's opening to America.  Online reading: Modern Japan outline.  Commodore Perry and Japan. Principal Japanese Daimyo to 1868. Notes.

Homework #1: Pretend you are a reporter for a Japanese newspaper in 1853. Write a paragraph on Perry's arrival. Use excerpts from the letters of President Fillmore and Commodore Perry.

Week 2

Jan.14 The samurai in mid-19th century.  Hopper, chaps.1 & 2. Notes.

Homework #2: Briefly describe the Japanese feudal structure and the samurai as a class.

Jan.16 The Meiji Restoration.  Online reading: The Meiji Restoration.  Meiji charter oath and the constitution.  Notes.

Homework #3: Comment on the way the emperor and the diet’s authorities overlap in the constitution.

Japan's Modernization and the Road to Imperial Expansion.

Week 3

Jan.21 Martin Luther King's Day observed. No class.

Jan.23 Transformation of samurai lives. Hopper, chaps.3 & 4. Notes.

Homework #4: Discuss what social changes were brought about by the Meiji Restoration and the constitution.

Week 4

Jan.28 Meiji society and values.  Hopper, chaps.5, 6, & Epilogue. Notes.

Homework #5: Comment on the juxtaposition of modern and conservative values in Meiji society.

Jan.30 Nationalism, Social Darwinism, and Meiji expansion.  Hopper, chap.7. Notes.

Homework #6: Discuss how the Japansese expanded in Asia during the Meiji era and how they used social Darwinism as a justification for it.

Week 5

Feb.4 Meiji and Taisho society and politics (1868-1926).  Notes.

Homework #7: How did the Taisho era distinguish itself from the Meiji Era?

Feb.6 The beginning of Showa: society and politics.  Notes.

Homework #8: Discuss two or three prominent features of Japanese society and politics from the 1870s to the 1920s.

Week 6

Feb.11 The "15 year war"--Japan's war in Asia (1931-45).  Notes

Homework #9: Imagine history could be rewritten, come up with a solution to stem the imperial expansion in the 1930s.

Feb.13 The end of the war and defeat. Dower, chaps.1& 2. Notes Online reading: American prisoners of war working in China under Japanese rule

Homework #10: Comment on the Japanese and the emperor's reception of the American occupation.

Week 7

Feb.18 Reforming Japanese society. Dower, chaps. 6 & 8. Notes

Homework #11: Comment on some seeming contradictions in American occupational policies toward Japan from 1945 to 1950

Feb.20 Changes in the role of the emperor. Dower, chaps. 9 & 10. Notes

Homework #12: Compare/contrast the purpose behind the restoration of the emperor in 1868 and the American occupational forces' decision to keep Hirohito in power after World War II.

Week 8

Feb.25 The emperor and the war.  Dower, chaps.11 & 12. Note

Homework #13: How did the occupational forces make sure the emperor was not guilty of war crimes?

Feb.27 Evaluating the Tokyo trial.  Dower, chap.15. Notes

Homework #14: Do you consider the trial fair? If so, give your reasons. If not, in what ways could it have been improved upon?

Interview of John Dower; John Dower on occupation of Iraq

History and Memory of the War

Week 9

Mar.3 Okinawa and postwar Japan. Field, chapt.1. Notes. First paper due via Oncourse email attachment.  Paper needs to be 8-10 pages, typed, double-spaced. Paper topic: Imagine yourself a Japanese who lived through the war. Explore how the American occupation policies affected the changes and continuities in Japanese society, politics, or religion after the war (you may want to focus just on two areas). You need to use our required readings and one external source. Citations are required in the paper, e.g. (Field, p.23). A bibliography is needed at the end.

Homework #15: Why did the Okinawans keep silence over the war atrocities on them after World War II?

Mar.5 Shintoism and postwar Japan.  Field, chapt.2. Notes.  

Homework #16: How did the heated argument for religious freedom reflect changes and continuities in Japanese society after the war?

Week 10 Mar.10-16 Spring break.  No class.

Week 11

Mar.17 War and memory. McCormack, chap.6, 226-284. Notes

Essay question 17 How would historical denials help with national policies in postwar Japan?

Mar.19 The emperor and postwar Japan.  Field, chapt.3.  Notes. Washington Post coverage of the Enola Gay exihibit, 2003

Hideaki Kase on the prime ministers' visits to the Yasukuni Shrine.

Homework #18: Which aspects of Japanese politics remained conservative and undemocratic after the war?

Week 12

Mar.24 Video: Reinventing Japan.

Mar.26 Japanese politics and economy, I. planning economic growth. Dower, chap.17. Notes 

Homework #19: Give your view of the relationship between the state and the market in Japan.

Week 13

Mar.31 Japanese politics and economy, II. McCormack, chap.1, "The Construction State," 25-77. Notes Optional reading: The construction state and organized crime.

Homework #20: What is the biggest difference in politics between a bi-partisan government, such as the U.S., and a one party dominated government such as that in Japan?

Apr.2 Japanese politics and economy, III. McCormack, chap.2, "The Leisure State,|" 78-112. Notes

Homework #21: Comment on some ill consequences of state intervention in real estate development on the Japanese economy.

Week 14

Apr.7 Japanese politics and economy, IV. McCormack, chap.3, "The Farm State," 113-149. Notes

Homework #22: Explain what influenced Japanese agrarian policies after World War II.

Apr.9 Online readings: Postwar economic takeoff.

Homework #23: Which aspects of Japanese economy contributed to its success in the 1980s?

Week 15

Apr.14 McCormack, Conclusion, 287-297.  Online reading: Decline of the Japanese economy: a brief explanation. Online reading: Not Made in Japan. Retailing Chains Caught in a Wave of Bankruptcies in the U.S..

Homework #24: Which aspects of Japanese economy contributed to its recession in the 1990s?

Apr. 16 Video: The Burst of the Bubble.

Week 16

Apr.21 Aging and economic recession.  Japan's Aging Society. Notes. Additional reading: Japan's Hybrid Women Video: Japan's Aging Society.

Homework #25: How would an aging society affect Japanese economy in the near future?

Apr.23 Overview of recent changes in Japanese politics and economy. Notes.

Additional readings for your reference:
Speech before the Diet by PM Koizumi, Feb. 2003.
Japan's uncertain future.
Japan Is Back

A bogus two-party system

Week 17

Second paper due on April 30 as email attachment via Oncourse. Paper topic: : Give your own definitions of democracy and free market economy, and then evaluate Japanese post-WWII politics and economy against your criteria. Finally explain what type of a political system and economy Japan is. Offer your solutions for Japan’s economic recession. Paper needs to be 8-10 pages long, double-spaced, with citations. Need to use required readings and one outside reading. Those who are taking the course at the 300 level need to find their own topic on Japan after 1945, a topic that does not overlap with their first paper topic.