H486 City and Country in Modern Japan (II)
- Course Code:
- 154800266
- Status:
- Course Not Running 2012/2013
- Unit value:
- 1
- Taught in:
- Full Year
The city that is now Tokyo contained over a million inhabitants by 1700, was the largest city in the world until the early nineteenth century and has regained that position again today. Mass urbanization in the twentieth century has meant that as of 2000, three-quarters of the Japanese population lived in metropolitan areas, with almost half concentrated in three major conurbations.
This course will use a thematic focus on the city, with occasional attention to the countryside, in order to explore the dynamics and dilemmas of modernity and modernisation in Japan and to provide a foundation on which to develop individual research projects, both in the class and for the special subject long essay.
We will use theoretical and comparative material to place the Japanese experience of urbanization in global perspective, but will spend most of our time on primary materials, complemented with relevant secondary sources. Given the limited amount of documentation translated into English, the former will range widely, from guidebooks, commentaries, and fiction to maps, pictures, and film.
Objectives and learning outcomes of the course
By the end of the course, a student should be able to:
- Design a feasible project, identify relevant data and supporting literature.
- Collate information, and conduct analysis using a range of approaches.
- Communicate convincing arguments in oral and written form.
Scope and syllabus
The course must be taken with H486 City and Country in Modern Japan (I).
The course is the second half of a special subject. It consists of the research and writing of a 10,000 word research essay.
