Menu
close
Anonymous.
cgaoMore readings.
edited by cgao on 8/1/2013
cgaoMore readings.
AnonymousProfessor Dube began class showing an Economist cover with President Obama and President Merkel in Japanese garb questioning whether we are heading toward Japan's fate of economic stagnation. After reading Ebrey's chapter on Contemporary Japan and the causes of their economic stagnation, it seems like we are in the same situation Japan was in during the 90s and trying the same methods to get ourselves out as they tried. We also have many of the same social challenges - college graduates with no jobs, an aging population, the import of cheap labor. I have hope that we aren't heading down the same path - American Blind Hope in our ingenuity - but many economists are predicting we are and as one quoted Japanese student observed "[font=Georgia, serif]One reason Japan’s leaders were so ineffectual for so long was their fear of stoking public outrage" ([/font]http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/business/economy/13yen.html?_r=0)[font=Georgia, serif] Our leaders are definitely afraid of stoking public outrage - to be sure they are reelected... I don't teach government, but this is a very interesting topic.[/font]
AnonymousThe timeline of battles in the war really drives home how protracted and vicious this war was. For such a relatively small country, Japan was a force to be reconned with. I think this type of timeline can help drive home how long the war was to students.
AnonymousThis question is for Clay. I will ask it in class tomorrow if I don't see the answer tonight. I was looking at some images from the Rape of Nanjing and I notice the amount of decapitations. What is the deal with Asians and decapitation? I understand that the middle east does it to say that one is an animal to be slaughtered, but I don't get the idea that Asians do it for the same reason. Do they do it to instill fear in the opposition? Besides the French, I have never heard of that being a widespread practice in Europe.
Anonymousit is hard not to say that Japan's growing pains are not similar to us at the same time...60 we protested Vietnam....mom's where stay at home moms too....lining pockets of individuals for industrial growth. hazardous waster dumping....unequal pay between men and women....
AnonymousI find Japan fascinating. I have visited a couple of times and I am always sad to leave. It is a beautiful country with strong people. These reading confirmed my experiences in Japan. The Japanese are a strong people with a lot of pride in what they do and perseverance when things get tough. They have made some mistakes in their history, especially during WWII. Through it all, however, they have bounced back and remain one of the leading examples of free democracy and economic success in the world.
edited by sthroop on 8/1/2013
AnonymousIn Ebrey's chapter on World War II it says "fear that Soviet expansion threatened Japan's interests in Asia led Japan to take over Manchuria." (p.418) From the timetable included, it is shown that after taking Manchuria, Japan bombs Shanghai, establishes Puppet government in Beijing, etc. These events evoke anti-Japan movements among Chinese. In Chinese textbooks, the war officially started on July 7, 1937 when the Marco Polo Bridge (Lugou Bridge) Incident happened. But it was long before that day. Did Japan planned to invade China before they took Manchuria? Or they just want to stop Soviet expansion by installing the puppet government headed by Puyi? Did Soviet indirectly caused Japan's invasion of China?
AnonymousRe: Ebrey's WW II: I am troubled by tenuous claims found throughout this piece of work. Author claims WW II is known as "the fifteen year war." I've been studying WW II since 1965 and I have never heard it described that way. By definition a world war involves more nations than just Japan and China. Until Japan attacks the US at Pearl Harbor Japan is fighting the Chinese in a regional conflict, not a world war. I think the the Sino-Japanese conflict of 1931 begins in 1931 and WW II begins December 7, 1941. Ebrey needs a better editor. Ah, you say. What about the Russo-Japanese conflict of 1939 where Zhukov kicks the Japanese all over the battlefield? Japan still has a regional war on its hands, but not a world war. To compare the so-called Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere with the Monroe Doctrine is an insult to James Monroe and America. What Japan was doing was a smokescreen for naked aggression. What Monroe was doing was preventing the exploitation of the New World by European colonial powers. The comparison is odious as well as false. The Philippines was not a "US colony;" it was a US protectorate which we were preparing for independence, a process of independence temporarily interrupted by WW II, but accomplished as soon as possible after the war ended. If an author wishes to practice historical revisionism, he or she ought to at least make it plausible. I would use this piece in my class to illustrate historical revisionism.
AnonymousRe: "Modernizing Korea and Colonial Rule: 1896-1945," the author states that "the Russo-Japanese War began in February 1904." While factually true, the author misses a superb opportunity to point out that the attack was a sneak attack without the Russians first receiving a formal declaration of war. He could have pointed out that this same Japanese nation did the same thing to the United States 37 years later at Pearl Harbor. I would use this incident in my classroom to illustrate the failure of the US operational planners to anticipate a similar attack and the value of requiring one's defense planners to closely study military history.
AnonymousRe: "War and Aftermath in Japan 1931-1964," There is a lot of interesting material here. The author addresses in some detail many areas of interest to readers trying to understand the pre-WW II Japanese mindset. One particular quote ought to give the reader pause. The author states that "For the majority of the citizens, being Japanese meant taking pride in the slogan 'Asia for the Asiatics,' which obfuscated Japan's colonizing project." To refer to Japan's naked aggression as a "colonizing project" is like calling Machine Gun Kelly's bank robberies "bank withdrawls." Sorry, the only obfuscation I see is the author's curious diction. I will use this quote in my classroom to illustrate obfuscation.
AnonymousThis article would be a great one to use for students in an assignment of connecting the past with the present. I would ask a question such as, how did the Japanese' opinions on the Koreans contribute to their actions towards the Koreans. Furthermore, if the Japanese considered the Koreans as inferior, was there anyway to change the stereotype? Perhaps not. Since the Japanese thought of the Koreans as intellectually inferior, any evidence contrary to the stereotype was dismissed as coming from an untrustworthy Korean. Therefore in the Japanese eyes, the Koreans were either stupid or untrustworthy, but never equal. I would ask the students how we can learn from this example and apply it to modern racial relations.
AnonymousThis would be a great story for analyzing primary sources since it involves school. I would ask the students to comment on the type of culture the Koreans had at this time. What does it say about a society if someone asks the question "would it be possible for a girl to learn how to read and write"?
AnonymousI would like to use this as an example for teaching the students to "read between the lines". When the city of Nanjing surrounded a Japanese army spokesman claimed that Chinese soldiers mingled out of uniform with the civilian population and therefore it was okay to kill the civilians. The first thing that comes to mind is that the Japanese military seems to agree that killing civilians is wrong enough that they will not openly admit to partaking in such an action. So the questions I would propose is, if they know it is wrong, why would they do it anyway? Are they ashamed of their actions?
AnonymousEbery discusses Japan's colonial rule in Korea. One of the results of that period is sex slaves. The issue does not seem to be over. Recently, "Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, also co-leader of a nationalist party, enraged Japanese neighbors last week by saying the use of so-called comfort women, mainly from South Korea, China and the Philippines, in frontline brothels before and during World War II was considered necessary then to maintain military discipline and give soldiers relief." (May 24, 2013, Associated Press) Hashimoto's comment shows among Japanese politicians there are different views on what happened during WWII.