Fall 2020
HIST E-1852: JAPAN IN THE MODERN WORLD https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/79661
Recorded lectures posted on Tuesdays and Thursdays Professor Andrew Gordon
Discussion session later each week agordon@fas.harvard.edu
This course examines the history of Japan from its emergence as an imperialist power through the present. The first half looks at the rise and fall of the Japanese empire; the second half focuses on the re-integration of Japan into an American dominated world order that is arguably coming to an end in the early 21st century. Thus, two empires, and at least one, but perhaps two, aftermaths. This history deserves study as a time and place of remarkable achievements and awful tragedies. Weighing the balance of achievement and tragedy remains controversial to this day.
Japan’s long twentieth century is also a point of departure for comparative reflection on great themes of modern global history: the social upheavals and transformations of capitalism and democracy, the fate of modern imperialism, the experience of total war, the spread of mass consumer culture, and the recent challenges of slow and low growth facing many societies. Although the primary focus of the course is on Japan, I will invite and encourage comparative reflection in discussions and assignments.
The course emphasizes two sorts of diversity of understanding: the wide range of experience and understandings held by historical actors themselves and the varied opinions of historians seeking to make sense of the past. It places Japanese experience in two sorts of contexts—Asian and global—with attention to cultural as well as economic and geo-political interaction. Within Japan, we give attention to differences of city and country, of gender and social class within Japan. We examine the ways such differences have been construed and manipulated both by historical actors and by historians.
Course Format
This course runs parallel to a course being taught online to Harvard College undergraduates (History 1623). The lectures and assignments are essentially the same. The course will take advantage of an opportunity in teaching an online course that is not easily available in an in-person course: the chance to invite distant experts to visit our class. We will have six class sessions joined by a colleague elsewhere in the United States or Japan, whose work we will read that week. I am excited to be welcoming them.
The format for class meetings will differ some on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Tuesday classes will be primarily lectures, usually divided into discrete segments of about 15 to 20 minutes. The lectures should be recorded and available on demand to students by early evening on each Tuesday and Thursday.
The Thursday class with the Harvard College students will be weighted toward discussion, including dialogue between me and the guests in weeks when a guest is visiting. These sessions will be recorded and available to you on demand from shortly after the meeting time with the Hist 1623 students.
Also, each week there will be a rolling discussion section with the course TF. It will unfold over three- day period, from Friday through Sunday each week. Details will be posted on the course website before the start of the semester.
Lectures and Readings
Part 1: Imperial Japan
I. Building Nation and Empire
(Th) 9/3
Introduction: Challenges of Modern Japanese History
• *Irokawa, The Culture of the Meiji Period, Introduction, pp. 3-18.
• **Gordon, A Modern History of Japan (MHJ), Chs. 5-6.
Supplemental: Thorsten Veblen, “The Opportunity of Japan,” Journal of Race Development, pp. 23-38 [Online via JSTOR].
(Tu) 9/8 Legacies of the Meiji Revolution: Emperor and Empire, Nationalism and Capitalism
(Th) 9/10
Hygiene, Health, and Disaster as Issues for Modern History
• *Gluck, Japan’s Modern Myths, Ch. 4, pp. 73-101.
• Meiji Constitution and Rescript on Education, on course website
• **Gordon, MHJ, Chs. 7-8 (through p. 129).
II. State and Society in the Era of Imperial Democracy
(Tu) 9/15 Order/Disorder: Class/Gender
(Th) 9/17
Parties, Parliament, and Violence Guest: Prof. Eiko Siniawer, Williams
• **Gordon, MHJ, Ch. 8, pp. 122-137.
• Nolte and Hastings, “Meiji State’s Policy Toward Women,” in Bernstein, ed., Recreating Japanese Women, pp. 151-174 [Online via HOLLIS, ACLS e-book].
• Eiko Siniawer, Ruffians, Yakuza, Nationalists: The Violent Politics of Modern Japan ch.3, “Institutionalized Ruffianism” pp. 74-108 [Online, via Hollis, Project Muse].
(Tu) 9/22 Workers and Managers
(Th) 9/24
Tenants and Landlords
• Gordon, Labor and Imperial Democracy in Prewar Japan, Chs. 6-7, pp. 144-203 [Online via HOLLIS, ACLS e-book].
• *Waswo, “In Search of Equity,” in Waswo and Yoshiaki, eds., Farmers and Village Life in 20th Century Japan, pp. 79-125.
• **Gordon, MHJ, Ch. 9.
• Tenant Farmer Data (on website).
(Tu) 9/29 Modern Girls, New Women, Salary Men
(Th) 10/1
State and Society Guest: Professor Sheldon Garon, Princeton
• Garon, Molding Japanese Minds, Introduction and Chs. 1, 3, 4, pp. 3-22, 25-59, 88-146 [Online via HOLLIS, ACLS e-book].
• Ishimoto, Facing Two Ways, Introduction and Afterword (in course pack), Chs. 8-19, pp. 101-243 [Online via HOLLIS].
(Tu) 10/6 The Depression Crises
(Th) 10/8
Managing Empire Guest: Prof Paul Barclay, Lafayette College
• Uchida, “A Sentimental Journey: Mapping the Interior Frontier of Japanese Settles in Colonial Korea,” Journal of Asian Studies (August 2011), pp. 706-29 [Online via JSTOR].
• Paul Barclay, “The Japanese Empire in Taiwan,” [Online via Oxford Research Encyclopedia, Asian History].
• *Ishibashi, “The Fantasy of Greater Japan,” Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. 2, Part 2, pp. 181-189.
• **Gordon, MHJ, Chs. 10-11 (through p. 197).
III. Crises of Capitalism and Empire
(Tu) 10/13 Repudiation of Imperial Democracy
(Th) 10/15
Wartime Modernity
Guests on Thursday, first hour: Fred Burchsted, Anna Assogba, Widener librarians who will introduce resources for your research projects
• *Young, “Colonizing Manchuria” in Vlastos, ed., Mirror of Modernity, pp. 95-109.
• *Kita, “An Outline Plan for the Re-organization of Japan,” Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. 2, Part 2, pp. 271-276.
• *Ishihara, “A Plan to Occupy Manchuria,” Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. 2, Part 2, pp. 294-296.
• **Gordon, MHJ, Ch. 11 (pp. 197-208).
(Tu) 10/20 Total War
(Th) 10/22
Total Defeat
• Soh, “Aspiring to Craft Modern Gendered Selves: ‘Comfort Women’ and Chongsindae in Late Colonial Korea,” Critical Asian Studies (2004), pp. 175-195 [Online via Taylor & Francis].
• **Haruko Cook and Theodore Cook, Japan at War, pp. 35-60, 105-120, 169-92, 313-36.
• **Dower, Embracing Defeat: Japan after WWII, Introduction, chs 1-3, pp. 19-84.
• **Gordon, MHJ, Ch. 12.
Part 2: Japan in the American Empire
IV. Remaking the Nation
(Tu) 10/27 Japan and its Foreign Overlords [Lecture by Bohao Wu]
(Th) 10/29 Olympics: 1940, 1964 [2020?] Guest: Prof Yoshimi Shunya, Tokyo University
Thursday class meets at 5 PM US EDT (6 am for Prof Yoshimi)
• **Dower, Embracing Defeat: Japan after WWII, chs. 6-8, pp. 203-73.
• **Gordon, MHJ, Ch. 13.
• Yoshimi Shunya, “1964 Olympics as Postwar” International Journal of Japanese Sociology
[Available online via Hollis]
(Tu) 11/3 Economic Recovery and the Rise of Consumer Society
(Th) 11/5
Unequal Treaties Again? Cold War Alignments Guest: Nick Kapur, Rutgers
• Kapur, Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise After Anpo (e-book), Intro, Ch. 6
• **Gordon, MHJ, Ch. 14.
• *“Declaration of the Peace Problems Discussion Group,” Nakasone Yasuhiro, “The ‘Macarthur’
Constitution,” “The Postwar is Over,” “Transformation of the Postwar Monarchy,” Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. 2, Part 2, pp. 385-393.
(Tu) 11/10 The Heyday of Middle-Class Society
(Th) 11/12 The Corporate Centered Society and its Critics
• Kelly, “Finding a Place” and Uno, “Death of Good Wife, Wise Mother?” in Gordon, ed., Postwar Japan as History, Chs. 8 and 11 [Online via HOLLIS, ACLS e-book].
• **Makoto Kumazawa, Portraits of the Japanese Workplace, Chs. 7-9, pp. 159-247.
• **Gordon, MHJ, Ch. 15.
V. Japan Ascendant and Adrift
(Tu) 11/17 Citizen Movements and the State, 1960s-70s
(Th) 11/19
Culture, Affluence, Confidence, 1980s Visit with William Tsutsui, Reischauer/Harvard
• Frank Upham, “Unplaced Persons” Postwar Japan as History (Ch. 12) [Online via HOLLIS, ACLS e-book].
• **Ishinomori, Japan, Inc. (entire).
• William Tsutsui, “Oh No, There Goes Tokyo: Recreational Apocalypse and the City in Postwar Japanese Popular Culture” [Online via Hollis, Project Muse].
• **Gordon, MHJ, Ch. 16.
(Tu) 11/24 Japan’s “Lost Decades”: The Death of the Middle Class?
(Th) 11/26
NO CLASS – Thanksgiving Break
• **Gordon, MHJ, Ch. 17.
• Baldwin and Allison, Japan: The Precarious Future, Chs. 1-4, pp. 11-109 [Online via Hollis, Project Muse].
VI. The History of Yesterday: From Financial Shock to Compound Disasters
(Tu) 12/1 Disaster and Aftermath
(Th) 12/3
History Wars: Japan’s Ever-Present Past
• **Shin, ed., Divergent Memories: Opinion Leaders and the Asia-Pacific War, Chs. 1, 4, and one additional to be determined by student choice.
• PM Abe 2015 Statement and report (on website).
• **Gordon, MHJ, Ch. 18.
Discussion Sections
The course teaching fellow and section instructor will be Bohao Wu. His contact information and will be posted to the course website.
Instructor office hours
I am happy to meet with students in this course to discuss any aspect of the course. I may set up a scheduler within the course website when I figure out how to do it effectively, integrated with Zoom. Until then, write to Hannah Perry (hannahperry@fas.harvard.edu) to schedule a virtual meeting, or write me directly with questions at agordon@fas.harvard.edu.
Writing Assignment
Other than participating in the section discussions with your written comments, there is a final writing project (aka “term paper”) for the course. It is intended to give you a first-hand experience revising or expanding an existing historical interpretation, something at the heart of the ongoing enterprise of producing historical understanding in an always changing present time. Details will be posted on the “assignments” tab on the course website in September. In brief, you will have a choice of addressing one of two (or possibly more) topics of both current and historical significance which (in the author’s opinion!) are not sufficiently or adequately examined in the course textbook (or other textbooks). One option we will definitely offer is the history of disease and public health. Another definite option is the connection of Japan and Japanese people with the experience of people of color, particularly (but not necessarily only) Black Americans, and the relation of these connections to thinking and action in Japan concerning race, colonialism, and Japan’s global position. We may add one or two more options.
The project has two components. Beginning in mid-late October, I will ask you to choose your topic, and compile an annotated bibliography of sources. We will combine these into a shared larger bibliography for all students working on that topic. The second component will be to write a paper, drawing on those resources. The paper should examine in detail one or two aspects of the topic. The second part will be a “memo to the textbook author” identifying one or more topics that are insufficiently discussed in the textbook and suggesting what might be added or changed to remedy the problem. Students can address the memo to the author of the course textbook or the author of any other currently available textbook on Japanese modern history.
As work on the project gets underway in October (choosing your topic, creating the shared bibliography) we will give detailed guidance on specific events or sub-topics for each broad topic and on searching out relevant materials. The bibliography will be due on November 20. The paper will be due at the end of reading period, December 9, at 5 pm. The paper should be 4000 word for undergraduate credit (13-15 page) and 6000 words (15-20 pages) for graduate credit.
Exam
There will be an open book timed final examination of two hours, consisting of two essay questions. You will be given a choice of four questions. You will be able to initiate the exam at any time during a specified 24-hour period during the exam period.
Grading
Grades will be weighted as follows: Participation in section discussions (25%), Final project (50%: bibliography 20%, paper 30%), Final exam (25%).
Readings
Readings available online are hyperlinked from the syllabus. Readings marked “*” are available in the coursepack (ordering instructions will be posted to the course website when the pack is available). Books marked with “**” are available for from the Harvard Coop website ( https://tinyurl.com/F20-HIST-E-1852-1 )
Andrew Gordon, A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present, 4th edition (Oxford, 2019)
Haruko & Theodore Cook, Japan at War: An Oral History (The New Press, 1992)
John Dower, Embracing Defeat: Japan after WWII (Norton, 2000)
Makoto Kumazawa, Portraits of the Japanese Workplace (Westview Press, 1996)
Shōtarō Ishinomori, Japan, Inc. (U. Cal. Press, 1988)
Gi-Wook Shin & Daniel Sneider, eds., Divergent Memories: Opinion Leaders and the Asia-Pacific War (Stanford, 2016)
Coursepack:
Purchase your course material here: https://store.cognella.com/22742
If you need any help with ordering, please email orders@cognella.com or call 858-552-1120 x503.
Coursepack Contents (in order assigned)
Irokawa Daikichi, The Culture of the Meiji Period (Princeton, 1988), Introduction, pp. 3-18.
Carol Gluck, Japan’s Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji Period (Princeton, 1987), Ch. 4, pp. 73-101.
Ann Waswo, “In Search of Equity” in Waswo and Yoshiaki, eds., Farmers and Village Life in 20th Century Japan (Routledge, 2003), pp. 79-125.
Shidzue Ishimoto, Facing Two Ways: The Story of My Life (Stanford, 1984), Introduction and Afterword, pp. xiii-xvi, xvii-xxix. (These pages are NOT included in the earlier editions from 1935 and 1963)
Ishibashi Tanzan, “The Fantasy of Greater Japan” in de Bary, et al., eds., Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. 2, Part 2 (Columbia, 2006), pp. 181-189.
Louise Young, “Colonizing Manchuria” in Vlastos, ed., Mirror of Modernity: Invented Traditions of Modern Japan (UC Press, 1998), pp. 95-109.
Kita Ikki, “An Outline Plan for the Re-organization of Japan” in Sources of Japanese Tradition, pp. 271-276.
Ishihara Kanji, “A Plan to Occupy Manchuria” in Sources of Japanese Tradition, pp. 294-296.
Selections from Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. 2, Part 2, pp. 385-393:
“Declaration of the Peace Problems Discussion Group on Questions Surrounding an Agreement on Peace” (385-387),
Nakasone Yasuhiro, “The ‘MacArthur’ Constitution” (388),
“The Government’s View of the Economy in 1956: ‘The “postwar” is over” (389), “The Transformation of the Postwar Monarchy” (391).
Discussion and the exchange of ideas are essential to academic work, of course including this course. For all the assignments, you are allowed, indeed encouraged, to consult with your classmates and share sources. The annotated bibliographies you prepare will become part of a shared research for yourself and other students working on that topic. However, any written work you submit for evaluation, including the final paper, should be the result of your own research and writing and reflects your own approach to the topic. You must also adhere to standard citation practices in the writing of historical papers, and properly cite any books, articles, websites, lectures, etc. that have helped you with your work. If you received any help with your writing (feedback on drafts etc from peers or course instructional staff), you must also acknowledge this assistance.
The online final exam can be initiated at a time of your choosing within a 24-hour period. You must not consult with classmates during this period. If there is something unclear about the exam, you may contact the course instructional staff during that time.
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