Japan's experience of the 20th century, beginning with the development of capitalism and the acquisition of an empire, and tracing the achievements and tragedy that came with Japan's emergence as a world power. Emphasis on social and intellectual history and on how Japan has understood itself and the world in this century.

The general theme of this course is Japan's emergence as a world power in its two phases, military and economic. Our chief concern will be with the experience within Japan of that emergence and its consequences: the impact on farming villages (including colonial villages sending labor migrants to Japan) of "late" industrialization; the emergence of a conflict, played out in actual lives, between notions of individuality vs. collective identity (based on class, nationality, and gender) and between different collective identities; the horror of total war; the transformation of values that came with defeat and occupation; the nature of postwar democracy and relation of society to state; the changing way(s) in which Japanese view and participate in the world outside Japan.

Lectures will be delivered during scheduled class times via Zoom, and also recorded for asynchronous viewing.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills