HIST 368 - Japan, Tokugawa to Today

Units: 3 ; Breadth Area: GE-UD-3
The political, social, and cultural dimensions of Japan’s transformation from the Meiji Restoration, to its defeat in 1945, to becoming a world economic power today. Special focus will be on sustainability.

Breadth Area(s) Satisfied: GE-UD-3 - Upper Division Arts or Humanities
Prerequisites: Completion of GE Areas 1A, 1B, 1C and GE-2 with grade C- (CR) or better (GE Areas A1, A2, A3 and B4 for students on the 2024-25 or earlier catalogs).
Strongly Recommended Preparation: Upper division status (greater than 60 earned semester units) and completion of lower division Area 3 requirements (lower division Area C requirements for students on the 2024-25 or earlier catalogs).
Possible Instructional Methods: On-ground or Online-Asynchronous.
Grading: A-F or CR/NC (student choice).
Course Typically Offered: Variable Intermittently

Student Learning Outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

Explain how the Tokugawa shogunate unified Japan and established a system of centralized feudalism;
Evaluate the changing nature of Japan’s relationship with the outside world in the Ashikaga, Tokugawa, and Meiji periods;
Describe the causes and effects of Japan’s rapid industrialization in the 18th and 19th centuries;
Recognize how Japan’s modernization efforts gave rise to ultranationalist sentiments and increased calls for expansionism;
Trace the growth of Imperial Japan’s empire in mainland Asia and the Pacific, and analyze the impact of colonization on Japan and the lands it conquered;
Analyze the strategies that the Allies used to achieve victory over Japan in World War II and the consequences of these strategies;
Analyze the goals of the Allied Occupation of Japan and the role of the United States and other nations in shaping Japan’s politics and economics postwar;
Trace the changes in Japan’s political structure after World War II that allowed democracy to take root including the role of key parties and figures;
Evaluate the patterns and causes of Japan’s economic successes and downturns in the decades after the war to today;
Assess Japan’s legacy of expansion and its impact on relations to its neighbors and the world;
Identify and contextualize changes in Japan’s social patterns, attitudes, art, and culture as a result of postwar policies and economics and its impact on Asia and beyond;
Conduct independent historical research in Japanese history using primary and secondary sources through written assignments;
Work collaboratively with other students to answer questions and solve problems related to the history of Postwar Japan;
Present original interpretations on selected Japanese history topics in oral, written, audio, or visual form.

GE-UD-3. Upper-division Arts or Humanities Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate an understanding of and ability to apply principles, methodologies, values systems, and thought processes employed in the arts and humanities.
Analyze cultural production as an expression of, or reflection upon, what it means to be human.
Demonstrate how the perspectives of the arts or humanities are used by informed, engaged, and reflective citizens to benefit local and global communities.