Twentieth-Century Japan

1993-1994

This course is a survey of the social, economic, and political aspects of Japanese history in the twentieth century. The main topical concerns of the course are the rise and nature of the labor and social movements in modern Japan, the origins of militarism and the Pacific War, and the contribution of the Pacific War to Japan's emergence as an economic super power.

The organization of the course is only loosely chronological. Historiography is given as much attention as history.

CONSTITUENCY

Year 1 (second year) CJS students. Note that this course represents one-half (50%) of your work within Japanese.

FORMAT

One fifty minute lecture per week beginning at 1410.

WHEN AND WHERE

Thu 1410-1500 LT 7 Arts Tower.

ASSESSMENT

Continuously assessed. Students will be required to write

50% during term 1, one essay of approximately 3000 words on a topic given by the instructor.

50% during term 2, one essay of approximately 3000 words on a topic given by the instructor.

* Essays substantially longer than 3000 words will be penalized.

* Essays are due by noon, Friday, in the last week of each term.

READINGS

The items listed below are on short loan in the CJS library. Items marked with an asterisk are also available as relatively inexpensive paperbacks.

NOTE This reading list is not necessarily complete as of this printing.

- KOBAYASHI Takiji, The Factory Ship [and] The Absentee Landlord (Univ. of Washington Press).

* Chalmers JOHNSON, MITI and the Japanese Miracle (Stanford University Press).

* Karel von WOLFEREN, The Enigma of Japanese Power .

- Earl H. KINMONTH, Newspaper Readings in Interwar Japanese History .

This is a collection of English language articles from the 1920s and 1930s. Copies will be available from the CJS library and on computer disk [MSDOS 1.2 or 1.44 meg format only].

* PYLE, Kenneth B. The Making of Modern Japan .

NOTE This item is a textbook. It is worth looking at only if you feel insecure without a conventional chronological narrative. Regurgitation of this or any other textbook will cause your essays to be marked down .

HANDOUTS

You will be given handouts on subjects such as writing style, theme topics, and what to look for in the assigned readings. These handouts will often contain material essential to your theme topics. Make sure you have a full set.

COPIES OF READINGS

Some of the readings are sets of bundled photocopies. These items are marked X:N on the syllabus. These will be available outside the CJS main office. When you borrow a bundle, you must sign for it. If the bundles are ripped off, they will not be replaced and all will suffer.

TOPICAL BREAKDOWN OF THE READINGS AND LECTURES

This breakdown is meant to give you a rough guide to pacing your reading. It is not an exact schedule of what will be covered in each lecture.

This reading list will be added to as the course progresses.

(B) Background reading.

(R) Required reading that is on short loan in the library.

(X) Required reading distributed as part of a packet of copies.

(S) Suggested reading.

"Introduction to the Course"

"The Nineteenth Century Background of Twentieth Century Japan"

(B) Pyle, Japan , chaps 1-9 (pp. 1-118).

"Taishô 'Democracy'"

(R) Harootunian and Silberman, Japan in Crisis: Essays in Taishô Democracy , chapters by Nakamura and Waswo.

"The Great Depression in Japan"

(R) Kinmonth, Newspaper Readings , items for the late 1920s.

"The Intellectual Left."

(X:1) Beckmann, "Radical Left."

(X:1) Yasuba, "Anatomy of the Debate on Japanese Capitalism."

(R) Kinmonth, Newspaper Readings , items on the arrests and trials of leftists.

"The Proletarian Left."

(R) Kobayashi, Factory Ship .

(R) Kinmonth, Newspaper Readings , items on labour movement.

"Agrarian Crisis."

(X:1) Orchard, "Agrarian Problems."

(R) Kobayashi, Absentee Landlord .

(X:1) Yasuba, "Anatomy of the Debate."

(R) Kinmonth, Newspaper Readings , items on agricultural sector.

"The Romantic and Radical Right."

(R) Kinmonth, Newspaper Readings , items on right-wing terrorism and trials of terrorists.

"Technocrats versus Plutocrats"

(B) Pyle, Japan , chap. 11 (pp. 135-150).

(R) Earl H. Kinmonth, The Self-Made Man in Meiji Japanese Thought: From Samurai to Salaryman . (Univ. of California Press, 1981), chap. 8, conclusion.

(X:2) Tiedemann, "Big Business and Politics."

(X:2) Spaulding, "Bureaucracy."

"The New Heaven on Earth: Manchuria."

(R) Kinmonth, Newspaper Readings , items on Manchuria.

(X:2) Kinmonth, "Japan in China and Manchuria."

(X:2) Kinmonth, "Militarism: Costs and Benefits."

"Who Were the 'Fascists' in Japan?"

(X) Maruyama Masao, Thought and Behaviour in Modern Japanese Politics . (extracts)

(X:2) Crowley, "Intellectuals as Visionaries."

(X:2) Fletcher, "Intellectuals and Fascism."

(X:2) Duus, "Fascism."

(X:2) Kinmonth, "Saitô Takao."

(R) Kinmonth, Newspaper Readings , items on the Konoe "New Order Movement" and war in China.

"A Valley of Darkness?"

(R) Kinmonth, Newspaper Readings , post-1931 items, especially those pertaining to economic and social change associated with war mobilization.

(X:3) Cohen, Japan's Economy in War , extracts.

(S) Thomas R. Havens, A Valley of Darkness .

An American statement of the conventional "we were the victims, not the victimizers" view widely held by Japanese.

(X:3) Havens, "Women and War."

(R) Johnson, MITI , background and wartime chapters.

"The American Occupation: Democracy or Hypocrisy?"

(R) Johnson, MITI , occupation chapters.

(B) Pyle, Japan , chap. 12 (pp. 151-166).

"The Japanese Economy: A Miracle or Industrial Policy?"

(B) Pyle, Japan , chap. 13 (pp. 167-180).

(R) Johnson, MITI , postwar chapters.

"The Legacy of Militarism."

(X:3) Dower, "Useful War."

(X:3) Takigawa, "Land Reform."

(X:3) Shillony, "Universities and Students."

"Power in Contemporary Japan"

(R) van Wolferen, Enigma .

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