Once you have considered the range of possible topics listed as part of the assignment, looked through the questions you might want to ask when conducting research into a topic of your choice and examined the bibliography of recommended sources with which to start, you are ready to begin framing a research topic for submission to the course instructor. Now what?

First, think in terms of interests you have already identified in your Attitude Survey or in Journal Assignments One. Don't choose to try investigating a topic in which you have no interest whatsoever -- you will only end up bored and frustrated!

If you are still in the dark, pick out an interesting book title from the suggested bibliography, locate the book and page through it until some topic suggests itself as a possibility.
 
Secondly, assure yourself before you commit that there is enough material "out there" to sustain your research.  Avoid topics that don't have enough information available in English to make it possible to gain needed analytical insights.

Be aware that topics dealing with RELIGION, SAMURAI and WOMEN are particularly popular choices.  If you chose a topic in one of these areas, you might well find yourself competing for access to limited materials with other students in the class.  

Once you are assured there is adequate material available on your chosen general topic, you are on your way!

Next think about your general topic a bit in terms of approach.  Don't merely accept a suggestion made as part of the assignment; instead you need to consider a specific range of possibilities based on a narrower, more defined and focused approach. 

Perhaps you can look at your topic in an implicitly comparative manner, taking into account what was happening elsewhere in the world during these same centuries.  Or maybe you can think about your topic in terms of present day remnants from the Tokugawa era still in place.  Another possibility might be to build on the pre-Tokugawa historical process and assess more directly the changes taking place between 1600 and 1868.

Another approach to think about is one that ties together, say, religious and political change or links cultural and social developments.  One might also trace how economic changes affected aspects of social, political and cultural life.

Once you have narrowed your topic appropriately and settled on an approach, write out a paragraph or two outlining what, exactly, you hope to accomplish -- but keep an open mind until you have found enough research material available to be certain you can actually accomplish what you plan to set out to do! 

Be sure your approach is ANALYTICAL and not merely NARRATIVE or DESCRIPTIVE.  If you are trying to find out "How?" and "Why?", you are on the right track.  If your questions don't move beyond "What?" and "When?", you run the risk of failing to accomplish the basic requirement of the entire assignment!

Be aware that you might end up changing your mind several times before you happen on the perfect combination -- remember, what you are looking for is an interesting topic, narrow and focused enough to complete in the allotted time frame and an approach that can be accomplished using available materials, resulting in an analytical examination of some aspect o the modernization process at work in Japan between 1600 and 1868.

Your final task before you actually begin your research is to assemble a WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY.