131-039 The Rise of Modern Japan 1850s-1990s

Formerly available as 131-229/329. Students who have completed 131-229 or 131-329 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

Usually 25 points of first-year history, see Prerequisites.

The overall purpose of this subject is to introduce the history of Japan from the mid to late 19th century to recent times. The emphasis is on what the emergence of 'modern' Japan has meant for the Japanese people and Japan's Asian neighbours. Broadly, the following topics will be examined and discussed: the opening of Japan; Japan's national revolution; the creation of the modern Japanese state; the rise of Japan's empire; the social costs of 'wealth and power;' the fate of Japanese liberalism and Marxism; militarism, ultranationalism and war; the Occupation; and Japan's postwar economic 'miracle.' Such topics will be addressed through methodologies of political, social, cultural, economic, imperial, ideological, and military history. Students who complete this subject should have a firm understanding of the influence of Japan's rise and emergence as a 'modern' state on late 19th and 20th century Asian history.