Hasegawa 1
Survey Modern Japan
HIS Survey Class
Modern Japan
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is an introductory survey of modern Japanese history, covering 1850 to 1950.
There are no prerequisites. We will cover various topics, including the fall of the
shogunate and the Meiji Restoration, industrialization and economic development,
the rise of political parties, militarism and World War II, the American occupation
and postwar recovery. Although the emphasis will be on major political events and
institutional developments, we will trace social and cultural currents through
interdisciplinary literature such as dramas, novels, and films.
REQUIRED BOOKS
Andrew Gordon, A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present.
New York, Oxford University Press, 2003.
Tanizaki Junichirō, Naomi, New York, Vintage, 2001.
Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore F. Cook. Japan at War: An Oral History. New York,
The New Press, 1992.
GRADING
There will be an in-class midterm exam (15%) and an in-class final (25%). The final
and in-class midterm must be written in bluebooks. There will also be two take
home exams: a midterm and a final. Both these exams should be roughly 1500
words and fully documented with citations and a bibliography. Class participation is
10% or your grade. Please come to class prepared to discuss the readings.
SCHEDULE
Week One: The Tokugawa Order
Gordon, Japan, 9-45.
Supplemental Readings
Peter Duus, Modern Japan, Chapters 1-2
Ann Walthall, Japan: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, Chapter 5
Week Two: The Tokugawa Crisis and the Meiji Restoration
Gordon, Japan, 46-59.
Supplemental Readings
Peter Duus, Modern Japan, Chapters 3-5
Ann Walthall, Japan: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, Chapter 6
Week Three: The Meiji Restoration and the Meiji settlement
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Survey Modern Japan
Gordon, Japan, 61-93.
Supplemental Readings
Peter Duus, Modern Japan, Chapter7
Ann Walthall, Japan: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, Chapter 7
Week Four: Economic Growth and Colonial Expansion
Gordon, Japan, 94-137.
Supplemental Readings
Peter Duus, Modern Japan, Chapter8
Ann Walthall, Japan: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, Chapter 8
IN CLASS MIDTERM
Week Five: Domestic Policies
Peter Duus, Modern Japan, Chapter 10
Nolte and Hastings, “The Meiji State’s Policy on Women” in Recreating Japanese
Women, pp. 151-174
Week Six: Late Meiji and Taisho Politics
Gordon, Japan, 139-181.
Week Seven: Taishō Economic Growth, Society, and Culture
Silverberg, “The Modern Girl as Militant” in Recreating Japanese Women, pp. 239266.
For discussion
Tanizaki Junichirō, Naomi
Week Eight: The Crises of the 1930s
Gordon, Japan, 182-203.
Week Nine: The Road to War
Gordon, Japan, 204-225.
Week Ten: The War and the Home Front
Cook, Japan at War, 29-68, 99-105, 135-145, 158-167, 267-281, 407-411, 420-427,
462-468.
Peter Duus, Modern Japan, Chapter 14
Week Eleven: The Occupation
Gordon, Japan, 226-243.
Week Twelve: The Postwar Settlement
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Survey Modern Japan
Gordon, Japan, 245-290.
Supplement Readings
Peter Duus, Modern Japan, Chapter 15
Ann Walthall, Japan: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, Chapter 9
Week Thirteen: Conservative Hegemony and the 1980s
Gordon, Japan, 291-332.
Week Fourteen: Course Review and Evaluation
Full Bibliography
Cook, Haruko Taya and Theodore F. Cook. Japan at War: An Oral History. New York,
The New Press, 1992.
Duus, Peter. Modern Japan. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998.
Gordon, Andrew. A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present.
New York, Oxford University Press, 2003.
Nolte, Sharon and Sally Hastings, “The Meiji State’s Policy Toward Women, 1890
1910 in Recreating Japanese Women, 1600-1945. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1991.
Silverberg, Miriam. “The Modern Girl as Militant” in Recreating Japanese Women,
1600-1945. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.
Tanizaki, Junichirō, Naomi, New York, Vintage, 2001.
Walthall, Ann. Japan: A Cultural, Social, and Political History. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Company, 2006.
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