Department of History and Social Sciences

Choate Rosemary Hall

Wallingford, Connecticut

History 432
MODERN JAPAN: From Samurai to Sony
Fall 1999 term

Hypertext Course Syllabus

Hokusai Katsushika,
"Mt. Fuji Between the Waves off the Coast of Kanagawa; One of 36 Views of Mt. Fuji"

"Go ni irite wa, go ni shitagae."
- Japanese proverb

Goals of History 432

     The goals of this course are threefold: Modern Japan is designed (1) to provide survey knowledge of Japanese history from the late Tokugawa period through the present day; (2) to cultivate familiarity with a non-Western culture; and (3) to develop your proficiency as an historian by fostering (a) an empathic perspective and (b) the academic skills of critical reading, thoughtful analysis, systematic research, persuasive writing, careful listening, and effective oral presentation.

Daily Preparation

Assigned Reading: This is the main input of factual material, as well as various interpretations and analyses of that material. Clearly you cannot learn much in the classroom without doing the reading first. Much of our discussion in class will be conducted by the Socratic method; that is, you will complete certain assignments and will be expected to answer questions based on them. It is therefore important that you learn how to understand the material before you come to class. Looking at it another way, we will not have enough time in class to cover all the things that might appear on tests, so you had better learn them by yourself.

Course credo:
I hear, and I forget;
I see, and I remember;
I do, and I understand.
- Chinese proverb

Like athletes in training, young scholars must be sure they are properly nourished. As the reading you do for this course will be your primary "food for thought," you should pay close attention to how this nourishment is being ingested. You may find--like the decathlete weaned on junk food--that easy shortcuts will undermine your efforts when the moment of truth arrives. Assigned reading will provide focal points for daily discussion. I will try to give you pointers in advance of what to look for in the reading to enable you to get more out of it. Get into the habit of reading the syllabus carefully each night before you begin the assignment.

Classroom Work

Lectures: This method will be used sparingly, as generally it removes the burden of active learning from the student, emphasizing a more passive role instead. Because, however, much of the information in the course will be new to you, I will provide background information when relevant to highlight material and to fill in gaps left by the reading. For the most part, however, I will "lecture" only in the sense of guiding class discussion.

Discussions: The core of the course consists of the Socratic discussions in class, in which we will explore the reading and the topic(s) at hand. Productive discussions are frequently contradictory and ambiguous, producing different perspectives to chew on rather than kernels of truth to swallow whole. Asking seemingly stupid questions may well be a way of overcoming confusion and beginning to understand. Each person will be expected to come to his or her own understanding of the processes involved. Such activity is not without a considerable degree of intellectual risk, but it is hoped that in the discussions you will be willing to take such risks for the very real intellectual gains which will accrue both to you and to the group as a whole.
     Since the main learning in the course comes from the reading and discussions, you should attend class and be prepared to discuss the reading. If you do neither, do not be surprised to feel you are learning little, wasting your time, or receiving a poor or failing grade, for you are not--in any meaningful sense--taking the course. You cannot learn much simply by writing the papers and taking the exams. Nor can you pass the course; final grades will be based on a combination of class and written work.

Oral Presentations: There will be regular opportunities in this course to share your ideas about the subject matter with the rest of the class on a more formal basis. While academia emphasizes the written word, most "real world" situations are centered on oral/aural interaction; hence the emphasis on developing skills in face-to-face communication. Debates, reports, role playing, and other activities will be evaluated in a manner similar to the grading of written work.

Written Work

     It is in your writing that you have the chance to work out your ideas most rigorously and to communicate these to others. I will give you some general notes on writing later, but I encourage students who would like to work on their writing to see me, to submit drafts of their papers for criticism in advance of their due dates, or to consider rewriting papers. In the meantime, the following are some general guidelines regarding written work in the course.

Quizzes: These serve two primary purposes. They are, of course, an insurance policy of sorts, whereby I, the teacher, can better expect you to have put in the requisite effort on assigned reading. More importantly, however, they are also a channel of feedback on how well you understand the material presented in the reading and in class. You can expect quizzes frequently, often unannounced.

Exams: These are reflective and integrative, designed to help you pull together main themes in the course. Depending on length, exams generally include objective questions, separate short definition or identification questions, and longer interpretive essays. All tests will demand not only that you know what has been studied just recently, but that you be able to connect that material in a general thematic way with what was studied earlier in the year. Each exam will be an important opportunity for me to assess your mastery of the knowledge and the skills the course seeks to develop. More importantly, an exam should be considered a worthwhile educational experience in its own right. A comprehensive final examination will be administered at the end of the term.

Make-up tests: In the event of an excused absence on the day of a scheduled exam, a mutually convenient date for a make-up test will be determined by the teacher and the student. It is the student's responsibility to reschedule and take the make-up exam within seven (7) days of the original scheduled test date. Make-up exams usually are given in essay form.

Short Papers: Papers on set topics keyed to assigned reading are designed to encourage you to work out your understanding of a given problem. As such, there are no 'right' answers, only how well you think your way through the problem as evidenced by the clarity and logic of your analysis, argumentation, and writing. All papers should include footnotes and bibliography when appropriate, and be presented in standard form, all of which is discussed in forthcoming handouts. Word processing is highly recommended if possible; if not, typed papers are always appreciated, though not required.

Position Papers: Each term, some students express an interest in "extra-credit" work. While I generally discourage this approach--I would prefer you to concentrate on doing your best work on the scheduled quizzes, tests, and papers--I will welcome brief position papers, dealing with anything related to the course, in consideration for "brownie points." I will not put a firm grade or value on such work, which will be returned to you with my comments, but I can state that submission of position papers only can help in the determination of your final term grade.

Submission of Papers: Due dates for all major written assignments are announced in the syllabus at the outset of the term; time is allowed for working on them whenever possible and you should program your time accordingly (e.g., writing a paper before it is due if necessary to avoid conflicts with other work). Late work will be accepted, but, in the interest of fairness to all, it will be penalized one notch ("A-" to "B+") for the first 24-hour period it is overdue, two notches for the second, and so on. Late term papers will be penalized one full letter grade ("A-" to "B-") every 24 hours. Only in extreme cases will late work be accepted more than five days after it is due. School policy dictates that late work accepted after the last day of classes in the term can receive a grade of no more than 50%.

Grading and Criticism: Grading of papers and exams will be based on the quality and thoroughness of your research (where appropriate), the originality and coherence of your analysis and argumentation, and the clarity of your writing. While all written work should be your own, in accord with the school expectations regarding academic honesty, you are encouraged to discuss your work with me and with each other if you wish. You are also encouraged to respond to my criticisms of your work and to discuss ways in which you might improve your writing with me, including rewriting and resubmitting papers where appropriate.
     More important than the actual grade you receive is my written commentary on your paper. I hope you will pay close attention to the comments made on the evaluation sheet and in the body of the text; they are written in hopes of improving both your writing and your thinking. These comments can refer to your specific strengths and weaknesses as a historian and as a writer in ways that a simple number or letter grade cannot.
     I hope you will feel free to share with me any questions or concerns about any particular grade; I also hope, however, that you are genuinely concerned with what you learn in the course rather than the mark (or other such superficial feedback) you get. For the sake of uniformity, the school has established a guide to converting scores on a 100-point scale to grades ranging from A+ to F:

Reading Materials

     These texts for the course--available at the school bookstore--should be purchased by all students immediately:

• Edwin O. Reischauer, Japan: The Story of A Nation. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1990. Fourth edition. [hereinafter referred to as "Reischauer"]
• John Dower, War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War. New York: Pantheon, 1986. [hereinafter referred to as "Dower"]
• Thomas P. Rohlen, Japan's High Schools. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983. [hereinafter referred to as "Rohlen"]

Some of the readings for the course are challenging, but they have been selected carefully for the contributions they offer to understanding Japanese history and society.

Program and Workload

     This course will be orthodox in its presentation: in general, you'll read something before each class meeting, and in class we'll discuss what you've read--what I call "Socratic discussion." You'll be expected to write short yet demanding papers, take period tests and a departmental final examination, and participate regularly in class.

     Every effort has been made to keep the length of daily assignments manageable. Many worthwhile assignments were abbreviated or scrapped from the syllabus altogether. It's important, therefore, that you commit yourself now to keeping up with what is included among the assignments below; you'll be expected to complete the assigned homework before each class.

     What follows is what we'll try to cover during the term. It may be adjusted from time to time for any number of reasons. The homework for the next class is always the next assignment unless you are told differently. You'll find each entry on the schedule below contains some instructive questions and ideas you should consider in preparing for class; get into the habit reading the syllabus carefully each night as you begin your homework.

A Note on Language

     Some of the proper names you encounter will be referred to in the tradition of the native land. That is, Japanese names are presented with the family name first, followed by the individual's name (e.g., Mishima Yukio). Foreign words that are not proper names or have not been adapted to common use in American English (e.g., sushi, samurai) should be italicized or underlined in your papers.

Schedule of Meetings and Assignments

Part I: The Roots of Tokugawa Japan, pre-history to 1868

1. Course Organization. No assignment. We'll spend the time in this class getting to know one another. The course syllabus and other course materials will be distributed. Be sure to read through the introduction to this syllabus thoroughly.

2. Land and People I: Geography. Read Reischauer, pp. 4-12 and 16-26. At this point, don't get bogged down by the names and dates in the reading; instead focus on the general concepts. To what extent has Japanese culture been shaped by the geography of the home islands? By China's influence? Study the maps of Japan (including the one on page 6 of the Reischauer text) so that you can identify the four main islands and the locations of major cities Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kobe, Kyoto, Nagasaki, Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo (Edo), Sapporo, and Yokohama for a geography quiz in class #4.

3. Land and People II: Race and Nation. Read "The Age of the Gods" and James Fallows, "The Japanese Are Different From You and Me." Compare and contrast the story of the Sun Goddess with the Genesis account in the Judæo-Christian tradition or other creation myths with which you may be familiar. Note the connection between the legend of the Sun Goddess and the Japanese monarchy today. [Brownie points if you find out what the term cæsaropapism means.] What are the connections between the Japanese creation myth and the modern attitudes Fallows describes in his essay? How do these attitudes differ from racism in America?

4. Religion I: Four Great Traditions. Read "Religion I" reading packet; there isn't a single source that adequately treats Shinto, Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism for our purposes, so I've created this pastiche of excerpts which we will sort out together in class. Think about how these religious traditions shape the contemporary Japanese cultural mindset. How do the elements of these traditions reflect the themes of rice culture and national/racial identity we've already discussed? Map quiz in class today.

5. Religion II: The Sound of One Hand Clapping. Read excerpts from Nancy Wilson Ross, What Is Zen?This reading explores an important and influential strain of Buddhism in Japanese culture. Zen Buddhism is a pursuit which is fundamentally intuitional rather than intellectual. Our task, then, as scholars trying to attain an academic understanding of Zen is nigh impossible, but we'll struggle with it nonetheless.

6. Religion III: Values in Modern-Day Japan. Read Thomas Rohlen, "Spiritual Education in a Japanese Bank." Consider how the bushido ethic and Japanese religious and cultural traditions are employed to create certain attitudes among today's Japanese managerial élite. Why do bankers need to pursue zazen? If you can make these connections on your own, you're on the road to understanding why Japan has become so successful economically in the last forty years.

7. "Feudalism." Read "The Age of the Samurai" and Reischauer, pp. 64-82. The handout is an overview of the pre-modern period which should be helpful. Don't get lost in the names and details early in the Reischauer reading, which no doubt you will find confusing; instead, pay attention to the emergence of the national system of government (especially as described on pp. 67-74). Keep track of the vocabulary of the Tokugawa "feudal" system, however: bakufu, shogun, daimyo, samurai. Those of you who are mediæval history whizzes: how similar is Tokugawa Japan to the European feudalism you've studied?

8. Isolation. Read Reischauer, pp. 82-100 and correspondence of President Fillmore and Commodore Perry to the Emperor (in the handout). How were the newly-arrived Westerners a threat to Japanese society in 1853? Why did Japan gradually close its doors to foreigners between 1587 and 1639? What effects did this Tokugawa policy have? Who in Japanese society benefitted? Who was hurt? What long-term changes did Japan undergo during Tokugawa rule? How did the self-imposed period of isolation make it possible for Commodore Perry to "open" Japan in the mid-1800s?

9. Review. Read "Answering Historical Identification Questions" and "Writing Essays on History Tests" before you begin studying. This is the only class we'll have this term devoted exclusively to review, so make the most of it! I'll have no prepared presentation; come to class with your questions based on everything we've studied so far. In class, you will receive a handout outlining your responsibilities for an oral report covering some significant aspect of Japanese history in the World War II and Occupation eras.

10. Period Test. This exam will cover everything we've studied to date. Your responses to the handouts on oral reports are due at the beginning of class. While you are taking the exam, I will assign topics, as well as the dates to be presented. You may bring an unmarked paperback dictionary into this and all other exams in the course, but you may not share it with anyone else.

11. Meanwhile, in the Middle Kingdom . . . Read Edwin Moise, "The Collapse of the Old Order." This short but important assignment is on the "rape of China" by the Great Powers. This may seem like a digression, but consider the impact the Chinese experience in the 1800s had on the Japanese. Understanding China's history in this period is critical in makings sense of the direction Japan chose at the outset of the Meiji Period. Again, don't be slowed down by all the details of the history; search for the major historical themes and developments. Consider the extent to which Western imperialism was responsible for the fall of the Qing dynasty as well as the domestic pressures on the traditional order.

Part II: The Rise to World Power, 1868-1945

12. The Meiji Restoration. Read Reischauer, pp. 101-115. Recall the reading on China. How did the Chinese experience affect the decision to abandon the Tokugawa political/social structure? What internal conditions prompted the shift? Could the Meiji Restoration be described as a revolution? Why was the Restoration so successful, given the very conservative tenor of the Tokugawa era? What were the goals of the Meiji leadership? Why was it necessary to abandon the traditional class system (p. 103) in pursuit of those goals? Remember the notion of island culture. Keep track of the various reform movements in your notebook.

13. Republican Japan. Read Reischauer, pp. 116-131. What were the models for the new Meiji political system? How did the role of the emperor change? What advantages and disadvantages did the parliamentary system present? Do you see evidence of growing pains? Be sure you can document the growth of Japanese imperialism, as discussed in the last few pages of the chapter.

14. Industrial Japan. Read Reischauer, pp. 132-151. Pay attention to the parallels between the industrial development of the early twentith century and the postwar prosperity of the past forty years. What were the zaibatsu? Do they have modern-day equivalents in Japanese society? In America? In what ways could Japan's emergence as an industrial power be seen as setting the nation on a course for Pearl Harbor?

15. Imperial Japan. Read Reischauer, pp. 152-169. Here it's particularly important to try to understand Japan's view of the world from a Japanese perspective. Ask me in class about the "Atticus Finch theory of history." Find three distinct ways in which Japan was made to feel inferior to its Western rivals in this time period.

16. Japan at War I: Overview. Read Reischauer, pp. 170-181 and James Fallows, "Remember Pearl Harbor How?" Why did Japan bomb Pearl Harbor? What connections does Fallows make between December 1941 and current attitudes between the U.S. and Japan? What was Tokyo's overall strategy in the Pacific War? Why did it ultimately fail? Keep track of the shifts in political power during the war. In class we'll begin oral reports on various aspects of World War II and Japanese society during wartime. Remember the time limits! Also, don't be trapped by the conventions of oral report delivery you learned back in Mrs. Goodheart's third grade class; you are being asked to play teacher for five minutes on a particular topic. How will you make the topic come alive for your classmates in a way that they will remember it in the future?

17. Race and Propoganda I. Read Dower,

Occupation. Read Reischauer, pp. 184-202.

Postwar Japan. Read Reischauer, pp. 203-223

The "Economic Miracle" Begins. Read Reischauer, pp. 224-250.

Stumbling Blocks. Read Reischauer, pp. 251-278.

Economic Superpower. Read Reischauer, pp. 279-303.

Japan Peaks? Read Reischauer, pp. 303-324.

Last revised: 20 May 2003
_{Syllabus copyright © 1999 Ned Gallagher. All rights reserved.}