HIST 210: Japan, East Asia, and the Pacific World, Spring 2019 (b)

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Syllabic Cycles"

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On this date in Round and Square History
15 January 2015—Attendance Policy: Spring 2015
15 January 2015—China's Lunar Calendar: 2015 01-15
15 January 2014—Erlangen 91052: Introduction 
15 January 2014—China's Lunar Calendar: 2014 01-15
15 January 2013—Channeling Liam: Free Will
15 January 2012—Hurtin', Leavin, and Longin': Upbeat and Downcast
15 January 2011—Kanji Mastery: Resource Center

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Click here for either half of the Japan, East Asia, and the Pacific World Syllabus

Weeks 1-8        Weeks 9-16

[a] Golden RF

Japan, East Asia, and the Pacific World

HIST 210

Autumn 2019

TTh 12:00-2:00

Robert André LaFleur                                                  Office Hours:

Morse Ingersoll 206                                                      Tuesday      4:00-5:30
363-2005                                                                         Thursday    4:00-5:30           lafleur@beloit.edu                                                          ...or by appointment          

Required Books         

Benedict, Ruth. The Chrysanthemum and the Sword

Berry, Mary Elizabeth. Japan in Print

Bestor, Theodore. Neighborhood Tokyo

Bestor, Theodore. Tsukiji: The Fish Market at the Center of the World

Bix, Herbert. Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan

Dower, John. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II

Keene, Donald. Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852-1912

McCullough, Helen. Classical Japanese Prose: An Anthology

Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko. Rice as Self: Japanese Identities Through Time

Rupp, Katherine. Gift-Giving in Japan

xxx

Hacker, Diana. A Pocket Style Manual.

All books are on library reserve

On Library Reserve—Required Reading
Lu, David, Japan: A Documentary History
LaFleur, Robert, Great Mythologies of the World: East Asia and the Pacific 

Course Description

This course will examine Japanese history and culture in the context of the wider East Asian world.  We will begin with early Japanese history and the influence of both Korea and China on early Japanese institutions. In an even broader perspective, we will consider Japan (and East Asia's) role in a complex Pacific world, and how that region has shaped the world at large—from cultural and military forces to environmental issues, trade, and development.

We will then examine the development of Japan’s indigenous traditions during the Heian (794-1185), Kamakura (1185-1333), and Ashikaga (1336-1568) periods. The second half of the course will deal with modern Japanese history and culture, paying equal attention to historical and ethnographic materials, and taking a careful look at the development of the Kanto and Kansai regions in modern Japanese history and culture. Throughout the course we will use examples from the Japanese language—spoken phrases, the two major syllabaries (hiragana and katakana), and kanji, or Chinese characters—to analyze Japanese history and culture in linguistic context.

Evaluation

Quizzes                                                            10%      Every Class Session

Source Letter                                                   15%      Week Four

Exam I                                                              15%      Week Seven
Midterm Essay                                                  20%     Week Nine

Source Paper                                                   25%      Week Fourteen

Exam II                                                             15%      Week Sixteen

Class attendance and participation is expected.  

See my class attendance and participation policy

Late assignments will be penalized—see my late assignment policy.

Click here for either half of the Japanese History and Culture Syllabus

Weeks 1-8        Weeks 9-16

History 210

Japan, East Asia, and the Pacific World

Autumn 2019

Week IX

Contemporary Japanese Culture II

Rice, Self, and Samurai

Round and Square Click for separate Round and Square Syllabus

New York Review of Books Click for separate New York Review of Books Syllabus 

Tuesday, March 19 (Film in Class)

Ohnuki-Tierney, Rice as Self

     Food as a Metaphor of Self: An Exercise in Historical Anthropology

     Rice and Rice Agriculture Today

     Rice as a Staple Food?

     Rice in Cosmogony and Cosmology

     Rice as Self, Rice Paddies as Our Land

     Rice in the Discourse of Selves and Others

     Foods as Selves and Others in Cross-cultural Perspective

     Symbolic Practice through Time: Self, Ethnicity, and Nationalism
Kurosawa, The Seven Samurai (七人の侍)

     Part One
Be in class by 12:00 so you can see the beginning of the film (very important)! (No quiz today).

Thursday, March 21 (Film in Class)

Kurosawa, The Seven Samurai (七人の侍)

     Part Two

Ohnuki-Tierney, Rice as Self

     Food as a Metaphor of Self: An Exercise in Historical Anthropology

     Rice and Rice Agriculture Today

     Rice as a Staple Food?

     Rice in Cosmogony and Cosmology

     Rice as Self, Rice Paddies as Our Land

     Rice in the Discourse of Selves and Others

     Foods as Selves and Others in Cross-cultural Perspective

     Symbolic Practice through Time: Self, Ethnicity, and Nationalism

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Rice and Japanese Culture Essays 

Due by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 23

Late Tokugawa and Early Meiji Japan (c. 1800- c. 1900)

Week X 

Tuesday, March 26

Round and Square Click for separate Round and Square Syllabus

New York Review of Books Click for separate New York Review of Books Syllabus 

Great Mythologies of the World (on library reserve): Lecture 44
     44: Nature Gods and Tricksters of Polynesia      
Keene, Emperor of Japan: 1-209

Lu, Japan: A Documentary History, 273-344
Read section headers and source titles (this should take twenty minutes)
     The End of Tokugawa Rule     
     Early Meiji Political Developments                 

Thursday, March 28

Keene, Emperor of Japan: 210-415

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Please read the xxx

Click Here to Review the Late Assignment Policy

Week XI
The Late Meiji, Taisho, and Showa Eras (c. 1900-1945)

Tuesday, April 2

Round and Square Click for separate Round and Square Syllabus

New York Review of Books Click for separate New York Review of Books Syllabus 

Great Mythologies of the World (on library reserve): Lecture 45
     45: Creation and Misbehavior in Micronesia 
Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan: 21-232

Part I: The Prince’s Education, 1901-1921

     The Boy, the Family, and the Meiji Legacies

     Cultivating an Emperor                                       
     Confronting the Real World                                 

Part II: The Politics of Good Intentions

     The Regency and the Crisis of Taisho Democracy    

     The New Monarchy and the New Nationalism         

     A Political Monarch Emerges                               

Lu, Japan: A Documentary History, 345-458
Read section headers and source titles (this should take twenty minutes)
     Social and Economic Development in the Meiji Era
     Taisho Democracy
     Rise of Ultranationalism and the Pacific War            

Thursday, April 4

Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan: 233-530

Part III: His Majesty’s Wars, 1931-1945

     The Manchurian Transformation

     Restoration and Repression

     Holy War

     Stalemate and Escalation

     Prologue to Pearl Harbor

     The Ordeal of Supreme Command

     Delayed Surrender    

Please read the "Rice and Japanese Culture" Assignment

(Due Sunday 11/12 by 5:00 p.m. in my office—MI 206)

Click Here to Review the Late Assignment Policy

Week XII
The Postwar Era

Tuesday, April 9

Round and Square Click for separate Round and Square Syllabus

New York Review of Books Click for separate New York Review of Books Syllabus 

Great Mythologies of the World (on library reserve): Lecture 46
     46: Melanesian Myths of Life and Cannibalism
Dower, Embracing Defeat: 19-275

Part I: Victor and Vanquished

     Shattered Lives                                                  

     Gifts from Heaven                                               

Part II: Transcending Despair

     Kyodatsu: Exhaustion and Despair                         

     Cultures of Defeat                                               

     Bridges of Language                                            

Part III: Revolutions

     Neocolonial Revolution

     Embracing Revolution

     Making Revolution

Lu, Japan: A Documentary History, 459-524
Read section headers and source titles (this should take twenty minutes)
     Japan Under Occupation  
     Politics and Problems of Security     
           
Thursday, April 11

Dower, Embracing Defeat: 277-564

Part IV: Democracies

     Imperial Democracy: Driving the Wedge

     Imperial Democracy: Descending Partway from Heaven

     Imperial Democracy: Evading Responsibility

     Constitutional Democracy: GHQ Writes a New National Charter

     Constitutional Democracy: Japanizing the American Draft

     Censoring Democracy: Policing the New Taboos

Part V: Guilts

     Victor’s Justice, Loser’s Justice                            

     What Do You Tell the Dead When You Lose?        

Part VI: Reconstructions

     Engineering Growth                                            

     Epilogue: Legacies/Fantasies/Dreams     

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READ ALL THREE PARTS OF THE ASSIGNMENT!
Source Paper Assignment due on Sunday, December 3

by 5:00 p.m. (hard copy in my office—MI 206)

Click Here to Review the Late Assignment Policy

Week XIII
Contemporary Japanese Culture III—
Early Postwar Reflections from America

Tuesday, April 16
Round and Square Click for separate Round and Square Syllabus

New York Review of Books Click for separate New York Review of Books Syllabus 

Benedict, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword

     Assignment: Japan

     The Japanese in the War

     Taking One’s Proper Station

     The Meiji Reform

     Debtor to the Ages and the World

     Repaying One-Ten-Thousandth

     The Repayment ‘Hardest to Bear’

     Clearing One’s Name

     The Circle of Human Feelings

     The Dilemma of Virtue

     Self-Discipline

     The Child Learns
     The Japanese Since VJ-Day

 Lu, Japan: A Documentary History, 525-562
Read section headers and source titles (this should take twenty minutes)
     Emergence of an Economic Superpower             

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READ ALL THREE PARTS OF THE ASSIGNMENT!
Source Paper Assignment due on Sunday, December 3

by 5:00 p.m. (hard copy in my office—MI 206)

Click Here to Review the Late Assignment Policy

Week XIV
Contemporary Japanese Culture IV— Urban Anthropology

Tuesday, April 23

Round and Square Click for separate Round and Square Syllabus

New York Review of Books Click for separate New York Review of Books Syllabus 

Great Mythologies of the World (on library reserve): Lecture 47
     47: Origins in Indonesia and the Philippines 
Bestor, Neighborhood Tokyo: 1-161

     Introduction                                           

     Miyamoto-cho, a Portrait                         

     The Development of a Neighborhood                     

     Local Politics and Administration             

     Community Services and Neighborhood Events                   

 Lu, Japan: A Documentary History, 563-604
Read section headers and source titles (this should take twenty minutes)
     Bridging the Past and Present               

Thursday, April 25

Bestor, Neighborhood Tokyo: 162-268

     Formal Hierarchies of Participation and Power         

     Friends and Neighbors

     The Festival and the Local Social Order

     Conclusion

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READ ALL THREE PARTS OF THE ASSIGNMENT!
Source Paper Assignment due on Sunday, December 3

by 5:00 p.m. (hard copy in my office—MI 206)

Click Here to Review the Late Assignment Policy

 Week XV
Contemporary Japanese Culture V—Market, Nation, World

Tuesday, April 30

Great Mythologies of the World (on library reserve): Lecture 48
     48: Aboriginal and Colonial Myths of Australia 
Bestor, Tsukiji: 1-176

     Tokyo’s Pantry                                      

     Grooved Channels                                  

     From Landfill to Marketplace        

     The Raw and the Cooked

 Lu, Japan: A Documentary History, 605-618
                      Read section headers and source titles (this should take twenty minutes)

 Thursday, May 1

Bestor, Tsukiji: 177-313

     Visible Hands                                                    

     Family/Firm                                                      

     Trading Places                                                   

     Full Circle                         

READ ALL THREE PARTS OF THE ASSIGNMENT!
Source Paper Assignment due on Sunday, December 3

by 5:00 p.m. (hard copy in my office—MI 206)

Click Here to Review the Late Assignment Policy

                               

Week XVI
Contemporary Japanese Culture VI—Review

Tuesday, May 7

Exam II (in-class)

READ ALL THREE PARTS OF THE ASSIGNMENT!
Source Paper Assignment due on Sunday, December 3

by 5:00 p.m. (hard copy in my office—MI 206)

Click Here to Review the Late Assignment Policy

Click here for either half of the Japan, East Asia, and the Pacific World Syllabus

Weeks 1-8        Weeks 9-16

[e] Centered RF