History of Modern Japan
Syllabus: Spring 2002
Hist 3620
T/Th 2:00-3:15
Brewster D-103
John A. Tucker, Ph.D.
History Department
Brewster A-304
Office Hours T/Th 10:00-12:00
or by appointment
Email: Tuckerjo@mail.ecu.edu
Office: 328-1028
Home: 756-4126 |
|
A. Course
Description: This
course traces the rise of modern Japan from the Tokugawa period (1600-1867)
through the Meiji Restoration of 1868, and into the contemporary "modern"
world of the Shôwa (1926-1989) and Heisei (1989- ) eras. Interpretive
issues related to Japan’s historical developments in feudalism, confucianism,
constitutionalism, imperialism, liberalism, socialism, communism, fascism,
totalitarianism, militarism, democracy, capitalism, and post-modernism
will be explored, since the latter were the supposed forces which most
significantly informed the vicissitudes of Japan over the last three centuries.
Our survey of modern Japanese history concludes with a discussion of postwar
Japan and its impressive economic accomplishments, as well as its efforts
to create a more liberal, egalitarian polity. Students who complete the
course can expect to have a holistic yet detailed grasp of the often contorted
and seemingly contradictory logic of Japan’s modern historical development.
B. Grading:
Grading
will be based on two exams (25% each), class attendance and participation
(20%), and a brief (5 pp) writing assignment (30%). Perfect attendance
is expected, as is regular participation in the form of questions, comments,
and discussion. The first exam will be on Tuesday February 26; the final
will be on Thursday, May 2, 2:00-4:00. Exams will include objective (true/false,
multiple choice) and essay questions, with the latter accounting for the
majority of the points. The writing assignment will be due on the last
day of class, Tuesday, April 30. If students wish to submit an early, but
complete draft of their papers, the instructor will review them for final
revision and submission. However, such submissions must be made in advance
of April 23. Required readings will be discussed weekly.
East Carolina University seeks
to comply fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Students
requesting accommodations based on a covered disability must go to the
Department for Disability Support Services, located in Brewster A-117,
to verify the disability before any accommodations can occur. The
telephone number is 252-328-6799.
C. Required
Readings:
Dower, John W. War Without
Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War.
New York: Pantheon, 1986.
_____ . Embracing Defeat: Japan
in the Wake of World War II.
New York: W. W. Norton, 1999.
Duus, Peter. Modern Japan. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1998.
Field, Norma. In the Realm of
a Dying Emperor: Japan at Century’s End.
New York: Vintage Books, 1993.
Fujitani, T. Splendid Monarchy:
Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan.
Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1996.
Fumiko, Kaneko. The Prison Memoirs
of a Japanese Woman.
Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe,
1991.
Hane, Mikiso. Peasants, Rebels,
and Outcastes: The Underside of Modern
Japan. New York: Pantheon,
1982.
Soseki, Natsume. Kokoro. New
York: Gateway, 1957.
D. Recommended
General Readings:
(1) Edwin O. Reischauer. Japan:
The Story of a Nation. New York:
Knopf, 1981.
(2) George Sansom. History of Japan,
3 vols. Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 1963.
(3) John W. Hall. Japan: From Prehistory
to Modern Times. New
York: Delacorte, 1970.
(4) Conrad Totman. Japan Before
Perry: A Short History Berkeley:
University of California Press,
1981.
(5) Janet E. Hunter. The Emergence
of Modern Japan. New York:
Longman Group, 1989.
(6) Mikiso Hane. Modern Japan: A
Historical Survey. Boulder:
Westview Press, 1986.
(7) Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan.
9 vols. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1981.
(8) Martin Collcutt, Marius Jansen,
and Isao Kumakura, compilers.
Cultural Atlas of Japan.
New York: Facts on File, 1988.
(9) Peter Duus, ed. The Cambridge
History of Japan, Volume 6:
The Twentieth Century.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
(10) Marius Jansen, ed. The Cambridge
History of Japan, Volume 5:
The Nineteenth Century.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
(11) Boyle, John. Modern Japan:
The American Nexus. New York:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993.
E. Weekly
Lecture and Reading Schedule
| January
8/10: Professor Out of Town: Reading days |
Duus, chs.
1-2. |
| January
15/17: Politics and Society in Tokugawa Japan |
Duus, chs.
3-4. |
| January 21/22: State Holidays |
|
| January
24: Collapse of the Old Regime |
Duus, ch.
5
Fujitani, chs. 1-4 |
| January
29/31: The Meiji Reinvention of Imperial Japan |
Duus, ch.
6
Fujitani, chs. 5-6. |
| February
5/7: Redefining Political Ideals and Order |
Duus, chs.
7 & 9 |
| February
12/14: The Meiji Underside |
Hane, Peasants |
February 18: Last day for undergraduates to drop
semester length courses; last day for
undergraduates to withdraw from school
without grades. |
|
| February
19/21: Meiji Imperialism |
Duus, ch.
8
Soseki, Kokoro |
| February
26: First Mid-term Exam
February 28: Paradoxes of Taisho
Japan |
Duus, chs.
10-11 |
| March 5/7: The
Underside of "Taisho Democracy" |
Fumiko,
Memoirs |
| MARCH 10-17: SPRING BREAK |
|
| March 19/21:
The "Dark Valley" of Militarism |
Duus, chs.
12-13 |
| March 26/28:
The Pacific War |
Duus, ch.
14 |
| March 29-30: State Holiday |
|
| April 2:
War Without Mercy
April 4: Professor Out of Town:
Research Day |
Dower, WWM |
| April 9/11:
The American Occupation |
Duus, ch.
15
Dower, Embracing |
| April 16/18:
Japan’s Cold War Reverse Course |
Duus, ch.
16 |
| April 23/25:
Japan’s Economic Miracle |
Duus, chs.
17-18 |
April 30:
Neo-Conservatism & Tensions in
Late-Showa/Early Heisei Japan
******Writing Assignments Due******* |
Duus, chs.
19-20
Field, In the Realm |
| May 2:
Final Exam |
|
|
