Course Syllabus
HI/POL 444: Modern Japan History, Politics & Culture
Chaminade University of Honolulu
Fall 2012

Instructor:              

Terrence Monroe
2023 Coyne St.
Honolulu, HI  96826
terrence.monroe@adjunct.chaminade.edu
profmonroe@yahoo.com
941-7140
office hours: 24/7 

Experienced as an instructor of in-class courses (since 1974) and online courses (since 2000) in various disciplines of world history and contemporary Asian civilizations for colleges and universities throughout the United States. Educational background: Master of Arts Degree in Asian Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1974; Bachelor of Arts Degree in Asian Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1973.

Catalog Description:	

Study of the rise, fall and rebirth of Modern Japan, focusing on her internal politics, economics and culture, and how they relate to her international posture. Cross-listed as POL 444. Fulfills interdisciplinary course requirement. Offered alternate years. Prerequisite: any 100 or 200 level history or political science course.

Student Learning Outcomes:

•	Gain an understanding of contemporary Japanese national developments with reference to past traditions; the causes of Japan’s post-WW II economic development; and Japanese behavior and national characteristics in business, international relations, and society.
•	Refine writing and cognitive skills through class discussion.
•	Become proficient in functioning in an on-line learning environment and in the use of on-line resources related to Japan.
Linkage to Program Learning Outcomes:

•	Students will employ chronology to understand change and continuity, as well as cause and effect, in history. The skills and competencies in this area are developed in all regularly offered history courses.

Text:

•	Morton, W. Scott; Japan: Its History and Culture, Third Edition, McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1994

Course Requirements:

Successful completion of this course depends upon:

•	Regular attendance.
•	Completion of the assigned reading (self-paced).
•	Completion of a series of five essays assignments on the assigned reading.
•	Participation in class discussions.

Assignment Schedule:

Session 1 (Oct. 6): 	

video
reading: text and email lectures
group presentations

Session 2 (Oct. 13):	

video
reading: text and email lectures
group presentations
 
Session 3 (Oct. 20):	

video
reading: text and email lectures
group presentations
submit essays assignment 1
 
Session  4 (Oct. 27):

video
reading: text and email lectures
group presentations

Session 5 (Nov. 3):	

video
reading: text and email lectures
group presentations

Session 6 (Nov. 10): 	

video
reading: text and email lectures
group presentations
submit essays assignment 2
 
Session 7 (Nov. 17):	

video
reading: text and email lectures
group presentations
 
Session 8 (Nov. 24):	

video
reading: text and email lectures
group presentations

Session 9 (Dec. 1):	

video
reading: text and email lectures
group presentations
submit essays assignment 3

Session 10 (Dec. 8):	

video
reading: text and email lectures
group presentations

Grading:
Each of the three essays assignments is worth 100 points (for a total of 300 points). Each of the midterm and final exam is worth 100 points (for a total of 200 points). Total points for this course: 500.

A: 450 – 500 points
B: 400 – 449 points
C: 350 – 399 points
D: 300 – 349 points
F : less than 300 points

Unexcused absences will result in a deduction of 10 points for each half-class missed, 20 points for each full class missed; attendance will be taken immediately once the class begins, and again at the end of the class. Absences may only be excused with official documentation (on letterhead): TDY orders, a note from your unit commander or supervisor, or a doctor’s note.
Please understand that your participation in the group presentations and class discussion is a factor in your course grade.
Essays Assignments:
Now, regarding the two essays assignments. The topics for each of these three essays assignments are of your own choosing, as follows:
In each of five (5) brief essays of approximately 200 words each (1,000 words total), identify five topics (you decide which ones, as long as they have something to do with the material you've studied to date in this course) and reflect on its why they matter. You will need to write on a different  topic for each of your five brief essays. Do not write the usual student essay that just recites history (like the text does). Instead, I want you to explain why your topic matters. Does it explain things that are happening now? Or, how did it affect society back then? Or, how was it affected by society back then. Be creative and interpretative, but do not recite the historical record (since we already know what happened). No quotes, no citations, no footnotes—these essays must be 100% in your own words. 
You should be working on these essays assignments continuously, and your work should have the polished feel of being the result of a steady, daily progression of thought and reflection. You can never tell when insight will strike, so you should get into the habit (now) of taking notes as we go along of things like this that occur to you; carry a little notebook and pen around with you always (except in the shower)--it’s a habit that will serve you very well indeed for all kinds of purposes. Polish, embellish, and refine your insights as you go. Don’t even think about trying to sit down to compose these essays all at once—it’s a daunting, unproductive, and highly improbable prospect. If it appears that you have slapped together this assignment at the last minute, your grade will suffer for it. 
You must write on five (5) separate topics for each of these three essays assignments. Your five essays for each assignment should be clearly segregated from each other--do not submit them run together into one big essay.
Here are a couple sample essays:
•	Social organization: Asian societies and economies (especially Japan) are the most relationship-driven in the world, with virtually everything proceeding on the basis of who knows whom—making it very difficult for outsiders like Americans to break in. Japan places straightjacket constraints on maintaining the harmony of its society and places the interests of the group—from the emperor on down--far ahead of the interests of the individual. As one might expect from such heavily populated conditions, Asian societies place a great deal more emphasis on social interaction and relationships than does the individual-minded United States. The fact that Japan is possibly the most relationship-driven society on earth derives from the concept of the individual as part of both the biological and national family headed by the emperor, with the traditional Confucian ethos ordering the whole business from top to bottom. Everything is conceived in terms of the group, and in a nation as crowded as Japan, there just isn’t any room for the individual.
•	Japan's loss of traditional arts: I think many if not most Westerners would be greatly surprised--and perhaps appalled--by the reality of what passes for cultural forms in Japan today: a dreary and depressing cemented-over landscape of pointless monuments and brutalized nature. Whatever happened to the sense of harmony with nature that once graced Japan's artistic tradition, and transformed it into something ugly beyond words? The traditional aesthetic began to disappear after the Second World War, and has since been replaced with a consuming passion for post-modern industrial squalor and gigantism that seems to renounce the classic aesthetic. If it can be said that art reflects the popular mood, then something has happened in modern Japan to make the Japanese feel very badly about themselves. Is it the futility of wealth that endows the Japanese with hitherto unimaginable creature comforts, yet denies them the opportunity for self-expression and individual value fulfillment? Are the Japanese lost in a twilight zone, without an identity that fits either the Western or traditional Asian model? Why do they make themselves so ugly if they do not believe themselves to be ugly?
Do you see from these examples that what I'm getting at it is not what happened, but what it means? Don't worry about drawing the wrong conclusions about your topics--I will never penalize anyone for drawing the wrong conclusions. This is your chance to wonder about things, and to draw upon their lessons to help understand comparable things that are happening now.
As for the midterm and final exams, each of these should be on the order of 1,000 words (5 pages longhand) will be written in class, no notes or other references permitted. What I want you to do is tell me the most important things (to you) that you have learned thus far in this course. Your midterm exam should be concerned with material we cover in the first half of the course; your final exam should be concerned with material we cover in the second half of the course.