G369 Modern Japan (internet section)
Diana Lin
Spring 2009

Office: #F12, Tamarack Hall
(O)219 980 6981
Web page: http://www.iun.edu/~hisdcl
Email: dchenlin@iun.edu
Office hours: MW 9:30-10am, 11:15am-2:30pm, 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

• Weekly writing assignments: There are two types of writing assignments for each week:

  1.      One or two essay questions (indicated as "essays") that are to be typed and double spaced, about one page for each question, attached to your Oncourse email to me.  They are due on Sunday night.

  2.      and shorter Chatroom questions that you need to post on the Oncourse Forum.  I will post the questions in the Discussion Forum at the beginning of each week for you to answer.   For both Oncourse email and forum questions, you need to log onto Oncourse with your IUN email ID and password. They are due on Sunday night.

• Two take-home papers, each 10-12 pages, typed, double spaced.  The papers need citations. 

• The first paper is a built-in topic that expects you to use the required readings plus one outside reading for each paper. 

• The second paper is a  research paper that relies more on outside sources. You will need to find a second paper topic on your own, based on themes covered in class. You are required to discuss your prospective paper topic with me no later than the 14th 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 pre-approved of by instructor.

• Campus visits: each student is expected to make two campus visits: one earlier in the semester, and one by the 13th week. I will answer any questions you have for the online class during the visits.

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.

The grade distribution is as follows: 

Essay Homework: 20 per cent
Forum postings: 10 per cent
Two campus visits with the instructor: 5 per cent
Book review: 5 per cent
Take-home papers: 30 per cent each

All grades will be shown in your Online Gradebook, accessible via Oncourse. You need to have an IUN ID and password to access Oncourse. If you do not have an IUN email account, you can set up one here at https://itaccounts.iu.edu/.

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
Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies

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
Japan: Size and Location
Imperialism in China

Week 1 (Jan.12-18)

Introduction: Modern Japan.

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

Essay question 1: Pretend you are a reporter for a Japanese newspaper in 1853. Write an article on Perry's arrival for your paper. Use excerpts from the letters of President Fillmore and Commodore Perry.

Week 2 (Jan.19-25)

1. This part of the reading for week 2 postponed to week 3: The samurai in mid-19th century. Hopper, chaps.1 & 2. Notes.

(Essay question 2: Comment on the way the emperor and the diet’s authorities overlap in the constitution. )

2. This part of the reading will still be required for week 2: Online reading: The Meiji Restoration.  Meiji charter oath and the constitution.  Notes.

Essay question 2: 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.26-Feb.1)

1. This part of the reading is moved over from week 2: The samurai in mid-19th century. Hopper, chaps.1 & 2. Notes.

Essay question 3: Briefly describe the Japanese feudal structure and the samurai as a class.

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

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

Week 4 (Feb.2-8)

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

Essay question 5: Comment on the juxtaposition of modern and conservative values in Meiji society.

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

Essay question 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.9-15)

1. Taisho society and politics (1912-1926). Notes.

Essay question 7: How did the Taisho era distinguish itself from the Meiji Era?

2. The beginning of Showa: society and politics. Notes.

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

Week 6 (Feb.16-22)

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

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

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

Essay question 10: Comment on the Japanese and the emperor's reception of the American occupation.

Week 7 (Feb.23-Mar.1)

1. Reforming Japanese society. Dower, chaps. 6 & 8. Notes

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

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

Essay question 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 (Mar.2-8)

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

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

2. Evaluating the Tokyo trial. Dower, chap.15. Notes

Essay question 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.9-15) First take-home examination due on Mar.12. 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, and their memory of prewar Japan (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.

1. Okinawa and postwar Japan. Field, chapt.1. Notes.

Essay question 15 Why did the Okinawans keep silence over the war atrocities on them after World War II?

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

Essay question 16 How did the heated argument for religious freedom reflect changes and continuities in Japanese society after the war?

Week 10 (Mar.16-22) Spring break. No class.

Week 11 (Mar.23-29)

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

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

2 The emperor and postwar Japan.  Field, chapt.3.  Notes. Washington Post coverage of the Enola Gay exihibit, 2003  Hideaki Kase on prime ministers' visits to the Yasukuni Shrine

Essay question 18 Which aspects of Japanese politics remained conservative and undemocratic after the war?

Postwar Japanese Economy and Politics

Week 12 (Mar.30-Apr.5)

1. Mar.24 Video: Reinventing Japan.(Raintree 209, 2:30-3:45pm)

2. Planning economic growth. Dower, chap.17. Notes. 

Essay question 19 Give your view of the relationship between the state and the market in Japan.

Week 13 (Apr.6-12)

1. Issues or ideology? McCormack, chap.1, "The Construction State," 25-77. Notes. Optional reading: The construction state and organized crime.

Essay question 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?

2. McCormack, chap.2, "The Leisure State,|" 78-112. Notes

Essay question 21 Comment on some ill consequences of state intervention in real estate development on the Japanese economy.

Week 14 (Apr.13-19)

1. McCormack, chap.3, "The Farm State," 113-149. Notes

Essay question 22 Explain what influenced Japanese agrarian policies after World War II.

2. Online readings: Postwar economic takeoff.

Essay question 23 Which aspects of Japanese economy contributed to its success in the 1980s?

Week 15 (Apr.20-26)

1. 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..

Essay question 24 Which aspects of Japanese economy contributed to its recession in the 1990s?

April 16 Video: The Burst of the Bubble. (April 16 Raintree 209 2:30-3:45pm)

Week 16 (Apr.27-May 2)

1. Aging and economic recession. Japan's Aging Society. Notes. Additional reading: Japan's Hybrid Women

Essay question 25 How would an aging society affect Japanese economy in the near future?

2. 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 and country/region report due on May 4 via Oncourse email attachment.