Modern Japan Syllabus (Mayo, Grinnell)

8/13/2019 Modern Japan Syllabus (Mayo, Grinnell)

1/9

Modern Japan, 1868 to the Present (History 295-04)MWF 1:15 ! 2:05 | Alumni Recitation Hall, Room 314

Christopher M. Mayo | Grinnell College | Fall 2013 Syllabus

CONTACT INFORMATIONO " ce: 318 Mears Cottage # O" ce hours: M 2:15 ! 3:15,T 2:15 ! 3:15, or by appointment $;Campus Phone: # 641 $ 269%4477; Fax: # 641 $ 269%4733; Email:[email protected] # I willrespond within 24 hours on weekdays $; Website: www.christopher %mayo.com

COURSE DESCRIPTION As a child, Katayama Sen # 1859 ! 1933 $ witnessed the dismantling of Japan's insular samurai government and the "restoration" of the emperor to power in 1868. By the time hetraveled halfway across the world to Grinnell College to study as a young man at the endof the 19th century, Japan had given up swords for guns, and it was already well on its wayto becoming the most powerful nation in Asia. In 1922, Katayama helped found theCommunist Party in his home country and, though he died 11 years later, the partysurvived him. It continued on through Japan's prosperous "economic miracle" in the post % war era, and it has remained active today in the midst of the "lost decades" of economicstagnation in the 1990s and 2000s. This course explores the experiences of people likeKatayama, whose lives were deeply impacted by radical transformations within Japan, andasks what we can learn from them.

COURSE OBJECTIVES This course will familiarize you with the controversies and debates that have shaped Japanese society since the emergence of the modern nation in 1868. It will also prepare you for further, in %depth study of Japanese history and equip you with a betterunderstanding of how Japanese society has developed in the last 150 years. We will spendmuch of our time exploring primary sources # in English translation $ and making our waythrough some of the monumental changes that have shaped the country. In particular, we will focus on the social, work, family, and physical environments that have beenconstitutive of the Japanese experience. Building upon the knowledge and understanding you have gained in the course, you will produce an original research paper, which will focuson a topic of your choice that reects your particular interests.

GRADING

In this course, "C" work is satisfactory: it fullls the requirements in a manner thatdemonstrates competency and adequate understanding of the material. "B" work is good:it shows some insight into the material and develops a clear argument. "A" work isexcellent: it demonstrates originality, well %developed analyses, and skillful articulation of your thoughts. Your grade in this class will be based on the following requirements:

1
http://www.christopher-mayo.com/http://www.christopher-mayo.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


2/9

30% Participation and Attendance Classes will consist primarily of discussions. Each student will lead one week ofdiscussion and prepare a summary and review of the readings in advance of the classmeeting. Please let me know before the class if you would like to use a projector or need

to print handouts. See Blackboard # PWeb $ or the Evernote shared notebook # to beexplained in class $ for questions to keep in mind while reading and preparing fordiscussions.

10% Book ReviewWrite a review of one book you plan to use for your research paper. Only a small portionof your book review should summarize the work. The majority ought to consist of yourcritical analysis of it. You might discuss the author's main arguments, explain the sourcesthe author used, evaluate the e & ectiveness of the methodology they employed, identifythe strengths and weaknesses, consider how it changes our perceptions of the subjectmatter, or perhaps mention how well it addresses its intended audience. In order toaccomplish these objectives within 3 ! 4 pages, you will have to write clearly and concisely. This wo rk is to be done individually.

30% Research PaperIn the initial paper proposal # 1 ! 2 pages / 3'$ , imagine that you are submitting it to afellowship committee at Grinnell in order to receive additional funding to do theresearch. Make sure to describe the question you hope to answer and clearly state thesignicance of your intellectual contribution. In the outline # 2 ! 3 pages / 7'$ , set up theframework for your argument and mention evidence from primary and secondarysources that you plan to use in each section. The nal paper # 12 ! 15 pages / 20'$ will be written as if you were going to submit it as an article in an undergraduate researchjournal # http://www.grinnell.edu/o " ces/dean/map/pub_links $. This work is to be doneindividually.

30% Short PapersIn each of the three short papers # 3 ! 4 pages / 10' each $, students will use both primaryand secondary sources to address a major theme or specic historical issue from thecourse. This work is to be done individually. Please see PWeb or the Evernote sharednotebook for a list of suggested paper topics.

CLASSROOM DEPORTMENT

Discussions This course is structured around discussions. It is my job to make classes worthattending. However, your careful and reective reading of the assignments, as well asactive engagement in each class, is crucial for creating a rich environment of challengingintellectual exchange with your fellow students. Even when debates become heated, Iexpect students to conduct themselves with civility as Grinnellians.

2
http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/dean/map/pub_linkshttp://www.grinnell.edu/offices/dean/map/pub_linkshttp://www.grinnell.edu/offices/dean/map/pub_links


3/9

Attendance The percentage of your grade devoted to participation reects the course emphasis onparticipation. Any absence diminishes the experience not only for you but also for your

classmates. You should plan to arrive on time for every class, having completed thereadings for the day, and be prepared to stay for the entire period.

I encourage students who plan to observe holy days that coincide with class meetings orassignment due dates to consult with me in the rst three weeks of classes so that wemay reach a mutual understanding of how you can meet the terms of your religiousobservance and also the requirements for this course. If there are absences for family,school, or sports events that you have planned for the semester, please let me know inadvance so that we can make arrangements. For any excused absence # an absence withprior notication $ an additional short paper # see below $ may be submitted in order toreceive the participation points for that day. Except in the cases of emergencies,

unexcused absences # no prior notication $ will receive no credit for that day.

Creating a Shared Knowledge BaseEach day I will ask for a volunteer to take notes on the discussion and post them to ourEvernote shared notebook. I will post my reading notes for each class, and I alsoencourage students to post their reading notes in the notebook. By the end of thesemester, we will have created a rich resource that you can take with you for future use.

ExtensionsRegarding the short papers, you can elect to request one 48 %hour deadline extensionduring the semester for any of them. I would recommend that you avoid doing thisunless absolutely necessary, because you can do it only once.

Important NotesGrinnell College makes reasonable accommodations for students with documenteddisabilities. Please provide documentation identifying any special needs to the Dean forStudent Academic Support and Advising # Joyce Stern $ and notify me within the rst fewdays of the course. See the relevant section of the Student Handbook for policies onacademic honesty. In particular, plagiarism will not be tolerated in this course.

REQUIRED TEXTS

Required texts are available in the Grinnell College Bookstore for purchase, and they areon reserve at Burling Library. I strongly recommend that you bring a copy of the texts toeach class meeting for which they are assigned, because we will refer to them often indiscussions.

De Bary, William Theodore, ed. Sources of Japanese Tradition.Vol. 2, 1600! 2000. 2nd ed.New York: Columbia University Press, 2005. ISBN %13: 978%0231129848.

3


4/9

Gordon, Andrew. A Modern History of Japan " om Tokugawa Times to the Present . 3rd ed. NewYork & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN %13: 978%0199930159.

Hane, Mikiso. Peasants, Rebels, Women, and Outcasts: The Underside of Modern Japan, 2nd ed.New York: Rowman and Littleeld, 2003. ISBN %13: 978%0742525252.

Walker, Brett. Toxic Archipelago: A History of Industrial Disease in Japan. Seattle: Universityof Washington Press, 2010. ISBN %13: 978%0295991382.

CLASS MEETINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS

WEEK 1: Major Themes Aug 30# Fri $ : Work, Family, Social, and Physical Environments in Japan

View and discuss trailer for the movie "The Cove." Discuss "Perspectives on History," "How to Read a Primary Source," and "How to

Read a Secondar y Source."

WEEK 2: The Meiji Period (18681912)Sep 2# Mon $ : The Meiji Political Transformation

Sources of Japanese Tradition, "The Meiji Restoration," 669 ! 693. A Modern History of Japan, "The Samurai Revolution," 61 ! 76; and "Participation and

Protest," 77 ! 93.Sep 4# Wed $ : The View " om Rea % y Far Below

Toxic Archipelago, "The Agency of Insects," 22 ! 44. Peasants, Rebels, Women, and Outcasts: The Underside of Modern Japan, "Modernization and

the Peasants," 2 ! 27. SHORT PAPER #1 DUE BY 5:00 PM SEP 5 !THU "

Sep 6# Fri $ : National Identity and the Japanese Subject / Citizen Botsman, Daniel. "Freedom without Slavery: 'Coolies,' Prostitutes, and Outcastes in

Meiji Japan's 'Emancipation Moment.'" # 23:14 $ http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=kOyol55CLhk. An interview that discusses Daniel Botsman's work on concepts of"slavery," "freedom," and "emancipation" in the Meiji Japanese context.

Howell, David. "Ainu Identity and the Meiji State." In Geographies of Identity in Nineteenth&Century Japan, 110 ! 130. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.# Available on PWeb $

WEEK 3: A Modern Nation and EmpireSep 9# Mon $ : Learning Civilization and Enlightenment

Sources of Japanese Tradition, "Civilization and Enlightenment," 694 ! 720. Duara, Prasenjit. "The Discourse of Civilization and Pan % Asianism." Journal of World

History 12, no. 1# 2001 $: 99 ! 130.# Available on PWeb $

4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOyol55CLhkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOyol55CLhkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOyol55CLhkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOyol55CLhkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOyol55CLhk


5/9

Sep 11# Wed $ : Labor and Industry Peasants, Rebels, Women, and Outcasts: The Underside of Modern Japan, "Morals and Mores,"

50 ! 77. A Modern History of Japan, "Social, Economic, and Cultural Transformations," 94 ! 114.

FINAL PAPER PROPOSAL DUE BY 5:00 PM SEP 12!THU

"Sep 13# Fri $ : Seeing Like an Emperor

Fujitani, Takashi. "Fabricating Imperial Ceremonies." In Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Ja pan, 105 ! 154. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.# Available on PWeb $

WEEK 4: Imperial Society and CultureSep 16# Mon $ : A Constitutional Monarchy

Sources of Japanese Tradition, "Popular Rights and Constitutionalism," 721 ! 749. A Modern History of Japan, "Empire and Domestic Order," 115 ! 137.

Sep 18# Wed $ : Social Distinctions and Land Reforms

Toxic Archipelago, "Copper Mining and Ecological Collapse," 71 ! 107. Peasants, Rebels, Women, and Outcasts, "The Struggle for Survival," 102 ! 137.Sep 20# Fri $ : Meiji Culture and Nonculture

Irokawa Daikichi, "Meiji Conditions of Nonculture," In The Culture of the Meiji Period ,219 ! 244. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1985. # Available on PWeb $

Smith, Henry D. "Tokyo as an Idea: An Exploration of Japanese Urban Thought until1945." Journal of Japanese Studies 4, no. 1 # Winter 1978 $: 45 ! 80. # Available on PWeb $

WEEK 5: The Taish ! Period (19121926)Sep 23# Mon $ : Mass Movements and Strikes

A Modern History of Japan, "Economy and Society," 139 ! 160. Sources of Japanese Tradition,"The High Tide of Prewar Liberalism," 821 ! 855.

Sep 25# Wed $ : Taish' Democracy and Imperialism A Modern History of Japan, "Democracy and Empire between the World Wars," 161 ! 181. Sources of Japanese Tradition, "The High Tide of Prewar Liberalism," 855 ! 889. SHORT PAPER #2 DUE BY 5:00 PM SEP 26 !THU "

Sep 27# Fri $ : Feminism and Su ( agism Reich, Pauline C. "Japan's Literary Feminists: The 'Seito' Group." Signs 2, no. 1# Autumn 1976 $: 280 ! 291.# Available on PWeb $ Peasants, Rebels, Women, and Outcasts, "Rural Women," 78 ! 101. NTDTV. "South Koreans Hold Anti % Japan Rally." # 2:13 $ http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=KAFzikIu9wY. A news report about tensions arising from remarks made aboutKorea by the current Japanese Prime Minister, Abe Shinz ( .

WEEK 6: Chang Against Dened RolesSep 30# Mon $ : Katayama Sen and Alternative Political Movements

A Modern History of Japan, "Depression Crisis and Responses," 182 ! 203. Sources of Japanese Tradition, "Socialism and the Left," 890 ! 915.

5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAFzikIu9wYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAFzikIu9wYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAFzikIu9wYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAFzikIu9wYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAFzikIu9wY


6/9

Oct 2# Wed $ : "Isms" in Their Economic and Social Context Sources of Japanese Tradition, "Socialism and the Left," 915 ! 947. Metzler, Mark. "Woman's Place in Japan's Great Depression: Reections on the Moral

Economy of Deation." The Journal of Japanese Studies 30, no. 2 # 2004 $: 315 ! 352.# Available on PWeb

$Oct 4# Fri $ : Working on the Margins of Empire

Peasants, Rebels, Women, and Outcasts, "The Outcaste in Japan," 138 ! 171. Siniawer, Eiko Maruko. "Betting Bedfellows: Yakuza and the State in Modern Japan."

Journal of Social History 45, no. 3 # Spring 2012 $: 623 ! 641. # Available on PWeb $

WEEK 7: The Early Sh ! wa Period (19261945)Oct 7# Mon $ : Violence and Nationalism

Sources of Japanese Tradition, "The Rise of Revolutionary Nationalism," 948 ! 979. A Modern History of Japan, "Japan in Wartime," 204 ! 225.

Oct 9# Wed $ : The Plight of the Workers

Toxic Archipelago, "Engineering Pain in the Jinz ) River Basin," 108 ! 136. Peasants, Rebels, Women, and Outcasts, "The Textile Factory Workers," 138 ! 171.Oct 11# Fri $ : Going to War

Gordon, David M. "The China % Japan War, 1931 ! 1945."The Journal of Military History 70, no. 1 # 2006 $: 137 ! 182.# Available on PWeb $

WEEK 8: Agonies of EmpireOct 14# Mon $ : Crisis Abroad

Sources of Japanese Tradition, "Empire and War," 980 ! 997. Han, Suk% Jung. "The Problem of Sovereignty: Manchukuo, 1932 ! 1937." positions: east asia

cultures critique 12, no. 2# 2004 $: 457 ! 478. # Available on PWeb $

Oct 16# Wed $ : Crisis Within Sources of Japanese Tradition, "Empire and War," 997 ! 1018. Ienaga, Sabur ( . "Dissent and Resistance: Change from Within." In The Pacic War,

1931! 1945, 203 ! 228. New York: Random House, 1978. # Available on PWeb $Oct 18# Fri $ : The Imperial Brothel

Peasants, Rebels, Women, and Outcasts, "Poverty and Prostitution," 206 ! 225. BOOK REVIEW DUE BY 5:00 PM OCT 18 !FRI "

########## FALL BREAK !Oct 19 $ Oct 27 " ##########

WEEK 9: World War II (19371945)Oct 28# Mon $ : Labor in the Japanese Empire

Kratoska, Paul H. "Labor Mobilization in Japan and the Japanese Empire." In Asian Labor in the Wartime Japanese Empire, edited by Paul H. Kratoska, 3 ! 21. Singapore:Singapore University Press, 2006. # Available on PWeb $

Ueno Chizuko. "The Politics of Memory: Nation, Individual and Self." History & Memory11, no. 2# 1999 $ 129 ! 152.# Available on PWeb $

6


7/9

Oct 30# Wed $ : Ending the War Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi. "Introduction: Race to the Finish" and "Conclusion: Assessing the

Roads not Taken." In Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan, 1 ! 6;and 290 ! 303. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005. # Available on PWeb $

Hubbard, Bryan and Marouf A. Hasian Jr. "Atomic Memories of the Enola Gay:Strategies of Remembrance at the National Air and Space Museum." Rhetoric & Public A ) airs 1, no. 3# Fall 1998 $: 363 ! 385.# Available on PWeb $

Nov 1# Fri $ : Enduring the Unendurable Dower, John. "Shattered Lives." In Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II ,

33 ! 64. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1999. # Available on PWeb $ YouTube. "Know Your Enemy, Japan." 59:20 # http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=zBIfnPyK4rw $ Watch while considering the discussion questions for this week. # SeePWeb $

WEEK 10: The American Occupation (19451952)

Nov 4# Mon $ : Occupation Reforms and a New Constitution Sources of Japanese Tradition, "The Occupation Years, 1945 ! 1952," 1021 ! 1049. A Modern History of Japan, "Occupied Japan: New Departures and Durable Structures,"

226 ! 244. Nov 6# Wed $ : Reversing Course

Sources of Japanese Tradition, "The Occupation Years, 1945 ! 1952," 1049 ! 1081. Peasants, Rebels, Women, and Outcasts, "Epilogue: The Postwar Years," 294 ! 320. SHORT PAPER #3 DUE BY 5:00 PM NOV 7 !THU "

Nov 8# Fri $ : Peace and an Unequal Treaty Dower, John. "Occupied Japan and the Cold War in Asia." In Japan in War and Peace:

Essays on History, Culture and Race, 155 ! 207. New York: The New Press, 1993. # Availableon PWeb $

WEEK 11: Recovery (1950s and 1960s) Nov 11# Mon $ : Labor and the Economic "Miracle"

Sources of Japanese Tradition, "Democracy and High Growth," 1082 ! 1112. A Modern History of Japan, "Economic and Social Transformations," 245 ! 269.

Nov 13# Wed $ : The Gr oup and Self &Governance West, Mark D. "Group." In Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle: The Rules of Scandal in Jap an and the

United States, 114 ! 173. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. # Available on PWeb $ Nov 15# Fri $ : Postwar Culture and Popular Protest

Sasaki%Uemura, Wesley. "Competing Publics: Citizens' Groups, Mass Media, and theState in the 1960s." positions: east asia cultures critique 10, no. 1 # 2002 $: 79 ! 110. # Availableon PWeb $

WEEK 12: Postwar Problems (1970s) Nov 18# Mon $ : New Religions in a New Society

Sources of Japanese Tradition, "The New Religions," 1117 ! 1161.

7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBIfnPyK4rwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBIfnPyK4rwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBIfnPyK4rwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBIfnPyK4rwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBIfnPyK4rwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBIfnPyK4rwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBIfnPyK4rwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBIfnPyK4rwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBIfnPyK4rwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBIfnPyK4rw


8/9

Nov 20# Wed $ : Postwar Growth: Success and Stru * le A Modern History of Japan, "Political Struggles and Settlements of the High %Growth

Era," 270 ! 290. Kuwayama, Patricia Hagan. "Success Story." The Wilson Quarterly 6, no. 1 # Winter 1982 $:

133 !

144.# Available on PWeb

$ Nov 22# Fri $ : Environmental Activism

Toxic Archipelago, "Mercury's O & spring," 137 ! 175.

WEEK 13: The Bubble Years (1980s) Nov 25# Mon $ : "Nihonjinron": Theories about Japanese Uniqueness

Sources of Japanese Tradition, "Japan and the World in Cultural Debate," 1162 ! 1187. A Modern History of Japan, "Global Power in a Polarized World: Japan in the 1980s,"

291 ! 309. Nov 27# Wed $ : O + ce Ladies and Salarymen

Ogasawara, Yuko. "Why O " ce Ladies Do Not Organize." In O + ce Ladies and Salaried

Men: Power, Gender, and Work in Japanese Companies, 44 ! 69. Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Press, 1998. # Available on PWeb $ FINAL PAPER OUTLINE DUE BY 5:00 PM

########## THANKSGIVING BREAK !Nov 28 $ Dec 1 " ##########

WEEK 14: The Lost Decade (1990s) Dec 2# Mon $ : "Japanization" and Globalization

Sources of Japanese Tradition, "Gender Politics and Feminism," 1188 ! 1222. A Modern History of Japan, "Beyond the Postwar Era," 310 ! 332.

Dec 4# Wed $ : Vague Anxieties and Cha % enges to the Social Order Tsu, Timothy Yun Hui. "Black Market, Chinatown, and Kabukich ( : Postwar Japanese

Constructs of 'Overseas Chinese.'" positions: east asia cultures critique 19, no. 1# Spring2011 $: 133 ! 157.# Available on PWeb $

Leheny, David. "A 'Vague Anxiety' in 1990s Japan." In Think Global, Fear Local: Sex,Violence, and Anxiety in Contemporary Japan, 27 ! 48. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press,2006. # Available on PWeb $

Dec 6# Fri $ : Finding Work a , er the Bubble Hill, Peter. "Heisei Yakuza: Burst Bubble and 'B ( taih ( .'" Social Science Japan Journal 6,

no. 1 # April 2003 $: 1 ! 18.# Available on PWeb $ Fackler, Martin. "In Japan, Young Face Generational Roadblocks." New York Times,

January 27, 2011.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/asia/28generation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

WEEK 15: 3/11 and Its Aftermath Dec 9# Mon $ : Historical Lenses

Sources of Japanese Tradition, "Thinking with the Past: History Writing in Modern Japan," 1223 ! 1267.

8
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/asia/28generation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/asia/28generation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/asia/28generation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/asia/28generation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/asia/28generation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/asia/28generation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0


9/9

Dec 11# Wed $ : Historical Lenses# Continued $ Sources of Japanese Tradition, "Thinking with the Past: History Writing in Modern

Japan," 1267 ! 1308. Dec 13# Fri $ : The Revitalization of Japan

Sand, Jordan. "Living with Uncertainty after March 11, 2011." Journal of Asian Studies 71,no. 2 # May 2012 $: 313 ! 318.# Available on PWeb $ FINAL PAPER DUE BY 5:00 PM

9

Documents

Modern Japan Syllabus (Mayo, Grinnell)