Economic and Social Development of Japan

Spring 2008

Syllabus

2008/06/03

Ryoichi Imai

International Student Center, Kyushu University

imryoichi@isc.kyushu-u.ac.jp

http://homepage3.nifty.com/ronten/JTWhome.htm

Contents

  1. Course Outline

  2. Organization, Attendance, and Other Requirements

  3. Pre-requisites

  4. Assessment Details

  5. Schedule and Readings

Course Outline

The course is designed to provide some introductory knowledge of Japanese history. This is a continuation of the history course I taught in the previous semester. The course will cover the history of Japan's political and economic system since World War II to the present..

Organization, Attendance, and Other Requirements

Students are expected to buy the text book.

Gordon, Andrew (2003), A Modern History of Japan. Oxford University Press.

Some lecture notes will be uploaded on this website. The course consists mainly of a series of lecture given by the instructor. Later the students present some selected reading materials. Each course attendant is required to do at least ONE oral presentations of the articles to be handed out in advance of each class. The presenter must make a set of PowerPoint slides. If too many students take this course, individual presentations will be replaced by group ones. There is one final examination.

Pre-requisite

None.

Assessment Details

Class Attendance and Discussion 10%

Presentation 50%

Final Examination 40%

You will get 2 credits by satisfying the course requirements specified above.

If you need 3 credits to accommodate JTW credits to your home University's credit rule, you have to present your own work with PowerPoint at the last class, and submit an essay with more than 1000 words. You must discuss your original work with the course instructor sufficiently before the presentation, and get his approval.

Schedule and Readings (subject to Change)

Lecture

1. Introduction

Part 3. Imperial Japan from Ascendance to Ashes (continuing)

2. Japan in Wartime

3. Occupied Japan: New Departures and Durable Structures

Part 4. Postwar and Contemporary Japan, 1952-2000

4. Economic and Social Transformations

5. Political Struggles and the High-Growth Era

6. Global Power in a Polarized World: Japan in the 1980s

7. Beyond the Postwar Era

8. (5/22) Extra 1 for the lecture

9. (5/29) Extra 2 for the lecture 

Students' Presentations

All the presentation materials will be removed after the presentation is fnished.

10. (6/5) Students' Presentation 1

Ohno, K. (2006), The 1930s and the War Economy, in The Economic Development of Japan, GRIPS.

Ohno, K. (2006), The Bubble Burst and the Recession, in The Economic Development of Japan, GRIPS.

Fiona, Niclas, Emma, Ynna

11. (6/12) Students' Presentation 2

Tachibanaki, T. (2005), History of Income Distribution in Postwar Japan, in Confronting Income Inequality in Japan, MIT press.

Adam, Bregt, Phil

12. (6/19) Students' Presentation 3

Noble, Gregory (2006) Koizumi and Neo-liberal Economic Reform, Social Science Japan Newsletter March 2006, 6-9.
Maeda Yukio (2006), The 2005 General Election and Public Opinion, Social Science Japan Newsletter October 2006, 19-22.

Govella, K., and S. Vogel (2008), Japan in 2007: A Divided Government, Asian Survey 48(1), 97-106.

Xunan, Yinyin, Chelsea, Tsubasa

13. (6/26) Students' Presentation 4

Genda, Yuji (2007), Jobless Youths and the NEET Problem in Japan, Social Science Japan Journal, 10(1), 23-40.

Woranuch, Anjas, Alex

14. (7/3) Students' Presentation 5

Nagai, Akiko (2005), Marriage for Social Recognition and Subsequent Married Life.
Miwa Satoshi (2005), Educational Homogamy in Contemporary Japan.
Mayumi Nakamura (2005), University Education for Marital Status Attainment for Japanese Women.
Social Science Japan Newsletter December 2005, 6-14, 

Ken, Jin, Arisa

Presentation of their own work by students who want to get 3 credits.

15. (7/10)Final Examination

Sample Questions

Other Readings

Morishima, Michio (2000), The Japanese Financial System: Its Solidarity and Vulnerability, in Japan at a Deadlock, Macmillan UK.

Baumol, Litan, and Schramm (2007), Capitalism: The Different Types and Their Impacts on Growth, in Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity., Yale University Press.

Baumol, Litan, and Schramm (2007), Capitalism: The Big-Firm Wealthy Economies: Preventing Retreat and Stagnation, in Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity., Yale University Press.