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 HIS 373/573,
CONTEMPORARY JAPAN
IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
CLASS SCHEDULE

WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT JAPAN  
(SEVEN CLASS SESSIONS) 

MONDAY, JANUARY 14, 2002:  
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE  

Distribution of Course Materials  
An Introduction to the Course and the Course Web Site  
Attitude Survey and Journal Assignments 

INTERNET DISCUSSION ONE (IMAGES AND IMPRESSIONS) OPEN

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2002:
IMAGES, ATTITUDES AND PORTRAITS OF JAPAN

VIDEO: Portraits of Japan (excerpts)

ATTITUDE SURVEY DUE

READING (all reading assignments to be completed BEFORE class meets):   "Snix: the Otaku", Chapter XII in Karl Taro Greenfeld's Speed Tribes: Days and Nights with Japan's Next Generation (New York: Harper Collins, 1994) [henceforth SPEED], pages 269 - 283.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 2002
COMING TO TERMS WITH JAPAN I

DISCUSSION: Making Common Sense of Japan -- Questions of Interpretation and Categories of Meaning  

READING:

ARTICLES from Contemporary Japan in Historical Perspective materials on electronic reserve in the CSU Main Library (To access these articles, click on the underlined word above. All articles listed as assigned for a single date are located in the same electronic reserve file.):

  • "Rewriting the Book on How to Deal with Japan" (Business Week, August 7, 1989: 1 page)
  • "Book Excerpt: The Enigma of Japanese Power" (Fortune, May 8, 1989: 4 pages)
  • "Tokyo: The Hard Life" (7he Atlantic, March 1989: 5 pages)
  • "Life in a Box: Japanese Question Fruits of Success" (The New York Times, January 2, 1994: 3 pages)
  • "Guns: One Nation Bars, The Other Requires" " (The New York Times, March 10, 1997: 2 pages)
  • Japan Bashing: More Than Racism" (Christian Social Action, May 1992: 4 pages)

    •  INTERNET WEB SITE:

    "How the World Sees Japan", Time Asia (vol 157, no 17), April 30, 2001.

    INTERNET DISCUSSIONS TWO (TERMINOLOGY / CHRONOLOGY / GEOGRAPHY) AND THREE (NEWS AND RESOURCES) OPEN

    MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2002:
    HOLIDAY - MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY

    WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2002:  
    OSAKA 2001 - JAPAN ON THE EVE OF THE NEW MILLENIUM

    OSAKA 2001 WEB ASSIGNMENT DUE

    OSAKA 2001 SURVEY DUE

    FRIDAY, JANUARY 21, 2002:
    COMING TO TERMS WITH JAPAN II

      DISCUSSION: Making Common Sense of Japan -- A Continuation

     JOURNAL ASSIGNMENT ONE DUE

    INTERNET DISCUSSION ONE CLOSED

         MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2002:  
    JAPAN'S PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY   DISCUSSION: The Cultural Influences of Geography     VISUAL LITERACY WEB EXERCISE DUE WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2002:  
    OUTLINING JAPANESE HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY   LECTURE: The Historical Periodization of Japan's Past  

    DISCUSSION: The Uses of the Past in the Present

    READING:
      

    ARTICLE: "In Search of the Premodern" and "Discovering Japan's Premodern Heritage" (Japan Echo, Volume XV, Number 4, 1988: 10 pages)
      CLASS SCHEDULE:
    |         THINKING ABOUT JAPAN | CODES OF CONDUCT | SOCIETY | POPULAR CULTURE | CULTURAL HERITAGE | THE POSTMODERN | EDUCATION, THE ECONOMY AND POLITICS | CONCLUDING THE COURSE OF STUDY |

    This site has been prepared by Lee A. Makela for the use of students at Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, who are enrolled in HIS 373/573, Contemporary Japan in Historical Perspective during the Spring Semester of the 2001 - 2002 Academic Year; please contact him with any comments by email at l.makela@csuohio.edu.  
     last revised: January 15, 2002