VISUALIZING JAPAN (1850s-1920s): Westernization, Protest, Modernity
Welcome to Visualizing Japan! This syllabus provides an overview of the course, and contains important information about the scope of the course, policies on academic honesty and expectations for participation, as well as a detailed day-by-day outline of the assignments and workload.
SCOPE OF THE COURSE
This course draws on three units from the "Visualizing Cultures" project, hosted by MIT, to present snapshots of Japan's modern history focussing on the themes "Westernization," protest, and modernity, and drawing primarily on historical images. Professors John Dower (Emeritus, MIT), Andrew Gordon (Harvard), Shigeru Miyagawa (MIT) and Gennifer Weisenfeld (Duke) engage in discussions with one another in each of these modules.
We want to stress that this course will not provide a comprehensive survey of Japan's modern history. It studies history through visual sources as presented in three units published on Visualizing Cultures. This means that certain important and sensitive topics, such as Japan's imperial aggression in East and Southeast Asia, will not receive much attention.
Please also note that we expect all students to participate with respect for one another. It is important to recognize that by showing certain images or discussing certain topics, we do not endorse the views or opinions they present. Rather, we seek to understand the complexity of the past, even when the past is distasteful or offensive to us in the present. This course does not reflect the views of Harvard University, MIT, HarvardX, MITx, EdX or Visualizing Cultures.
Professors Dower and Gordon will discuss the rise of militarism and the onset of war on the final day of the course. These videos will be released in the sixth week. Please be patient!
TEACHING STAFF
From time to time, the professors will jump in on discussion boards. A full-time teaching assistant will moderate all open-ended assessments, and can provide feedback. Please use the general discussion boards to introduce yourself and ask questions about the course.
ACADEMIC HONESTY
You are expected to adhere to standards of academic honesty laid out in the edX Terms of Service. Please pay particular attention to the following two points:
1. Submit your own work, and be scrupulous in giving credit to others for ideas that are not your own. Feel free to use material from the course for your personal and educational use, but abide by edX guidelines.
2. Content that defames, harasses, or threatens other students, course staff and/or professors is strictly prohibited. While some historical topics may be sensitive and controversial, it is vital that we create a safe and neutral space to discuss these issues seriously and thoughtfully.
EXPECTED WORKLOAD
VJx requires 3-5 hours per week to complete the lessons. This includes watching the video lectures and assessment questions. Additional videos are marked "Optional" and add to your course experience, but are not required.
We release 4-5 days' material each week, on Tuesday at 12pm (EDT). You can decide when to go through the material. Each day represents about 1 hour of work. A detailed breakdown of assignments can be found in the next section.
RELEASE SCHEDULE:
Week 1: 15 September 2015 | Days 1 (Introduction); 2-4 (BSS1)
Week 2: 22 September 2015 | Days 5-8 (BSS2 part I)
Week 3: 29 September 2015 | Days 9-10 (BSS2 part II); 11-12 (Transition: After Perry)
Week 4: 6 October 2015 | Days 13-17 (Hibiya)
Week 5: 13 October 2015 | Days 18-19 (Transition: Hibiya to Shiseido); 20-21 (Shiseido part I)
Week 6: 20 October 2015 | Days 22-24 (Shiseido part II); 25 (Conclusion)
COURSE SCHEDULE
Below is a suggested track through the material. However, please feel free to go at your own pace, studying whenever convenient. Each lecture segment is followed by a short assessment, and most days have a larger image-based assessment, which are listed below.
INTRODUCTION: NEW HISTORICAL SOURCES FOR A DIGITAL AGE
15 September 2015 | Day 1 - About "Visualizing Japan (1850s-1920s): Westernization, Protest, Modernity"
Assignments: Lectures 1.1 - 1.11 (approx. 35 min), image sorting exercise
BLACK SHIPS & SAMURAI I
16 September 2015 | Day 2 - Original Sources for the Perry Encounter
Assignments: Lectures 2.1 - 2.5 (approx. 15 min), reading (20pp), portrait exercise
17 September 2015 | Day 3 - Historical Context: Medieval and Early Modern Japan
Assignments: Lectures 2.6 - 2.8 (approx. 15 min), timeline exercise
18 September 2015 | Day 4 - Japan in the Pacific and the World
Assignments: Lectures 2.9 - 2.14 (approx. 20 min)
BLACK SHIPS & SAMURAI II
22 September 2015 | Day 5 - Visualizing Japan, 1853
Assignments: Lectures 3.1 - 3.2 (approx. 12 min), image exercise
23 September 2015 | Day 6 - Perry's Expeditions
Assignments: Lectures 3.3 - 3.6 (approx. 22 min), optional reading
24 September 2014 | Day 7 - American Barbarians in the Eyes of the Japanese
Assignments: Lectures 3.7 - 3.10 (approx. 18 min), Perry's officers game
25 September 2015 | Day 8 - Shore Life in the Eyes of the Americans
Assignments: Lectures 3.11 - 3.14 (approx. 20 min), image juxtapositions, scroll analysis
29 September 2015 | Day 9 - Encounters
Assignments: Lectures 3.15 - 3.20 (approx. 20 min), gallery sort and analysis
30 September 2015 | Day 10 - The Significance of the Perry Encounter
Assignments: Lectures 3.21 - 3.23 (approx. 20 min), image annotations, final quiz
TRANSITION: AFTER PERRY
1 October 2015 | Day 11 - Yokohama Boomtown and Meiji Modernization
Assignments: Lectures 4.1 - 4.8 (approx. 22 min), image annotation
2 October 2015 | Day 12 - Modernization, 'Westernization,' and the Rise of Imperial Japan
Assignments: Lectures 4.8 - 4.13 (approx. 21 min), image matching
SOCIAL PROTEST IN IMPERIAL JAPAN: THE HIBIYA RIOT OF 1905
6 October 2015 | Day 13 - Protesting Peace: Overview of the Hibiya Riot
Assignments: Lectures 5.1 - 5.3 (approx. 16 min), Reading: Tokyo Riot Graphic, timeline exercise
7 October 2015 | Day 14 - Illustrated Media and the Importance of Place
Assignments: Lectures 5.4 - 5.8 (approx. 23 min), Reading 2.1 (8pp), image matching and analysis
8 October 2015 | Day 15 - The Urban Crowd
Assignments: Lectures 5.9 - 5.10 (approx. 14 min), Reading 2.2-2.3 (15pp), image analysis
9 October 2015 | Day 16 - Targets and Motivations
Assignments: Lectures 5.11 - 5.13 (approx. 18 min), image annotation
12 October 2015 | Day 17 - Protest and Imperial Democracy
Assignments: Lectures 5.14 - 5.15 (approx. 8 min), Reading 2.4 - 2.5 (approx 15pp), final quiz
TRANSITION: FROM HIBIYA TO SHISEIDO
13 October 2015 | Day 18 - New Forms of Protest in Interwar Japan
Assignments: Lectures 6.1 - 6.7 (approx. 30 min)
14 October 2015 | Day 19 - Modernity and the Rise of Consumer Culture
Assignments: Lectures 6.8 - 6.15 (approx 28 min), image analysis
MODERNITY IN INTERWAR JAPAN: SHISEIDO & CONSUMER CULTURE
15 October 2015| Day 20 - Art and Commerce in an Age of Mass Production
Assignments: Lectures 7.1 - 7.5 (approx. 9 min), gallery sort
16 October 2015| Day 21 - Cosmopolitan Ginza
Assignments: Readings 3.1 - 3.2 (approx. 25pp), Ginza assessment
20 October 2015 | Day 22 - Advertising and the Shiseido Network
Assignments: Lectures 7.6 - 7.9 (approx. 10 min), Reading 3.3 (approx. 30pp)
21 October 2015 | Day 23 - Tradition and Modernity
Assignments: Lectures 7.10 - 7.18 (approx. 20 min), gallery sort
22 October 2015 | Day 24 - Gender, Labor, and the State
Assignments: Lectures 7.19 - 7.22 (approx. 13 min), image analysis, final quiz
CONCLUSION
23 October 2015 | Day 25 - Modernity, Militarism, and War
Assignments: Lectures 8.1 - 8.6 (approx. 23 min), final exam
Course Closes at 12pm (EDT), November 3.
GRADING
To pass this course, you will need to attain a course average of at least 60 percent. Students who pass the course will receive a certificate of completion. These certificates will be issued a few days after the course closes. The course closes on November 3, at 12pm (EDT), so if you want a certificate you will need to have 60% or higher by that time.
Assessments in this course vary from simple multiple-choice questions, image-based analysis, and more open-ended assignments such as polls, word clouds, and discussion boards. Each module ends with a final quiz worth 8% of the final course score, and there is a final quiz worth 12% of the final score. There are also many more questions appearing after videos, etc. in the 25 days of the course. Not all of these questions in each day are graded, but in general each question counts towards your score for that day. Each day counts for 1/25th of the remaining 64% of the course grade, so roughly 2.5% for each day's questions.
CREDITS
Whereas most of the images themselves are licensed under the CC BY NC SA license (see Credits Page), the other course content and materials remain subject to the Edx Terms of Service.
Almost all images in this course come from the Visualizing Cultures website unless otherwise noted. Links to the source page are provided in the courseware.
HarvardX requires individuals who enroll in its courses on edX to abide by the terms of The edX honor code HarvardX will take appropriate corrective action in response to violations of the edX honor code, which may include dismissal from the HarvardX course; revocation of any certificates received for the HarvardX course; or other remedies as circumstances warrant. No refunds will be issued in the case of corrective action for such violations. Enrollees who are taking HarvardX courses as part of another program will also be governed by the academic policies of those programs.
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