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Department of the Languages and Cultures of Japan and Korea

Issues in Post-war Japanese Society 1

Course Code:
155901329
Unit value:
0.5
Year of study:
Year 2
Taught in:
Term 1
This course is available to student's in their second year who have already gained some knowledge of Japanese culture and history to fully appreciate this course. It is also available to first year students on the Accelerated Japanese courses.  This course is designed to offer a critical introduction to issues in contemporary Japanese society. It will both complement and enhance the offerings available within the section by incorporating a contemporary perspective which is essential for preparing students for their 3rd year abroad. 

Prerequisites

No pre-requisites are required though a basic knowledge of Japanese culture and history is required.

Objectives and learning outcomes of the course

At the end of the course students will be aware of and able to think and write critically about, a range of topics in 20th/21st century Japan, covering political as well as social aspects.  Students will prepare and deliver short critical presentations before their peers, and participate actively in classroom discussion, acquiring oral presentation and communicative skills. The topics of these presentations will be within the framework of the course, but students are required to add sources of their own, which will familiarise them with bibliographic methods. In addition, the course will familiarise students with, and encourage critical use of, different types of media: books, academic journals, newspapers, and the multiple resources of the world wide web.

Workload

This is a one term course taught over 10 weeks with a 2-hour lecture per week.

Scope and syllabus

The study of Japan will be focused on pre-war, and largely pre-modern themes. The aim of this course is to incorporate the contemporary perspective on Japan in looking critically at discussions in post-war Japanese politics and society. Specific topics to be analysed in their post war manifestations include:

  • the imperial institution
  • right wing nationalism
  • national identity
  • Japan and its minorities
  • Japanese politics and its involvement in media
  • Japan and its reception in the wider world as well as vice versa

Method of assessment

One two-hour written examination taken in May/June (60%) and one essay of 3,000 words to be submitted in Week 2, Term 2 on the day on which the course is taught (40%).

Suggested reading

  • Gordon, Andrew (2003): A Modern History of Japan. Oxford: Oxford UP.
  • Ruoff. Kenneth (2001): The People’s Emperor. Cambridge MA: Harvard UP.
  • Weiner, Michael (ed.) (1997): Japan's Minorities. The Illusion of Homogeneity. London: Routledge.
  • Pharr, Susan J. and Krauss Ellis S. (eds.) (1996): Media and Politics in Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
  • Breen, John (ed.) (2008): Yasukuni, the War Dead and the Struggle for Japan’s Past. New York: Columbia UP.
  • Segers, Rien T. (2008): A New Japan for the 21st Century. An Inside Overview of Current Fundamental Changes. Milton Park et al.: Routledge.
  • Nozaki Yoshiko (2008): War Memory, Nationalism and Education in Post-War Japan, 1945-2007. The Japanese History Textbook Controversy and Ienaga Saburo’s Court Challenges. New York: Routledge.
  • Befu Harumi (2001): Hegemony of Homogeneity. An Anthropological Analysis of Nihonjinron. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press.
  • Oguma Eiji (2002): A Genealogy of 'Japanese' Self-images. Translated by David Askew. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press.
  • Clammer, John (2001): Japan and its Others. Globalization, Difference and the Critique of Modernity. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press.
  • Hook, Glenn D. (et al.) (2001): Japan's International Relations: Politics, Economics and Security. London: Routledge.
  • Takashi Inoguchi (2005): Japanese Politics. An Introduction. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press.