HIST 210TK How Japan Became Modern, From Meiji to Now

Little more than 150 years ago, Japan was an essentially closed society, an authoritarian and static political structure, and a preindustrial economy. Now, in the first quarter of the 21st century, Japan not only boasts one of the most advanced economies in the world: its distinctive, instantly recognizable culture also commands enormous interest globally, especially among young people. Japan's soft power encompasses anime, manga, and gaming, music, and visual lifestyle, a particular embodiment of what it means to be "modern", but also with conscious allusions (not all of them entirely comfortable) to the traditional. How did Japan manage this transformation? How did it follow the path to the "modern" and yet retain its own distinctive identity? This course offers an immersion into all these questions. It combines a coverage of Japanese history from the Meiji Restoration (1868) to the present; an exploration of two urban environments (Tokyo and Kyoto) full of opportunities to learn about the relationship between tradition and modernity, with an emphasis on excursions through those cities and experiencing the past in the present; and a selective sampling of recent literature and film reflecting all these themes. To apply for this program visit https://goabroad.cua.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgram&Program_ID=44874