Postwar Japan

This course is for students interested in exploring Japan’s remarkable cultural, political and social transformations from the closing days of the Second World War, through its emergence as an apparent exemplar of democratization’s potential and capitalism’s benefits, and on to the contemporary era. Lectures, readings and films will explore the legacies of the war and the Occupation, the so-called “economic miracle” (and its effects on the environment), the protest movements of the 1960s and beyond, and Japan’s complicated relationships with its neighbors, with the U.S., and with its own recent history. Open to all students.