[Ingrid Herskind]

I found this interesting article in National Geographic about Tokyo's growth into a megacity in spite of wars and natural disaters. I really enjoyed this part of the discussion from the video and slides. I haven't had a chance to go to Tokyo, yet, but wonder about architectural and urban resilence. I found an image from the article so interesting (and tied nicely to the slides on Tokyo's destruction and development cycle). The article also discussed Sendagaya, Tokyo's Silicone Valley. I thought this was so interesting as it connected to the discussion on the narrow structures in Tokyo and the multi-purpose spaces of home and office.  Here's the article: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2019/04/how-tokyo-japan-became-megacity-by-rebuilding-after-earthquake-war/

[Ingrid Herskind]

I am also interested in the urban planning and development in cities like Shanghai, Xian, and Beijing. The lack of open space is a serious issue in many major cities--and if Shanghai continues to develop on pace, any attempt at open space might be a distant memory. I liked your comment about the access of water in California, too. I think about this often as an Angeleno and wonder about the origins of Los Angeles and the diversion of water from the Owens Valley so many years ago. 

[Ingrid Herskind]

I was really curious about the remarks from the first video on the Bund in Shanghai. The juxtapostion of the Pudong District with the modern skyscrapers and innovative construction vs. the Huangpu District and its international feel. When travelling on the Huangpu River, the eastern and western banks are so unique and diverse--showing the remarkable growth and determination of Shanghai. I had the chance to view the Bund area via river boat in the summer of 2019 and was transfixed by the city lights and imaginative buildings on the Pudong side. My Shanghai friends said that the growth and development have been non-stop and have eclipsed many other Asian cities. I'd like to learn more about the problem of the Pudong being overbuilt on the silt bed.

[Ingrid Herskind]

While in Beijing in 2019, (it feels like oh so long ago) I was able to do some nighttime exploration of the Hutongs and Siheyuan near our residence. Strolling through the Hutongs, I was easily brought in to the courtyard life of these early residences. The Hutongs were surrounded by the massive construction and the hustle and bustle of the very busy main thoroughfares in Beijing. I enjoyed wandering these Hutongs and becoming a part of the life in these dwellings. These early dwellings were very organized with public bathing and cooking areas with multi-generational housing surrounding the common space. I really enjoyed this concept and like this type of architectural set-up.  In Shanghai, many of these Lane Houses have been replaced by the modern buildings of progress. 

 

[Ingrid Herskind]

I enjoyed learning about the paradigm shifts from horizontal to vertical and from city to mountain. The importance of nature in Buddhism is so interesting to see in the monateries that are built outside of the city. The talk on the monasteries being shrouded by nature made me think of my time at the Kopan Monastery outside of Kathmandu. The monastery is settled into the hillside and is not easily accessible--especially during the monsoon season. The multiple layers are carved out of the mountainside and offer many places to reflect on the wandering mind and the relationship of the structure in time and space. Knowing now about the transition from social reformer to spiritual icon, I can reflect on the symbols and built forms.

 

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[Ingrid Herskind]

Hello! My name is Ingrid Herskind, and I live in Los Angeles, California. I teach US History and International Relations and am the Global Studies Coordinator at my school. I am excited to learn more about the history of East Asian urbanization and architecture--mostly to share with my other teachers in world history and art history. It's so great to see so many people from all over the world on this forum. I'm looking forward to working with everyone!

[Ingrid Herskind]

I picked up the book "The Last Days of Old Beijing" by Michael Meyer about the impact of the economic transformation of Old Beijing. I was inspired to pick up this book after our last China lecture about the 1978 Economic Reform. This book is written by a journalist who has experienced the changes in Beijing from 1995-present. The book isn't written in a touristy way and said that he fell in love with Beijing at first sight. He writes about what he believes is a dying aspect of life in Old Beijing. Many of the ideas in the book truly reflected the discussions we had about the rapid development in China and the impact it is having on their culture.

[Ingrid Herskind]

What I Knew, What I Know Now, and How I Will Use It

In the fall of 2017, I started in a new position as the coordinator of Global Studies. As part of this job, I have been working to include both interdisciplinary global projects and student travel. This upcoming summer, we will be heading to China for the first time. Planning for this trip, I realized that I had a gap in my knowledge about East Asia and was excited for the opportunity to take this course.

The East Asia Since 1800 class opened my eyes to the past, present, and future of East Asia culturally, economically, environmentally, politically, and diplomatically. Before I took the class, I had a vague understanding of China’s development goals, but didn’t have any historical context to ground those assumptions. After the class, I have a deeper respect for the rich geographic history of East Asia and know that I can help my students make important connections between the major players in the region.

With more knowledge, resources, and connections, I feel confident in my ability to share this with my students in AP United States History, International Relations, and Global Studies. Moreover, I am excited to share these resources with other teachers at my school in all aspects of our curriculum. I have already been using some of the articles and lecture notes in my International Relations classes and have encouraged our library to purchase books that were discussed in the class. My librarian is ‘fleshing out’ our library resources in East Asia studies and has purchased some great fiction novels written by authors discussed by Dr. Dube and Dr. Miyake. Finally, I would recommend this seminar to teachers at my school and plan to participate in different seminars in the future. Thank you so much for an incredible experience.

[Ingrid Herskind]

Dr. Dube discussed Deng's 1978 Economic Reform plan discussion both Gradualism and Pragmatism. I've been thinking about the goals of gradualism as it applies to the One Belt, One Road agenda. There are many articles and maps that discuss China's One Belt, One Road program, but there is not a cohesive, organized article that fully outlines the goals of the program. This seems to fit with Deng's gradualism reform that stated, "finding your way across the stream gradually" was the way to go!  China's remarkable development plans are grand and all-encompassing, but are not necessarily all tied to a well presented agenda. It will be interesting to see how these projects help with infrastructural development and connections between China and the developing world. (as well as China and Europe and the Middle East!)

[Ingrid Herskind]

Dr. Shaede's lecture on the changing nature of Japan's economy really illuminated the complexities of the rise and transformation of Japan's business and economic state. I really enjoyed her analysis of the Industrial Policy transformations from the Old Japan system to the New Japan's system of moving into an Upstream market in technological expertise and innovation. Her statistical analysis of this movement to the "invisible" upstream market shows how important the trade relationship is for the United States and Japan. Roughly every five years, Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry draws up a list of major fields of technology. Japan saw that they were stagnating in the Globalization of Supply Chain and needed to either "swim upstream" or stagnate in the downstream market of zero profitability assembly. China was starting to dominate in this market, and Japan made the risky and smart move toward global market dominance--contributing to the production of many technological innovations and products.

[Ingrid Herskind]

Professor Kubo's article on the path of reconciliation showed the importance of patience and compromise from both sides. After reading the article, I was interested in hearing more about how the asymmetrical relationship between the United States and Japan continues to work and whether or not Japan wants to make this relationship more symmetrical.

Dr. Kubo's explanation of the asymmetry in rights and obligations puts into perspective why the United States doesn't need a willingness to defend the United States obligation  from Japan. As Trump had stated his concerns about this imbalance in the relationship, Professor Kubo explained why the relationship works. By allowing the US to use Japan's multiple bases throughout the island and on Okinawa, this "imbalance" is not quite as asymmetrical.

Professor Kubo also stated that PM Abe would like to see Japan further revise Article 9. The prime minister has called for adding an explicit reference to the SDF in war-renouncing Article 9, which bans Japan from maintaining air, sea and land forces, so there is no room to view them as unconstitutional. The prime minister said the security situation around Japan has grown severe at a much faster rate than five years ago, when Japan set the current guidelines.

This is an interesting idea considering only 11% of the Japanese are willing to fight for their own country.

[Ingrid Herskind]

So much of our understanding of other places and cultures can be boiled down (no pun intended) to the sharing of food.  I think experiencing food from other countries and sharing our love for our favorite dishes can bring people together. The National Constortium for Teaching about Asia had a link to this fabulous story about "China in 50 Dishes". The article states that "to declare a love of Chinese food is a bit like remarking you enjoy European cuisine. What does the latter mean? It encompasses the pickle and rye diet of Scandinavia, the sauce-driven indulgences of French cuisine, the pastas of Italy, the pork heavy dishes of Bavaria as well as Irish stew and Spanish paella. Chinese cuisine is every bit as diverse as the list above." I'm taking a group of 18 students to China in June of next year and am so excited to experience the varied cuisines that the nation has to offer. According to the article, Chinese food experts have identified four main schools of Chinese cooking termed the Four “Great” Cuisines of China. They are delineated by geographic location and consist of Shandong cuisine from the north, Sichuan cuisine from the western region, Huaiyang cuisine to represent China’s eastern coast, and Cantonese cuisine to represent the south. I was planning on introducing the different regions of our adventure with these unique and flavorful cuisines. The best part of living in Los Angeles, especially living near the San Gabriel Valley, is its access to wonderful food from all over the world.

https://www.weekinchina.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/China-in-50-Dishes.pdf

deeat

[Ingrid Herskind]

I wanted to share a link with you all from the most recent New York Times special report "China Rules." (November 25th, 2018)  I saw the first part of this fabulous article last Sunday, but was excited to buy the print copy of the full report today. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/25/world/asia/china-rules.html

The article is broken into 5 parts: 

1. The Land that Failed to Fail
2. How to Control Your Citizens
3. What's China Doing There? And There?
4. China's Economy Became No. 2 by Defying No. 1
5. The Road to Confrontation

I've really enjoyed reading this report and the images are striking. (I'm a bit biased...many of the photos where taken by a former student of mine who works for the NYT as a photographer- Bryan Denton) I would recommend this to everyone. I'm using it in my International Relations class this week as we close out the semester.

[Ingrid Herskind]

Kim,

I agree with the idea of promoting Barefoot Gen. I talked to our 8th grade United States History teacher about maybe doing a project with this series when they do World War II. She said she liked the idea, but didn't really know how to create a lesson plan around it. Thanks for posting the YouTube video of the movie. I might suggest this for her class--but will also need to be sure that it is age appropriate for 8th graders. 

[Ingrid Herskind]

I absolutely loved Dr. Miyake's presentation last week and was impressed with her enthusiasm, knowledge, and ability to adapt her discussion to use of her sources in our classrooms. The one manga that I found very interesting was the "Barefoot Gen" series. I did more research on the series and found Barefoot Gen is considered one of the most important anti-war manga ever written. The series focuses on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the aftermath of the Pacific War. For a while, Barefoot Gen was banned in Matsue City, Japan.  Barefoot Gen was removed from Matsue City school libraries because it was considered an “ultra-leftist manga that perpetuated lies and instilled defeatist ideology in the minds of young Japanese.” After tremendous outcry, the Barefoot Gen ban has been overturned.

According to scholars, why is this series so important?

• Understanding why Japan went to war and how China and Korea were stripped of their natural and human resources, including the enslavement of those captured.
• Seeing that while most Japanese blindly supported the Emperor’s “divine right” and rule, a growing number of people began to question and resist it.
• Learning the immediate effects of the bomb
• Understanding the long term effects of the bomb: limited/contaminated food and water, homelessness, orphans, radiation poisoning and medical/health issues that doctors were unequipped to handle, rampant crime, misuse and abuse of drugs and medications, and the crumbling of law and order.
  • Our 8th graders have used parts of Barefoot Gen in their classwork and have really gained better insights and understanding from this experience. I love the image from the 9th Volume titled "Breaking Down Borders."  I think this manga does a great job doing just that!
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