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History of Modern Japan
History Of Modern Japan And Korea (1868-1950S) (University of Delhi)
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Teaching Plan for Academic Year 2020-21
PAPER: History of Modern Japan (c. 1868- 1950s)
SEMESTER: VI
SESSION: JAN – MAY 2021
TEACHER'S NAME: Dr. Shakti Madhok
Syllabus:
Unit 1: Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism
a. Crisis of the Tokugawa Bakuhan System
b. The Meiji Restoration: Nature and Significance; Early Meiji Reforms
c. Economic Development in the Meiji Era
Agrarian Settlement
Industrialisation and Capitalism
Unit 2: Democracy and Militarism
a. Popular Rights Movement
b. Women’s Rights in the Meiji Era
c. Meiji Constitution
d. Failure of Parliamentary Democracy; Militarism and Fascism
Unit 3: Imperialistic Expansion and Resistance
a. Imperialism and Japanese Nationalism
b. Expansion in China and Manchuria
c. Colonisation of Korea and Korean Nationalism
Unit 4: American Occupation, post-War Reconstruction and “Reverse Course”
Course Description:
The course studies the transition of Japan from quasi-feudalism to a modern industrialised
capitalist nation. It focuses on the political and economic strategies adopted by Japan to meet
the challenges posed by western imperialistic intrusions. It facilitates an understanding of
Japan’s emergence as a major non-European power within an international order dominated
by western imperial powers. It studies the trajectory of Japan towards ultra-nationalism and
militarism in the context of a failed parliamentary democracy, eventually leading to disaster
in the Second World War. The course aims to pay close attention to historiographical shifts in
all topics, contextualising these against the backdrop of their contemporary history and
politics. Adequate attention is given to the study of social and cultural aspects with a special
emphasis on the role of women in late 19th and early 20th century Japan.
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TEACHING TIME (No. Of 15 Weeks)
CLASSES
The course is organized around daily lectures as per the timetable.
Students will be given reading assignments each week to help them follow
the course content. These readings will be discussed in class in detail.
The presentation shall focus either on important themes covered in the
class lectures, or on specific readings. Interactive sessions through group
discussions or group presentations. shall be used to enable un-learning of
prevailing misconceptions about historical developments and time
periods, as well as to facilitate revision of issues outlined in the lectures.
Supporting audio-visual aids like documentaries and power point
presentations, and an appropriate field-visit will be used where necessary.
ASSESSMENT
Internal Assessment: 25 Marks
Students will be regularly assessed for their grasp on debates and
discussions covered in class. Two written submissions; one of which could
be a short project, will be used for final grading of the students. Students
will be assessed on their ability to explain important historical trends and
thereby engage with the historical approach. Students in this course will
primarily have three modes of assessment:
1) Written assignment
2) Presentation
3) Class Test
Two assignments of 5 marks each. Students will have to write one essay-
based assignment inclusive of bibliographies, and for the second
assignment, they will have to prepare a presentation. There will be a Class
Test of 10 marks. It will take place tentatively after the mid-semester
break.
Additionally, there are 5 marks for Attendance
Essential Readings:
Gordon, A. (2003). A Modern History of Japan- From Tokugawa Times to the Present. New
York: Oxford University Press, Chapters 3- The Intellectual World of Late Tokugawa
&Chapter 4- Overthrow of the Tokugawa.
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• Hall, J.W. (1970). Japan from Pre-history to Modern Times. Centre for Japanese Studies,
the University of Michigan. Chapter 13- The Meiji Restoration and Its Meaning.
• Hall, J.W. (1991). (ed.). Cambridge History of Japan. Volume IV: Early Modern Japan.
CUP. Cambridge.
• Jansen, M.B. (2000). The Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
• Jansen. M.B. and Gilbert Rozman. (1986). Japan in Transition from Tokugawa to Meiji.
Princeton, Princeton University Press.
• Livingston, J. et al. (1974). The Japan Reader: Volume I- Imperial Japan: 1800-1945.
Pantheon Asia Library, 1974.
• McClain, J.L. (2002). Japan – A Modern History. W.W. Norton and Company. Chapter 3-
Self and Society.
• Pyle, K.B. (1995). The Making of Modern Japan. Lexington: D.C. Heath.
• Sansom, G.B. (2015). The Western World and Japan-- a Study in the Interaction of
European and Asiatic Cultures. Bibliolife DBA of Biblio Bazaar II LLC. Chapters 14 and 15.
• Totman, C. (1980). Collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu.1862-1868. University of Hawaii
Press.
Moore Jr., Barrington. (2015). Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, Lord and
Peasant in the Making of the Modern World. Boston: Beacon Press.
• Beasley, W.G. (2000). The Rise of Modern Japan: Political, Economic and Social Change
Since 1850. Palgrave Macmillan. Chapter 6- Protest and Dissent.
• Beckmann, G.M. (1957). The Making of the Meiji Constitution: The Oligarchs and the
Constitutional Development of Japan, 1868-1891. University of Kansas Press.
• Jansen, M. B. et. al ed. (1988). Cambridge History of Japan. Volume V: The Twentieth
Century. Cambridge, CUP.
• Fairbank, J.K., E.O. Reischauer and A. M. Craig. (1998). East Asia: Tradition and
Transformation. New Jersey: Houghton Mifflin. Chapter 23- Imperial Japan: Democracy and
Militarism.
• Gordon, A. (2003). A Modern History of Japan- From Tokugawa Times to the Present. New
York: Oxford University Press. pp 88-91.
• Ike, N. (1969). The Beginnings of Political Democracy in Japan. Praeger, 1969.
• Jansen, M.B. (1988). Cambridge History of Japan. Volume V: The Nineteenth Century.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp 651-673
• Hall, J.W. (1970). Japan from Pre-history to Modern Times. Centre for Japanese Studies,
the University of Michigan. Chapter 16- The Meiji Constitution and the Emergence of
Imperial Japan. Chapter 17- The Decade of the 20’s- Political Parties and Mass Movements.
Jansen, M.B. (1975). Japan and China: From War to Peace, 1894-1972. Princeton
University:
Rand McNally College Publishing Company/Chicago. Chapter 4- Japan and Change in
Korea, Chapter 7-The New Generation, pp 241-247, Chapter 10-The Road to the Pacific War.
• Mayo, J.M.(Ed.). (1970). The Emergence of Imperial Japan-Self Defence or Calculated
Aggression?
Lexington, Massachusetts: D.C. Heath and Company. pp 19-24, 25-30, 47-53, 55-
58, 69-73.
• Morley, J.W. (Ed). (1971). Dilemmas of Growth in Pre-war Japan. Princeton, New Jersey:
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Princeton University Press. Chapter I- introduction: Choice and Consequence, Chapter IVThe
Failure of Military Expansionism, Chapter VI- Rural origins of Japanese Fascism, Chapter
IX- Intellectuals as Visionaries of the New Asian Order, Chapter XIII- What Went
Wrong?.
• Seth, M.J. (2011). A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present. New York, Toronto,
Plymouth. Chapter 10- Colonial Korea, 1910 to 1945.
Dower, J.W. (1999). Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. New York.W.W.
Norton & Company.
• Duus, P. (1997). Modern Japan. Boston. Houghton Mifflin
• Jansen, M.B. (1975). Japan and China: From War to Peace, 1894-1972. Princeton
University: Rand McNally College Publishing Company/Chicago. Chapter 12- The Postwar
Era, pp 447-462.
• Porter, E.A. and Porter, Ran Ying, (2018) Japanese Reflections on World War II and the
American Occupation. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press.
• Takemae, E. (2002). The Allied Occupation of Japan. New York, London: The Continuum
International publishing group.
