Modern History of Japan

Fall 2011

Syllabus

2012/02/02

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. The course will cover the history of Japan's political and economic system from Edo era to the end of World War II.

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. Depending on the number of the students who register this course, they may present some selected reading materials in the late half of the course. Each course attendant is supposed to do at least ONE oral presentation of the reading assignments. 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, closed-book or take-home.

Pre-requisite

None.

Assessment Details

Class Attendance and Discussion 20%

Presentation 40%

Midterm or Final Examination 40%

Schedule and Readings (subject to Change)

Part 1. Crisis of the Tokugawa Regime

1. The Tokugawa Polity

2. Social Economic Transformations

3. The Intellectual World of Late Tokugawa

4. The Overthrow of the Tokugawa

Part 2. Modern Revolution, 1968-1905

5. The Samurai Revolution

6. Participation and Protest

7. Social Economic, and Cultural Transformations

8. Empire and Domestic Order

Part 3. Imperial Japan from Ascendance to Ashes

9. Economy and Society

10. Extra

Winter Break

Students' Presentations: Review of the History of Ancient and Mediaeval Japan

Readings: chapters from A History of Japan, 2nd edition, by Conrad Totman

Underlines show the leaders.

11 (1/10). Ch. 4. Establishing the Ritsuryo Order (672-750), pp. 60-86.

Presenters: Dasom, Ucky, Hung, Amanda, Sky

12 (1/17). Ch. 5. Ritsuryo Adaptation and Decay (750-1250), pp. 87-113.

Presenters: So Yeong, Joohee. Jung Yeon, Tova, Nicole

13 (1/24). Ch. 6. Classical Higher Culture (750-1250), pp. 114-139.

Presenters: Jenny, Maylene, Kinadeter, Jung Yeon

14. (1/30, Monday). Ch. 7. The Centuries of Disorder (1250-1550), pp. 146-174.

Presenters: Jenny, Hillebrecht, David, Daniel

15. (1.31). Ch. 8. Medieval Higher Culture (1250-1550), pp. 175-202.

Presenters: Amanda, Maria, Perna, Joseph, Thomas

16. Final Exam (might be replaced by a Take-Home Exam)

Final Take-home Examination

Readings for 2009

Ch. 4. Establishing the Ritsuryo Order (672-750), pp. 60-86.

Ch. 5. Ritsuryo Adaptation and Decay (750-1250), pp. 87-113.

Ch. 6. Classical Higher Culture (750-1250), pp. 114-139.

Ch. 7. The Centuries of Disorder (1250-1550), pp. 146-174.

Ch. 8. Medieval Higher Culture (1250-1550), pp. 175-202.