August 4 - Session 1 - Pitelka - Postwar Growth and Crisis

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed this session on post-war Japan very much because it filled in several holes in my understanding, especially about Japan’s views of itself as well as its relationship with the U.S. I liked the details about post-war shame and ‘era of malaise’ expressed in literary works, as well as the insight into environmental consciousness.
Students could be encouraged to find examples of this type of artistic expression that have followed other world conflicts.
The discussion about young women’s attitudes and behavior would be fascinating to my students (all girls school) and I would welcome their opinion about this phenomenon and how they see themselves as similar or different.

[Anonymous]

I also found the postal/banking system intriguing. It is s good reminder that our way is not necessarily the best or only way to do business.

I think that looking at the daily life of the Japanese, or any other ethnicity, helps remind us just how much we have in common -- as well as how different we may be.

I also thought it was interesting to discuss the Japanese emperor and America's strategy in letting him stay in place. It is interesting how this tactic endeared the emperor to the Japanese people, and in turn, endeared the Japanese people to the US. Sometimes we think of public relations strategies as superficial "spin" -- but this shows that it can truly be an important political move.

[Anonymous]

Throughout Morgan Pitelka's excellent presentation on post war Japan I kept thinking about their massive amount of growth in such a short period of time. They went from a 3rd world classification to an industrialized 1st world classification within 20 years. I am curious if any other country has done it this quickly. Should what they did become a model for our poorer nations in Latin America and Africa?

I think what would Japan's growth have looked like if they had not been decimated by years of war and the atomic bombs. Would tiny Japan be the most powerful nation today? We can only hypothesize. Did their zeal for such fast economic growth come out of their experience and position in 1945?

Mao's China was trying to grow at the same time. They created a program called the Great Leap Forward that ended up depleting the country and pushing them even farther behind other countries in Asia.

I am so impressed with Japan's ability to grow and progress so rapidly during the postwar period and I hope we can all learn from it - both the positive and the negative aspects of this trajectory.

[Anonymous]

The youth changes in Japan were very interesting. I have a few Otaku’s in my family! 
One thing that really struck me was the minimal drug problem in Japan yet a very high suicide rate among Japanese youth. I had never quite heard about the social pressures these kids experienced. I am very interested in pre-viewing and then hopefully showing Toykology. The morning session was very intriguing. It also seemed there were some similarities in regards to “women’s sphere of influence” that is also very prevalent in Latino culture.

[Anonymous]

Whenever a country or region explodes technologically or financially, it needs to beware of the related moral destitution. The readings were relavant to a lot of problems on campuses here. It would be interesting to the students to know how their counterparts are doing on the other side of the world. The movie "Babel" came to my mind also to show that the atlas has shrunk and we are in everything togeteher and can no longer succedd with the attitude"who cares what happens on the other side of the world!"

[Author]

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