JAPANESE CULTURE AND SOCIETY
Fall 2014
Mon. 14:00 – 16:45
International Studies Hall #332
Instructor: Jung-Sun Han
Office Hours: Wed 14:00– 15:00, and by appointments
Office: International Studies Hall #523
Email:
In this course, we will closely look at postwar Japan by focusing on its social relations and cultural economy. The symbolic, the imaginary, and the reality of postwar Japan will be examined to analyze changes and continuities of cultural and national identities. We will discuss both the legacy of World War II and U.S. occupation of Japan, the development of postwar emperor, the political economy of high growth, the costs of rapid economic developments, and the changes since the post-bubble economy. Major topics will be civil society, gender, ethnicity, mass-media, and visual culture in contemporary Japan within the context of Cold War and the globalizing world in the post-Cold War period.
Assessment and Course Requirement
Class attendance, participation, and presentations 15%
Weekly Summaries 25%
Critical Review Essays60% (20%*3)
Students are expected to read all assigned readings prior to class meetings, be prepared to lead discussions, discuss the topics, and share some of their own questions in class. Participation will be evaluated on the basis of regular class attendance, level of preparation, and contributions to class discussions.
There will be no examinations. Instead, weekly summaries and 3 papers need to be submitted on time. Weekly summaries are due by 9: 00 AM, every Tuesday and can be submitted electrically. Weekly summaries are one-page papers, 1) identifying the main argument of assigned readings; 2) discussing and criticizing major themes; and 3) raising 3 discussion questions for seminar. Weekly summaries will be exempt for those who present and in those three weeks due for papers. There will be three writing assignments during the semester. They will be short yet critical review papers (7-8 pages) of assigned reading materials while answering specific questions raised by the instructor. Each paper should consist of a clear thesis supported with evidence to provide an analytical assessment of major issues in war cultures and culture wars. Plagiarism on any of the papers will result in a zero grade for the paper.
Basic References
Kenneth B. Pyle, The Making of Modern Japan(Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company, 1996)
Duncan McCargo, Contemporary Japan (New York: Palgrave, 2004)
Outline and Reading Assignments
Week 1(9/1): Introduction
Week 2 (9/8): Holiday
Week 3 (9/15): Setting: Japan under American Occupation
Documentary: “Occupied Japan: An Experiment in Democracy”
Theodore H. McNelly, “‘Induced Revolution’: The Policy and Process of Constitutional Reform in Occupied Japan,” Robert E. Ward and Sakamoto Yoshikazu eds., Democratizing Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1987)
Week 4 (9/22): History of Economic Miracle
John W. Dower, “The Useful War” in Dower Japan in War and Peace: Selected Essays (New York: New Press, 1993)
Bruce Cumings, “Japan’s Position in the World System,” Andrew Gordon ed., Postwar Japan as History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993)
Koji Taira, “Dialectics of Economic Growth, National Power, and Distributive Struggles,” Andrew Gordon ed., Postwar Japan as History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993)
Week 5 (9/29): Political Economy of the Japanese Miracle
Chalmers Johnson, “Japan: Who Governs?,” Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1
Kozo Yamamura, “Success that Soured: Administrative Guidance and Cartels,” Kozo Yamamura ed., Policy and Trade Issues of the Japanese Economy (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1982)
Edward Lincoln, “The Heisei Economy: Puzzles, Problems, Prospects,”Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 37, No. 2 (Summer 2011)
Week 6 (10/6): Labor-Management Relations
Ryushi Iwata, “The Japanese Enterprise as a Unified Body of Employees: Origin and Development,” Shimpei Kumon and Henry Rosovsky eds., The Political Economy of Japan, Vol. 3: Cultural and Social Dynamics (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992)
Andrew Gordon, “Managing the Japanese Household: The New Life Movement in Postwar Japan,” Social Politics (Summer 1997)
Romit Dasgupta, “Creating Corporate Warriors: The “Salaryman” and Masculinity in Japan,” Kam Louie and Morris Low eds., Asian Masculinities: The Meaning and Practice of Manhood in China and Japan (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003)
Due for Paper One
Week 7 (10/13): Education
Thomas P. Rohlen, “Order in Japanese Society: Attachment, Order, and Authority,” Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 15, No. 1 (1989)
Rebecca Erwin Fukuzawa, “Path to Adulthood According to Japanese Middle Schools,” Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Winter 1994)
David Blake Willis et al., “Frontiers of Education.” International Review of Education 54 (Spring 2008)
Week 8(10/20): Midterm Exam
Due for Paper Two
Week 9 (10/27) Women and Gender in Japan
Priscilla A. Lambert, “The Political Economy of Postwar Family Policy in Japan: Economic Imperatives and Electoral Incentives,”Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Winter 2007)
Iwai Tomoaki, “The Madonna Boom”: Women in the Japanese Diet,” Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Winter 1993)
Kristen S. Lee, Paula A. Tufis, and Duane F. Alwin, “Separate Spheres or Increasing Equality?” Journal of Marriage and Family, 72 (February 2010)
Mary Alice Haddad, “More Access but Less Power?: Women in Japanese Politics,” Haddad, Building Democracy in Japan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012)
Week 10 (11/3) : After the “Lost Decade”
Kozo Yamamura, “The Japanese Political Economy after the “Bubble”: Plus Ca Change?,” Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Summer 1997)
Robert Pekkanen, “After the Developmental State,” Journal of East Asian Studies (2004)
William W. Kelly and Merry I. White, “Students, Slackers, Singles, Seniors, and Strangers: Transforming a Family-Nation,”in Peter J. Katzenstein and Takashi Shiraishi eds., Beyond Japan: The Dynamics of East Asia Regionalism (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006)
Week 11 (11/10): Civil Society and Social Movement
Tsujinaka Yutaka, “From Developmentalism to Maturity: Japan’s Civil Society Organizations in Comparative Perspective,”Frank Schwartz and Susan Pharr eds., The State of Civil Society in Japan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003)
Simon Avenell, “Facilitating Spontaneity,” Social Science Japan Journal, Vol. 13, No. 1 (February 2010)
Daniel P. Aldrich, Site Fights: Divisive Facilities and Civil Society in Japan and the West (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010)
Week 12 (11/17):Globalization and Political Culture
Glenn D. Hook and Takeda Hiroko, “‘Self-responsibility’ and the Nature of the Postwar Japanese State: Risk through the Looking Glass,” Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Winter 2007)
T.J. Pempel, “Between Pork and Productivity: The Collapse of the Liberal Democratic Party,” Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Summer 2010)
David Leheny, “A Narrow Place to Cross Swords: “Soft Power” and the Politics of Japanese Popular Culture in East Asia,” in Peter J. Katzenstein and Takashi Shiraishi eds., Beyond Japan: The Dynamics of East Asia Regionalism (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006)
Week 13 (11/24): The Postwar Generation and the Contemporary Art and Culture
Sharon Kinsella, “Japanese Subculture in the 1990s: Otaku and the Amateur Movement,” Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Summer 1993)
Takashi Murakami, “Earth in My Window,” Takashi Murakami ed., Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture (New Haven: Yale University, 2005)
Dong-Yeon Koh, “Murakami’s ‘Little Boy’ Syndrome: Victim or Aggressor in Contemporary Japanese and American Arts?,” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Vol. 11, No. 3 (2010)
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Week 14 (12/8):Race, Ethnicity, and Minority in Japan
Takeyuki Tsuda, “The Stigma of Ethnic Difference: The Structure of Prejudice and “Discrimination” toward Japan’s New Immigrant Minority,” Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Summer 1998)
Apichai W. Shippper, “Criminals or Victims: The Politics of Illegal Foreigners in Japan,”Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Summer 2005)
Petrice R. Flowers, “Failure to Protect Refugees? Domestic Institutions, International Organizations, and Civil Society in Japan,” Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 34, No. 2 (Summer 2008)
Week 15 (12/1):Risks, Disasters, and the Future
Kawata Yuko, Robert Pekkanen, and Tsujinaka Yutaka, “Civil Society and the Triple Disaster: Revealed Strengths and Weaknesses,” Jeff Kingston ed., Natural Disaster and Nuclear Crisis in Japan: Response and Recovery after Japan’s 3/11 (London: Reouteledge, 2012)
Week 16 (12/15): Final Exam Period
Duefor Paper Three