History 3603E: Modern Japan: Nation, Society, and Culture

Course Description

The aim of this course is to trace the historical development of Japan from 1600 to the present.  The course will start with the Tokugawa period between 1600 and 1868 in order to understand some of the social and cultural foundations on which later political regimes built upon in the 19th and 20th centuries.  It will then proceed to the Meiji period in the last half of the 19th century, when Japan combined its traditional heritage and new ideas from the West to create a nation-state that also had a strong impact on the Japanese economy, society, and culture.  It will also trace the creation of Japan’s overseas empire in the early 20th century and the effect this had on Japan, culminating in its involvement in World War II.  The course will conclude with the postwar reconstruction and Japan’s new global economic power in the last half of the 20th century and its impact on Japanese society and culture.

Required Texts

Andrew Gordon, A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present (2nd edition), (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)

Wm. Theodore de Bary et al, Sources of Japanese Tradition, Volume Two: Part One, 1600 to 1868 (2nd edition), (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006)

Wm Theodore de Bary et al, Sources of Japanese Tradition, Volume Two: Part Two, 1868 to 2000 (2nd edition), (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006)

Selected readings available on the course WebCT site

Evaluation

2 Term Papers (around 15 pages each; 25% each)                           50%

6 Article Analyses (5-6 pages: 5% each)                                            30% 

2 Oral Presentations (5% each)                                                         10%

Discussion Participation                                                                      10%

 

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General Information