(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract:
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This course explores how and why Japan, a late-comer to modernization, emerged as an industrial power and the world's second-richest nation, notwithstanding its recent difficulties. We are particularly concerned with the historical development of technology in Japan especially after 1945, giving particular attention to the interplays between business, ideology, technology, and culture. We will discuss key historical phenomena that symbolize modern Japan as a technological power in the world; specific examples to be discussed in class include kamikaze aircraft, the Shinkansen high-speed bullet train, Godzilla, and anime.
- Subject:
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Humanities,
Science and Technology,
Social Sciences
- Grade Level:
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Post-secondary
- Collection:
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MIT OpenCourseWare
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(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract:
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Surveys both cinematic and literary representations of diverse eras and aspects of Japanese culture such as the classical era, the samurai age, wartime Japan and the atomic bombings, social change in the postwar period, and the appropriation of foreign cultural themes, with an emphasis on the modern period. Directors include Akira Kurosawa and Hiroshi Teshigahara. Authors include Kobo Abe and Yukio Mishima. Films shown with subtitles in English. Taught in English.
- Subject:
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Humanities,
Social Sciences
- Grade Level:
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Post-secondary
- Collection:
-
MIT OpenCourseWare
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(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract:
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This course examines Japanese popular culture as a way of understanding the changing character of media, capitalism, fan communities and culture. Topics include manga (comic books), hip-hop and other popular music in Japan, anime (Japanese animated films) and feature films, sports (sumo, soccer, baseball), and online communication. Emphasis will be on contemporary popular culture and theories of gender, sexuality, race, and the workings of power in global culture industries.
- Subject:
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Humanities,
Social Sciences
- Grade Level:
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Post-secondary
- Collection:
-
MIT OpenCourseWare
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(Complete Item Description)
- Abstract:
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Much of the focus on modern Japan in U.S. curriculum is on Japan's role in World War II and/or on its status as an economic superpower by the 1980s. The steps along Japan's path from a defeated aggressor nation to a peace-oriented, prosperous power are less-noted, but essential for explaining Japan's transformation and the U.S.'s role in that process. One primary source activity in this cluster focuses on Japan's postwar identity as a "peace state," and how that identity was a product of Article 9 of the new Constitution created by Americans under General MacArthur. Japan's pacifism was undergirded by a strong U.S. military presence in Okinawa, a presence now increasingly challenged by Okinawans and other Japanese. The second activity uses photographs to explore the April 2010 Okinawan protests against the U.S. base at Futenma. A final source, the animated cartoon Sazae-san, looks at an aspect of Japanese cultural identity influenced by the U.S., specifically the Japanese celebration of Christmas in the postwar years. How the Japanese have thought about these changes Đ embracing certain roles and practices while questioning or rejecting others Đ is a main theme of this group of documents.
- Subject:
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Humanities,
Social Sciences
- Grade Level:
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Secondary
- Collection:
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PrimarySource.org
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