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Rob_Hugo@PortNWHi everyone,
Please share your thoughts about our April 28 session, "The Rise of Modern Japan," by Professor Morgan Pitelka, by replying to this post.
-Miranda
AnonymousA lot of good stuff last night. Thanks to professor Pitelka for pushing ahead all the way to WW2.
For 7th graders, re-writing their own "codes" after reading about the samurai is a good choice. Japan's isolation and Perry's Black Ships also fits well with discussing immigration and stereotypes today: what are the reasons for/costs and benefits of regulating immigration?; where do steretypes come from?; what are the stereotypes of Americans?
Kind of lost in the story was just how fast and how well Japan industrialized. How did they do it? Why was China unable to do the same?
AnonymousBelow is the link to the "Black Ships and Samurai" website from the MIT Visualizing Cultures series which Professor Pitelka recommended in class:
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/black_ships_and_samurai/index.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/black_ships_and_samurai/index.html "> http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/black_ships_and_samurai/index.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/black_ships_and_samurai/index.html
AnonymousProfessor Pitelka recommends this site for its images on Japan and East Asia. You can use the "Search the Collections" function for images on specific topics, genres, etc.
AnonymousI have so little knowledge of Japan's history. This was exhilerating. The part about Japan becoming a modern country was especially interesting. The group of men that studiedAmerican and European culture to determine what made them so advanced and then what they could do is useful to me as a math/science teacher. Their conclusions that math/science is what they needed to advance was something I could use. I could share where Japan was becaused technology and how that advanced them to a world power. Students need reasons as to why they must study. This could motivate some.
AnonymousThis presentation was great. Prof. Pitelka's personality and lecture style made it accessible.
As the bulk of my work in history has been in the United States and Europe, it was interesting to get some fairly recent Japanese history. It certainly had the benefit of providing context for Western imperialism and other activity in East Asia from the 1500s on, but even more importantly, it demonstrated that the culture and government that emerged in Japan were as sophisticated as anything that developed in Europe. While the example of the department store (Mitsui, I believe) is at the forefront of my thoughts, I also find the ability of the Tokugawa to effectively check the power of the other samurai through their "banishment" to realms beyond the chokepoints as well as the use of the traveling system sophisticated. The latter is reminiscent of Louis XIV's policy in 17th century France.
AnonymousAnother aspect of Prof. Pitelka's lecture came up today in a class: the role of Jesuits in Japan. My students found it especially interesting that the Japanese crucified Jesuits and executed them as they moved to expel the order from the country. Interestingly, one of the students asked if people assumed that this was an element of Japanese "barbarism" and then argued that it should not be seen this way as Europeans engaged in similarly abhorrent practices for hundreds of years. He cited the 17th century witch hunts and the punishments meted out by the Inquisition as examples. It was great that such a small tidbit of knowledge about Japan sparked this realization and argument from this student.
AnonymousThis website is fantastic. I like that it includes both the linguistic and non-linguistic resources as my students often have a hard time visualizing the content we are studying. The part on Perry's mission is excellent, too, for its visual representation of bias. The Japanese depiction of Perry that sits next to the photograph demonstrates bias very well.
AnonymousIt was an excellent session (as usual), albeit abbreviated.
The readings represented a compelling account of the nationalistic and ethnic
fervor that seemed to become a galvanizing force for pre-modern Japan.
Their xenophobia extended to modern times and WWI and WWII.
In turn, America's reaction and discrimination against its Japanese citizens -
prior to WWII and the attack on Pearl Harbor - further fueled Japan's deep
mistrust of foreigners.
Consequently, these ideologies strongly led to the Axis powers partnership
with Germany and Italy during WWII.
AnonymousThis was another great session. There is so much information to go through in such short a time. It is very impressive with how quickly Japan was able to change their status on the world stage. Creating an infrastructure to accommodate the alternate attendance policy prepared the country to be able to move goods, people, and ideas around the country quickly. Next year I would love to incorporate the codes with Hammarubi so they can compare the two and interject their own ideas for a code. This works perfectly since it what we teach in the beginning of the year.
AnonymousAs I reviewed my notes from professor Pitelka, it seems as though the caste "status system"
in Japan mirrored the caste system of India except for the fact that the Brahmans rank
at the highest level of the caste in India. In Japan, the Samurai warriors hold the highest
rank.
Professor Pitelka's lecture made clear to me the historical origins for the eschewment
of Christianity during the time that Japan became a closed country
(e.g., stamping on a picture of Jesus as a symbol of renouncing Christianity, torturing of Christians,
shooting foreigners on sight). I make this point because I have asked a few Japanese people
who did not know, or who did not care to discuss it (perhaps in order to "save face").
AnonymousIt was interesting how the lecture was the rise of modern Japan but it was mostly about everything before modern Japan. History is really not a study of the past but of the present and why we have what we have in the present. Historians know this but I don't think we illustarte this to young students as much as we should. Especially in answer to the question of "Why should we study history"? I have for a long time tikered with the idea of teaching world history in a much more "big picture" kind of way and not so much on the details. This lecture was like that to an extent.
AnonymousI agree completely. I find it challenging to determine how much "big picture history" I should provide my students and how many details--names, battles, pieces of art, literature, etc.--I should provide. With my last unit over World War II in world history, I decided to provide a mini-lecture on the causes, course, and conclusion of the war each day during the block period and then have the students use the mobile computer lab to research areas of their own interest during the rest of the period. It works well as I provide the context and then they can explore art, society, technology, specific battles/events, or anything else that interest them to a greater extent.
I'd like to do this with Japanese, Chinese, or Korean history as well. At this point, some outside reading and my notes from the lectures would allow me to provide the context while students then could move forward on their own. I have students who would really enjoy doing research on "The Tale of Genji," the different shogunates, and the woodcut prints, among others, and I think it would motivate them to learn quite a bit more.
AnonymousSince I recently moved to California two years ago, I am learning
a lot more about its rich and varied history.
For example, for three year during WWII, Little Tokyo became
Bronzville with the extraction of Japanese citizens and the influx of
Southern African Americans looking for work.
Since most areas were closed (segregated) to African Americans,
families from the south lived in the vacant apartments in the Little Tokyo.
Sadly, once WWII ended, instead of attempting to live side by side,
landlords denied lease renewal, bought out of their leases, or were sued by the former
tenants.
African Americans did not leave immediately. They lived at the Alan Hotel until
it was demolished to "make way" for newer buildings.
The bright spot is that the Nisei Progressives did try to help African Americans find housing.
AnonymousSince our class last Tuesday I have looked at the MIT website and it serves as a great resource pairing with the lecture. We covered a lot of ground last time, but two aspects of the lecture really stood out for me. First, the extent of Japan’s isolation during the Kakogawa Shogunate, and secondly, the rapidity of Japanese modernization after this period. The way the Japanese empire grew, militarized and mimicked the brutality of its contemporary colonial powers was striking. It must have jarred many of the political leaders of the pay to see how quickly the pendulum of global power can swing. This is a lesson that should be heeded today.