21H.155
Modern Japan: 1600 to Present
Surveys Japanese history from the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603 to the present and explores the local and global nature of modernity in Japan. Highlights key themes, including the emergence of a modern nation-state, the rise and fall of the Japanese Empire, the development of mass consumer culture and the middle class, and the continued importance of historical memory in Japan today.
Spring 2017 · Modern Japan: 1868 to Present
Topics
- Introduction
- Japanese Business History
- Building Pax Tokugawa
- Samurai Disorder
- Troubles at Home, Dangers from Abroad
- Overthrowing the Shogunate
- From “Restoration” to “Revolution”
- The Politics of “Civilization and Enlightenment”
- The Culture of Enlightenment
- Democracy and Constitutional Government
- Meiji Imperialism
- Japan’s “Imperial Democracy”
- Sounds and Visions of Modernity
- Ideologies of Crises
- Japan’s “World War II”
- War Abroad and at Home
- The Allied Occupation
- In-class Viewing: Gojira . Directed by Ishirô Honda. Color, 96 min. 1954.
- Contextualizing “Gojira”
- Japan as “No. 1”?
- Democracy in Theory and Practice
- In-class Viewing: The Wind Rises . Directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Color, 126 min. 2013.
- The Wind Rises, cont.
- Student Presentations
Readings
- [C] = Cook, Haruko Taya, and Theodore F. Cook. Japan at War: An Oral History . New Press, 1992. ISBN: 9781565840393.
- [G] = Gordon, Andrew. A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present . 3rd ed. Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780199930159.
- [GR] = Griffis, William Elliot. The Mikado . Audubon Press, 2009. ISBN: 9781444668124.
- [T] = Takekoshi Yosaburo. Japanese Rule in Formosa . Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2010. ISBN: 9781163242445.
- SES #: 1 · TOPICS: Introduction · READINGS: No readings assigned
- SES #: 2 · TOPICS: Japanese Business History · READINGS: No readings assigned
- Gluck, Carol. “The Invention of Edo.” Chapter 17 in Mirror of Modernity: Invented Traditions of Modern Japan . Edited by Stephen Vlastos. University of California Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780520206373.
- Ōishi Shinzaburō. “The Bakuhan System.” Chapter 1 in Tokugawa Japan: The Social and Economic Antecedents of Modern Japan . Edited by Nakane Chie and Ōishi Shinzaburō, University of Tokyo Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780860084907.
- [G] Chapter 1: The Tokugawa Polity.
- [G] Chapter 2: Social and Economic Transformations.
- ———. “New Theses: Six - The Barbarians’ Nature.” In Anti-Foreignism and Western Learning in Early-Modern Japan: The New Theses of 1825 . Edited by Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi. Harvard University Asia Center, 1992. ISBN: 9780674040373.
- Katsu Kokichi. “Introduction.” In Musui’s Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai . University of Arizona Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780816512560.
- [G] Chapter 3: The Intellectual World of Late Tokugawa.
- [D] Notehelfer, Fred G. Chapter 35: The Meiji Restoration, pp. 5–10.
- [G] Chapter 4: The Overflow of the Takugawa.
- [D] Notehelfer, Fred G. Chapter 35: The Meiji Restoration, pp. 10–12.
- [GR] Book II, Chapter 15: The Last Year of Feudalism.
- Jansen, Marius B., ed. “The Restoration in History and Historiography.” Chapter 3, Section 9 in The Emergence of Meiji Japan . Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 196–202. ISBN: 9780521484053.
- [G] Chapter 5: The Samurai Revolution.
- [D] Notehelfer, Fred G. Chapter 35: The Meiji Restoration, pp. 12–17: The Abolition of Feudalism and the Centralization of the Meiji State.
- [D] Craig, Albert. Chapter 36: Civilization and Enlightenment.
- [G] Chapter 7: Social, Economic, and Cultural Transformations.
- [GR] Book II, Chapter 1: First Glimpses of Japan.
- [GR] Book II, Chapter 2: A Ride on the Tōkaidō.
- [GR] Book II, Chapter 3: In Tōkiō, the Eastern Capital.
- Kanagaki Robun. “The Beefeater.” In Modern Japanese Literature: From 1868 to the Present Day . Edited by Donald Keene. Grove Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780802150950.
- Hattori Bushō. “The Western Peep Show.” In Modern Japanese Literature: From 1868 to the Present Day . Edited by Donald Keene. Grove Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780802150950.
- [D] Huffman, James. Chapter 37: Popular Rights and Constitutionalism.
- [G] Chapter 6: Participation and Protest.
- [D] Notehelfer, Fred G. Chapter 35: The Meiji Restoration, pp. 17–24: Consequences of the Iwakura Mission: Saigō and Ōkubo on Korea.
- [T] Chapter 1: Brief Survey of Our Successes.
- [T] Chapter 2: The Administration of Formosa Looked at From the Legislative Standpoint.
- Fukuzawa Yukichi. “Good-bye Asia (Datsu-a).” Chapter 12 in Japan-A Documentary History: The Late Tokugawa Period to the Present . Edited by David J. Lu. Routledge, 1996, pp. 351–3. ISBN: 9780765600363.
- [G] Chapter 8: Empire and Domestic Order.
- [D] Tiedemann, Arthur E. Chapter 40: The High Tide of Prewar Liberalism, pp. 148–80.
- [G] Chapter 9: Economy and Society.
- [G] Chapter 10: Democracy and Empire between the World Wars.
- SES #: 13 · TOPICS: Sounds and Visions of Modernity · READINGS: Kawabata Yasunari. Excerpt from The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa . University of California Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780520241824.
- [D] Barshay, Andrew. Chapter 41: Socialism and the Left.
- [D] Jansen, Marius. Chapter 42: The Rise of Revolutionary Nationalism.
- [G] Chapter 11: The Depression Crisis and Responses.
- [D] Duus, Peter. Chapter 43: Empire and War.
- [G] Chapter 12: Japan in Wartime.
- [C] Chapter 2: Toward a New Order, pp. 47–50.
- [C] Chapter 5: The Emperor’s Warriors, pp. 127–34.
- [C] Chapter 6: Demons from the East, pp. 151–67.
- [C] Chapter 13: The Slaughter of an Army, pp. 267–76.
- [C] Chapter 15: Special Attack, pp. 306–13.
- [C] Chapter 19: A Terrible New Weapon, pp. 382–91.
- [D] Mayo, Marlene. Chapter 44: The Occupation Years, 1945–1952, pp. 323–72.
- [G] Chapter 13: Occupied Japan: New Departures and Durable Structures.
- [D] Gordon, Andrew. Chapter 45: Democracy and High Growth.
- [G] Chapter 14: Economic and Social Transformations.
- [G] Chapter 15: Political Struggles and Settlements of the High-Growth Era.
- Vogel, Ezra F. “A Mirror for America.” Chapter 1 in Japan as No. 1: Lessons for America . iUniverse, 1999. ISBN: 9781583484104.
- ———. “The Japanese Miracle.” Chapter 2 in Japan as No. 1: Lessons for America . iUniverse, 1999. ISBN: 9781583484104.
- [G] Chapter 16: Global Power in a Polarized World: Japan in the 1980s.
- [G] Chapter 17: Japan’s “Lost Decades”: 1989–2008.
- [G] Chapter 18: Shock, Disaster, and Aftermath: Japan Since 2008.
- SES #: 23 · TOPICS: The Wind Rises, cont. · READINGS: [D] Gluck, Carol. Chapter 49: Thinking with the Past: History Writing in Modern Japan, pp. 553–82: The Asia-Pacific War in History and Memory.
- SES #: 24 · TOPICS: Student Presentations · READINGS: No readings assigned
- SES #: 25 · TOPICS: Student Presentations · READINGS: No readings assigned
- Gordon, Andrew. A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present . 3rd ed. Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780199930159.
Prerequisites & course information
Subject meets with 21G.555 Prereq: None Acad Year 2027-2028: U (Fall) Acad Year 2028-2029: Not offered 3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Spring 2017
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.