JAPN407: Japan in the globalized community
Course Description:
From Syllabus: The class traces the flows of ideas, people, and capital in East Asia over the last two centuries. While focusing on Japan, Korea, and China, our lectures will be organized around three themes: gender and labor, technology and everyday life, and the state and society. We will learn about each of these countries within their own contexts with an eye towards understanding the deep historical interconnectedness of East Asian history. Central to our study is the understanding that Japan does not exist in isolation. Though the country and its history are frequently taught and understood to exist as separate or distinct from the Asian continent (and other parts of the world), our focus is on the overlapping experiences and histories of modern East Asian.
From Syllabus: The class traces the flows of ideas, people, and capital in East Asia over the last two centuries. While focusing on Japan, Korea, and China, our lectures will be organized around three themes: gender and labor, technology and everyday life, and the state and society. We will learn about each of these countries within their own contexts with an eye towards understanding the deep historical interconnectedness of East Asian history. Central to our study is the understanding that Japan does not exist in isolation. Though the country and its history are frequently taught and understood to exist as separate or distinct from the Asian continent (and other parts of the world), our focus is on the overlapping experiences and histories of modern East Asian.
reflective narrative
Being a Japanese major, I have always felt like I understood a majority of East Asian history, especially if it pertained to Japan. However, no history classes I have taken in my lifetime go into such depth on how East Asian countries interact with each other. Especially in my experience, the three countries focused on in this class: Japan, China, and Korea, were hardly ever touched on in previous history classes unless they pertained to war, and even then were reduced to America’s supposed triumphs in those countries.
It was extremely touching to learn about the real struggles and the successes of East Asian history that were not taught to me in high school and early college courses. This course requires an essay at the end of each lesson that encapsulates a chosen theme. The themes of choice are the following: Gender and Labor, State and Nationalism, and Technologies and the Everyday.
In the Japan unit, my greatest takeaway was how the current government came to be and how it interacted with society. Following the theme of State and Nationalism, I researched the political ideologies and state making philosophies of Ito Hirobumi, Ishibashi Tanzan, and Kita Ikki within my essay for the Japan unit. In both my China and Korea essays, I focused on the theme Gender and Labor in order to analyze the role women played in two areas that were colonized by Japan and likewise conflicted with the integration of communism.
Besides the essays, each country’s unit was concluded with a film that originated from that country as well as covered some themes discussed in class. For the Japan unit, we watched the film “Always: Sunset on Third Street (ALWAYS 三丁目の夕日)”, for the China unit we watched “To Live”, and for the Korea unit we ended off the semester with “A Taxi Driver.” Each film really made me realize how brutal some events in East Asian history were towards citizens of that country, many of whom were innocent bystanders within a field of conflict. I find it hard to empathize with quotes in a lecture or a textbook reading, but to see someone say such strong words or perform such intense actions in a film makes me feel like I traveled back in time and can really understand the way that people felt.
I think this course was structured well and over half of the material taught was brand new to me. That is always exciting for me in a course, as it actually makes me focus better in class and not feel like I’m wasting my time learning the same material year after year.
I would like to further my understanding especially on East Asian governments and how they currently interact with society. I think being able to have an understanding of different countries’ histories will be useful especially for traveling and exploring museums and landmarks, broadening my range of research for capstone and future research projects, introducing myself to new films and novels, and teaching my own students in the future to diversify their understanding of history and the modern world.
It was extremely touching to learn about the real struggles and the successes of East Asian history that were not taught to me in high school and early college courses. This course requires an essay at the end of each lesson that encapsulates a chosen theme. The themes of choice are the following: Gender and Labor, State and Nationalism, and Technologies and the Everyday.
In the Japan unit, my greatest takeaway was how the current government came to be and how it interacted with society. Following the theme of State and Nationalism, I researched the political ideologies and state making philosophies of Ito Hirobumi, Ishibashi Tanzan, and Kita Ikki within my essay for the Japan unit. In both my China and Korea essays, I focused on the theme Gender and Labor in order to analyze the role women played in two areas that were colonized by Japan and likewise conflicted with the integration of communism.
Besides the essays, each country’s unit was concluded with a film that originated from that country as well as covered some themes discussed in class. For the Japan unit, we watched the film “Always: Sunset on Third Street (ALWAYS 三丁目の夕日)”, for the China unit we watched “To Live”, and for the Korea unit we ended off the semester with “A Taxi Driver.” Each film really made me realize how brutal some events in East Asian history were towards citizens of that country, many of whom were innocent bystanders within a field of conflict. I find it hard to empathize with quotes in a lecture or a textbook reading, but to see someone say such strong words or perform such intense actions in a film makes me feel like I traveled back in time and can really understand the way that people felt.
I think this course was structured well and over half of the material taught was brand new to me. That is always exciting for me in a course, as it actually makes me focus better in class and not feel like I’m wasting my time learning the same material year after year.
I would like to further my understanding especially on East Asian governments and how they currently interact with society. I think being able to have an understanding of different countries’ histories will be useful especially for traveling and exploring museums and landmarks, broadening my range of research for capstone and future research projects, introducing myself to new films and novels, and teaching my own students in the future to diversify their understanding of history and the modern world.
(Above) Films watched in JAPN407
From left to right: 1.“Always: Sunset on Third Street [Japan Unit] 2. To Live [China Unit] 3. A Taxi Driver [Korea Unit]
From left to right: 1.“Always: Sunset on Third Street [Japan Unit] 2. To Live [China Unit] 3. A Taxi Driver [Korea Unit]