The Japanese Empire: 1853-1952

Catalog description

The Japanese Empire: 1853-1952 (3) An introductory course on the rise and fall of the Japanese Empire, with focus on the acquisition, development, ideology, dismantlement, and legacy of the empire. The course begins with the Tokugawa and Meiji response to the unequal treaties imposed by the West; turns to the incorporation of Hokkaido and Okinawa and the acquisition of formal (Taiwan, Korea, Karafuto) and nonformal (Manchuia, Nanyo) colonies; and then focuses on the expansion of the wartime empire (Southeast Asia, southern China). The course concludes by examining wartime atrocities, the American occupation, repatriation of overseas Japanese, and the legacy of the empire in postwar Asian politics.