H131	POSTWAR JAPAN: Feminism and Protest Movements	Spring 2017
R. Loftus, Walton 144
x6275	Class Times: M, W 2:30-4020 pm Loc: Walton Hall Basement 21	Main office Hours: MF, 10:00-11:00 am; TTh 9:30-10:30 am

Student Learning Objectives (SLOs):

This class is a Thinking Historically MOI so we will reflect on:

a) how human consciousness, action and agency are embedded in such key historical moments as the decision to use atomic weapons against Japan, popular opposition to the US-Japan Security Treaty (Ampo) in 1960, and the rise of a feminist consciousness in the 1970s;

b) how change and continuity, past and present, interact in historical experience as evidenced by select policies during the Allied Occupation of Japan;

c) how the study of the past helps us make sense of the present as captured in a variety of films that raise important issues for postwar Japanese viewers

d) how the position of women changed in postwar Japan and how the "Women's Liberation Movement" of 1970 affected women's lives as captured in memoirs and documtary films; and

e) how Japan’s sense of its own responsibility for the war, for wartime atrocities, for the creation of comfort women stations and the imposition of sexual slavery, and how recent events impacting environment and sustainability issues in Japan have shaped the discourse on nuclear power and energy use in Japan.

Course Description:

This is a course about Postwar Japan so it naturally affords the opportunity to explore how the ending of the Pacific War, the Dropping of the Atomic Bombs, the nature of the Allied Occupation, and the creation of a new constitution all shaped Japan's sense of its self and its past.  Historians would want to understand:

--How did the presence of militarism and war in the 1930s affect the ability of individuals to act and have agency?

--How did questions about the prewar Emperor System and War Responsibility shape postwar Japanese political discourse?

--How did economic recovery and the reconstruction affect the Japanese outlook on the world?

--What is the meaning of the "postwar economic miracle," and the remarkable period of "high-speed economic growth" in the 1960s and 1970s?

Since this colloquium is also concerned with the themes of "Feminisms and Protest," it will examine specifically how women responded to the end of the war and to being granted the right to vote in early postwar years, and how they found their collective voice and became active on a variety of political and economic stages.  In 1960, some 16 million Japanese citizens engaged in a political protest movement against government policies, especially the Cold War Alliance with the US, known as "Ampo."  One immediate consequence of this movement was the introduction of second-wave feminism in 1970 with the appearance of the “women’s lib” movement.  There will be a critical nexus in this course where we focus on how the "Lib Movement" shaped the consciousness of modern Japanese women as measured by their writing and their activism. How deep and sustained was the Lib movement?  How did it change people's lives? How did some of the most powerful currents in modern Japan's cultural and social history, such as the era of high-speed economic growth, the emergence of environmental concerns, movements against nuclear arms testing, etc., affect ordinary people?

NOTE: For every class hour, there is an expectation of 2-3 hours work outside of class.  Since our class meets twice a week for 90 minutes, you should expect to do 6 hours outside of class engaged in course-related activities such as reading the textbooks, or articles in PDF format from the WISE site, or perussuing the online materials related to the course that are linked directly from this syllabus.

Also, please NOTE: As an instructor, I am committed to creating a climate of mutual respect and encouraging full participation by students in my classes. My goal is to create a learning environment that is equitable, inclusive and welcoming. If there are elements of the instruction or design of this course that create any barriers to your full participation or completion of assignments, please come and tlk to me and share your concerns. Students with disabilities are also encouraged to contact the Accessible Education Services office in Matthews 103 at 503-370-6737 or disb-info@willamette.edu to discuss a range of options to removing barriers in the course, including accommodations.

Principal Readings:

For General Background: Gary Allinson, Japan's Postwar History, 2nd edition
Jeffrey Kingston, Japan in Transformation 1952-2010, 2nd edition (2011) (contains useful Documents in Part 4)
Ronald Loftus, Changing Lives: The 'Postwar' in Japanese Women's Autobiographies and Memoirs (AAS, 2013)

Also, many PDFs on the WISE site and relevant Online Materials will also be assigned.

Some generally useful online materials:

See the Japan sections of the Internet East Asian History Sourcebook This site contains some excellent links!

See also the Library of Congress, Asian Reading Room which has some relevant sections.

There is a very good site on Photography and Social Research in the Occupation posted by an occupation participant. See also the Pennino collection.

See an excellent collection of Japan Links (find History under Miscellaneous); and useful electronic sources on the Japanese Economy

 

Class Organization/Structure:

This class will be conducted in a seminar/discussion stye which means that we will discuss readings together in class rather than have formal lectures. Accordingly, for almost every class, there will be at least one primary Reading assigned for discussion. These readings will be the focus of the class.

On regular occasions, students will sign-up and assume primary responsibility for leading and conducting the discussion by preparing readings to summarize and present to the class.

FILMS!

There are a number of excellent documentaries as well as some great Japanese feature films from this era that we will view in order in order to acquire a sense of both popular culture and issues that were important to filmmakers and the public in the postwar years. The films are points of departure for us to respond as historians might, thinking about the implications of the films we watch.

Requirements:

1. Regular attendance (3-absences max) and class participation including short presentations on assigned readings (15%); and

2. 5 short response or reaction papers (3-4 pp) on films and readings (60%); note: the 5th paper is a transition toward your final paper

3. 1 medium-length paper (7-10 pages) (25%) Due Monday May 8, 3:00 pm**

Regarding the medium-length and final paper, I am envisioning here not a formal "research" paper, but rather a discussion paper on a topic of your choice likely drawn from Alllinson, Kingston or Loftus in one of their chapters, or any of the assigned articles and PDFs; but for this paper you may wish to find some additional sources that shed light on your topic. In other words, use the materials we have talked about together but also build and develop your discussion beyond just the class readings. Which probably means visiting the library.

The final paper wil be a slightly longer paper (7-10 pp), dealing with issues like war memories and reconcnciliation, women's liberation and feminism in the 1970s, specifically, the stories of women found in Changing Lives, the comfort women issue, the Asian Women's Fund, the Kono Statement, PM Abe's equivocating about it, the postwar economic miracle, the demographic time bomb, the bursting of the economic bubble, the issue of US bases in Okinawa, the controversy over the fate of Okinawan civilians during the Battle of Okinawa, etc.

The Documents in the Kingston book are also very relevant here. Please come talk to me about your ideas.

An in-class presentation of your final paper topic is required during the final week of classes.

**Some more elaboration of possible paper ideas can be found at the end of this syllabus. Willamette has a clearly articulated policy on cheating and plagiarism. Please appreciate that Plagiarism and cheating are offenses against the integrity of the courses in which they occur and against the college community as a whole. Plagiarism usually consists of representing ideas that are not your own as your own so the simple solution is to attribute, i.e., provide clear indications of where you obtained your ideas or information. 

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Reading and Discussion Schedule

January 18 Endings...and Beginnings: August 15, 1945

Introduction to the Course

Brief Video "Reinventing Japan"

Other Surrender Documents

Introduction to Video, ABC News Report on "Hiroshima: Why the Bomb was Dropped" (67 minutes)

See interesting article by John Dower on Japan's Occupation of Manchuria

Mon., Jan. 23 How the War Began and Ended: The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb I

Background: Allinson, Intro and Ch. 1, “Antecedents” 1932-1945, 1-44

In-class: Finish viewing ABC News Report on "Hiroshima: Why the Bomb was Dropped" (67 minutes)

Readings for next class period (Jan. 25):

John Dower, "The Most Terrible Bomb in the History of the World," on WISE, Resources, "John_Dower.pdf" (student-led discussion)

Reference: Takaki, Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Bomb, Chapter 3 (30 pp) (see "Takaki" folder on Resources section on WISE for Takaki 3. pdf

You can concentrate on 3 main points: pp. 22-25, 34-38, and 46-50)

Useful Info

Jan. 25 Ending the War, War Responsibility, and the Decision to Drop the Bomb II

Background: Continue with Allinson, Intro and Ch. 1, “Antecedents” 1932-1945, 1-44;

Discuss John Dower, "The Most Terrible Bomb in the History of the World," on WISE, Resources, "John_Dower.pdf" (student-led discussion) and

Reference: Takaki, Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Bomb, Chapter 3 (30 pp) (see "Takaki" folder on Resources section on WISE for Takaki 3. pdf; see especially pp. 22-25, 34-38, and 46-50)

Personal Accounts of bombing 1 and 2

More Video on the Occupation: Reinventing Japan

See the Smithsonian Exhibition and Poster Gallery on The Confusion Era 1945-1952 for excellent visuals

Jan. 30 Occupying Japan: Reinventing Japan, Goals and Objectives

• Review Allinson Ch. 1
• View Video, Reinventing Japan (about 30 minutes)
  • See "Ultimate Objectives" portion of Initial Post-Surrender Policy for Japan
  • See MacArthur's summary of his objectives from his memoir Reminiscences
  • Discuss Shinto and the State based on above two links above
  • View excerpts in class of: "Our Job in Japan" / Know Your Enemy: Japan (a propaganda film by Frank Capra)

Begin Akira Kurosawa's No Regrets for our Youth (110 minutes)

For next week:

Background: Read Allinson, Ch. 2 "Revival," 45-82; and

Kingston, Japan in Transformation, Chs. 1-2 (3-16)

For Class Discussion: Loftus, Changing Lives, Ch. 1 "Endings and Beginnings" (sign up for discussion)

 

 

 "Those Days in Muramatsu": A Diary

Feb. 1 Assessing the Past in the Early Postwar Period

Continue viewing Akira Kurosawa's No Regrets for our Youth (110 minutes)

 

[As possible] View "Our Job in Japan" / Know Your Enemy: Japan (a propaganda film by Frank Capra)

 

 

Feb. 6 The Past into the Present: Postwar Politics and Economy

Finish and Discuss No Regrets for our Youth

Begin Discussion of Loftus Ch. 1 "Endings and Beginnings" (student-led discussion)

• Go over Allinson Ch. 2; Kingston, Japan in Transformation, Ch. 2 as possible

   

  Response Paper #2 on No Regrets Prompt

   

  Feb. 8 War, Democracy and Democratization: Women's Lives
  

• We will Finish our discussion of No Regrets and the Idea of Subjectivity/HistoricalAgency and then go into
  

• Loftus as Ch. 1 "Endings and Beginnings" as previously Scheduled (student-led discussion) starting with the intro section and hopefully getting in the stories of Okabe itsuko, Yoshitake Teruko, Shinya Eiko and Sawachi Hisae, and wrapping up with the Analysis section.
  

• Prepare for the next class : "War Responsibility and Historical Memory: Hirohito’s Apparition" by Herbert P. Bix

• http://japanfocus.org/-Herbert_P_-Bix/2741

• First Response Paper due in class

Feb. 13 Discuss Bix Article on "War Responsibility and Historical Memory: Hirohito’s Apparition"

In three sections:

1. Hirohito: Japan's Last Empowered Emperor

2. Why Hirohito was not Tried

3. War Remembrances: the Endless Search....

Kyoko Hirano, "The Depiction of the Emperor [in film]" (see "HiranoCh. 3" on Resources section of WISE for a pdf copy)

• Optional: Emperor Hirohito: From Myth to History (See the text of this Lecture by Stephen Large, Cambridge University)

   

   

Feb. 15 Democracy, the Constitution and the General Strike

 

Begin viewing MacArthur's Children, a film directed by Shinoda Masahiro (115 minutes)

For General Background: Let's try and touch base with Allinson Ch. 2; Kingston, Japan in Transformation, Ch. 2

Be reading Allinson, Ch. 3 “Growth”  

See the National Diet Library Website on the Birth of the Constitution for all the appropriate documents

Reference: Kingston, Japan in Transformation, Docs. 6-8, “Apologies for WWII”

Sign Up for discussion of Joe Moore PDF on the General Strike on WISE (Moore Ch. 7-8)

See also Allinson, Ch. 3 “Growth” 

 

 

See book review with bibliography of The Birth of Japan's Postwar Constitution by Koseki Shoichi

See two discussions from Jan. 11, 2000 in the Yomiuri newspaper about the constitution

For other links to the Constitution click here

Feb. 20 Contextualizing the Occupation: Postwar Reforms and The Constitution

Finish watching film, MacArthur's Children

General Overview and detailed chronology of the Occupation Period 1945-52:

The General Strike of 1947 and the Reverse Course

Talk about Food May Day 1946 Video,

Go over story of the Constitution?

 

 

Response Paper #2 due: No Regrets for our Youth, 3-4 pages

 

Sign Up for discussion of Loftus, Changing Lives, Ch. 2 (student-led discussion)

 

Feb. 22 Finish Discussion of MacArthur's Children;

Discuss Joe Moore, on WISE in the Moore Folder, See "H445MooreCh. 7-8.pdf," esp. pp. 229-243.

Optional: Halberstam Ch.9.pdf, esp. pp. 181-84 (See Wise folder, Halberstam)

Prepare Loftus, Changing Lives, Ch. 2, 43-83 (student-led discussion)

In the readings, note things mentioned by Yoshitake such as:

--43-65: Ichikawa Fusae as pioneer women's advocate, the First election for women, meeting with Ethel Weed, the Women's Democratic Club, the RAA, the Ikebukuro Station Incident, International Women's Day, the Opening of Japanese universities to women v. ryosai-kenbo and the Yasukuni Shrine, the New Education Law, marking Textbooks, and Oku Mumeo and Shufuren, mobilizing housewives, "Food May Day," Yoshida and General Strike, entering Keiô University, Theatre club, the start of the Korean War, the End of Postwar Democracy?, the role of "Special Procurements," National Police Reserves, Hiratsuka Raichô calls for Peace, Disarmament, the GHQ Initiated Red Purge, and how they all constituted a challenge to the ideal of democracy in Japan, Zengakuren Protest Conference, the “Bloody May Day” Incident (see NYT headline and also this article here);

--65-83: Zengakuren, Shibuya Police Station, Peace Treaty with US and US Bases, Kôra Tomi and Fudanren, Entering Tôei Studios, Yoshitake's first job as Advertising Producer, Sekigawa Hideo's Film, "The Sunagawa Base," Uchinada Firing Range and Sunagawa City Protests, Women and North Fuji Practive Range, the Shibokusa Mother's Group, pregnancy v. career, "If Mother's Change, Society will change," World Assembly of Mothers, Bikini Atoll Nuclear Testing, Lucky Dragon No. 5, Ampo.

IMTFE and Hirohito

Feb. 27 Women and Protest

Begin Discussion of Loftus, Changing Lives, Chapter 2, 43-83.

Note: Bloody May Day (1952), the Fight ove the Sunagawa Base and the Lucky Dragon Incident,

See You Tube Video: The Lucky Dragon#5 Incident; See also this article

Start: Grave of the Fireflies (91 minutes) (Time Permitting)

See a very recent interview with Miyazaki Hayao of Studio Ghibli about constitutional reform

 

 

 

 

Prompt for Response Paper #3 on the previous Two Films, MacArthur's Children and Grave of the Fireflies

 

 

March 1 What is the 1955/San Francisco System?

Finish Discussion of Loftus, Changing Lives, Ch. 2, Part 2, 65-83 (student-led discussion) if necessary

 

Start or Continue: Grave of the Fireflies (91 minutes)

 

Discuss John Dower article,  "The 1955 or The San Francisco System: Past, Present, Future in U.S.-Japan-China Relations—8 Problematic Legacies" especially sections I and II
http://www.japanfocus.org/-John_W_-Dower/4079

Note that Kingston, Chs. 5-7 also contain useful coverage of many of these topics;

See also:

March 6 Nagasaki and Historical Memory: Akira Kurosawa’s Rhapsody in August

Begin Akira Kurosawa’s Rhapsody in August

 

March 8 Finish Rhapsody in Augustand Discuss

Read the short PDF on WISE, H131 Yoshimoto Rhapsody.pdf for our Discussion

Prepare Readings on The Minamata Pollution Case:

1. GeorgeMinamata.pdf on WISE (Resources)--Intro, Ch. 9, Conclusion, and Epilogue

2. WalkerMinamata.pdf

 

March 13 The Environment and Sustainability in Postwar Japan: Minamata Disease

The Minamata Pollution Case: Read and Discuss (student-led discussion)

1. GeorgeMinamata.pdf on WISE (Resources)--Intro, Ch. 9, Conclusion, and Epilogue

2. WalkerMinamata.pdf

See some interesting Case Studies here; See also “Fukushima in Light of Minamata” Timothy George (very short)

Prepare two short pieces:

1. Loftus, Changing Lives Ch. 3, first part, pp. 85-92

2. SasakiAmpo.pdf (26pp) on "Resources" section of WISE, an excerpt from Wesley Uemura Sasaki's book, Organizing the Spontaneous

March 15 The AMPO Movement: 1960 Conflict over the US-Japan Security Treaty

Response Paper #3 Due for MacArthur's Children/Grave of the Fireflies

Discuss two short pieces:

1. Loftus, Changing Lives Ch. 3, first part, pp. 85-92

2. SasakiAmpo.pdf (26pp) on "Resources" section of WISE, an excerpt from Wesley Uemura Sasaki's book, Organizing the Spontaneous

See also this page on Ampo;
For Reference: Steinhoff Interview and MIT Visual Cultures Page "Days of Rage and Grief"

Prepare article for next time:

Ichiyo Muto, "The Birth of the Women's Movement in the 1970s" (see "Resources" section of Wise for a pdf copy, "muto.pdf") - Read when you can, discuss after Spring Break

March 20 Women and Popular Movements I

Read Kingston Ch. 7 ("Women in Japan"); Doc. 20-23

Women in Japan: General

Begin Documentary Film: Ripples of Change

Prepare Loftus, Changing Lives, Ch. 3, pp. 92-106 (student-led discussion)

March 22 Women in Postwar Japan II

Finish: Ripples of Change and Discuss

Read and Discuss:

Loftus, Changing Lives, Ch. 3, pp. 92-106 (student-led discussion)

See Sanrizuka: The Struggle v. Narita Airport

Prepare Loftus, Changing Lives, Ch. 4 (student-led discussion) and Muto pdf for after break!

Gender Issues/Women in Japan

Resources on Japanese Women in Society

Women and Work in Japan 

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SPRING BREAK MARCH 27-31

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April 3 “Women’s Lib” and the Growth of a “Feminine Consciousness

Read and Discuss: Loftus, Changing Lives, Ch. 4 (student-led discussion)

Discuss/Reflect on Loftus, Ripples and the Women's Movement in Japan;

Introduce Ichiyo Muto, "The Birth of the Women's Movement in the 1970s" (see "Resources" section of Wise for a pdf copy, "muto.pdf")

Begin Documentary Film:Thirty Years of Sisterhood

April 5 Finish Documentary Film: Thirty Years of Sisterhood and Discuss

Discuss: Ichiyo Muto, "The Birth of the Women's Movement in the 1970s" (see "Resources" section of Wise for a pdf copy, "muto.pdf")

Introduce: Women and the Demographic Time Bomb

Read: Loftus, Changing Lives, Ch. 5

 

 

 

April 10 Women in Postwar Japan III: Women and the Demographic Time Bomb

Discuss: Loftus, Changing Lives, Ch. 5 (student-led discussion)

Changing Lives, Ch. 5

Kingston Ch. 8, "Demographic Time Bomb," Doc. 24

Begin Overview Japanese Postwar Economic Miracle

April 12 The Postwar Economic Takeoff and Miracle and Social Change

Read and Discuss:

 

 

 Dower article and interview on the War in Iraq

April 17 The Postwar Economic Miracle and Social Change

Let's read one thing together:

JohnsonEconMiracle.pdf on Wise, esp. to pp. 7-23; and

See also Document 4 (Chalmers Johnson), in Kingston's "Documents" (Part 4 of his Book)

Kingston Ch. 9, "Requiem for Japan, Inc."; Document 25-27

 April 19 SSRD - NO CLASS

Prepare for a session to Develop your Final Paper Topics -- see below for approachess/expectations

April 24 FINAL PAPER WORKSHOP--Bring in Your Ideas for your Paper

Bring in a paragraph or at least three ideas or points written down on a piece of paper: what will be your slant, your view?

April 26 Students Present Topics for Final Paper (7-10 pp) - first half of students -

A fairly informal summary of what you plan tio write about and what you have found inthe way of intreesting sources - NOT just a list of online materials but possible articles and book(s) to explore.

May 1 Students Present Topics for Final Paper - continue with second half of students

Consider the problem of the Comfort Women:

Read online article on Women in Workplace

See online version of The Japan That Can Say N0

Jetro Report on Koizumi's Reforms

More on theFinal Paper Assignment. It seems to me as though the following materials might lend themselves nicely to this assignment:

--Changing Lives, Ch. 1, how the war's end might have affected men and women differently, looking at the stories of Okabe Itsuko, Shinya Eiko, and Yoshitake Teruko. You could maybe even go into some of Yoshitake's story in Ch. 2, education, employment, and her sense of what the postwar world should be like. Both Kingston and Allinson have chapters on the U.S. Occupation so you could "frame" your discussion drawing on their perspective. Yoshitake has things to say in her Ch. 2 about learning how to organize and become politically engaged, including where she talks about the protest against the Sunagawa Base, against the Uchinada firing range, and also about the struggle of the Mother's Group "Shibokusa," against the North Fuji Practice Range (pp. 71-76). These areso you could bring these things together, the context being about how women situate themselves historically in these citizen-group movements and this roots them in historical experience. Lots of materials, ideas to work with.

--You could take one of the Changing Lives chapters (3, 4) on either Yoshitake or Kishino, and triangulate it with the Muto article on "The Birth of the Women's Movement in the 1970s," and the Ripples/30 Years of Sisterhood DVDs and focus on the Women's Lib Movement. This is a natural; lots of voices and experiences for you to draw upon. What did "women's Lib" bring to the participants that they had not had access to before? How did it help provide them a place and a language to graple with women's issues and define, for themselves, a "feminine consciousness"? You could even step back a little further, look at all or most of the women excerpted in Changing Lives, and probe more deeply into their experiences and what their narratives have to say to us. A key here would be adding in the PDF by Shigematsu on WISE which probes the role of Tanaka Mitsu in the movement and draw on things she said in the DVDs (I have some of them gathered on one of my pages). And for Ms. Tanaka, there are also several pages in which she is quoted in the Muto PDF (pp. 162-67) that you could use effectively in your paper. If you have experience studying 2nd wave feminist movements in other parts of the world, you could bring in a nice comparative perspective.

----If you want to write (more) on feminism and the women's movement in Japan, there are also other women you could bring in from earlier periods, too, like: Takamure Itsue, Kaneko Fumiko, Oku Mumeo, Takai Toshio, Sata Ineko, Nishi Kiyoko, Fukunaga Misao, Miyamoto Yuriko--some of whom are excerpted in my earlier book, Telling Lives (2004). The advantage here is that you are looking at memoirs you are using primary materials, voices speaking to us from Japan, which is always a good thing. It is important to have some authoritative voices in your papers that are either from primary materials or from secondary scholarly works that themselves draw on primary materials.

--Yet another idea: if you are interested in the problem of Japan's demographic time bomb, you could tie in some of Kanamori's writing from Ch. 5 in Changing Lives, dovetail it with Kingston's Chs 7 and 8, and the relevant Documents he places in the back of his book, and round it out with some additional library or online materials. What challenges to aging societies pose for contemporary economies? How/why is Japan's dilemma partiuclarly acute? The Documents in Kingston's book seem like great jumping off places for paper ideas.

--You could also go back to the readings on the Environment--George and Walker on Minamata--and considering also what Kingston says in his chapter on "Environmental Issues," deal with Minamata and how government and corporate Japan responded to this situation. There is also the nice update in relation to Fukushima also by Timothy George. Or, you could build off of George's point about citizen groups and Minamata and graft it on to the Sasaki Material on Ampo, along with the materials from my linked page, and come up with something about citizen's movements, postwar democracy, the response to the Bikini Atoll Bomb test, even things like the debate over subjectivity (the shutaiseiron) and how that was part of what Kurosawa was thinking about while making No Regrets, recalling as noted above, Yoshitake's material about learning how to organize and become politically engaged, including where she talks about the protest against the Sunagawa Base, against the Uchinada firing range, and also about the struggle of the Mother's Group "Shibokusa," against the North Fuji Practice Range (pp. 71-76). These are mentioned very briefly by Tanaka Mitsu in her "Liberation from the Toilet" pamphlet in Muto's article, p. 165 and in his footnote. The context is about how women situate themselves historically in these citizen-group movements and this roots them in historical experience. Therefore they do not need a "logic" to guide them as men do. So there could easily be an Ampo tie-in here.

--We have been watching a lot of films this semester...anybody want to continue in this mode? Two films come to mind:

1. Twenty-four Eyes (1954) recognized as top Japanese film of the year. Directed by Kinoshita Keisuke. Kind of a tear jerker about an elementary school teacher on Shodoshima, another Inland Sea setting like MacArthur's Children, from 1928 through the end of the war. Might include spoilers but see Synopsis here. There is a nice resource in a chapter (Ch. 5) of James Orr's book, The Victim as Hero that discusses this film directly within a framework of "sentimental humanism."

2. Fires on the Plain (1959), directed by Ichikawa Kon, based on the novel by Shohei Ooka, about the end of the war in the Philppines where Japanese soldiers were pretty much abandoned by the government and had to fend for themselves. Fairly brutal at times, as this comment suggests: "Private Tamura treks across an unfamiliar Philippine landscape, encountering an increasingly debased cross section of Imperial Army soldiers, who eventually give in to the most terrifying craving of all. Grisly yet poetic, Fires on the Plain is one of the most powerful works from one of Japanese cinema’s most versatile filmmakers." Spoiler alert, but if intertested, read more here. The library has the novel but not the DVD, it would appear. I do have a personal copy....

So someone one could build on other films we have discussed and put nice paper together with one or both of these films.

Other topics growing out of occupation reform policies that you could look at, that are not necessarily limited to gender or feminist issues include some broad topics like:

-- educational reform, land reform, economic deconcentration, as well as topics like

--the spread of radical unionism and labor unrest, the call for the General Strike, the Reverse Course--read more from the Joe Moore material we already looked at.

--the issue of war responsibility, the protection of emperor Hirohito from inquiries into his role and the opposition to his abdication, articles and works by Herbert Bix would be very helpful,

--the framing of the postwar constitution and the issue of constitutional reform today, etc. Possibilities abound there.

The main guideline here is to keep within the course materials but put them together in ways that we did not do in class.

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You might also be interested in a topic such as

--Japan's postwar economic miracle and the economic situation today

--environmental issues arising from unbridled growth: pollution diseares/incidents and of course Fukushima Triple Disaster

--the question of prewar and wartime history in Japanese textbooks and in museums, etc. Japanese apologies and reconciliation issues; Yasukuni Shrine,

--the Korean minority in Japan, its challenges and future

--the issue of US bases in Okinawa, and Japan's future

--the controversy over the fate of Okinawan civilians during the Battle of Okinawa

--the position of women in contemporary Japanese society

--as already indicated, the women's lib movement and its impact, the role of Tanaka Mitsu, etc.

--the question of the Comfort Women, the Asian Women's Fund, the Kono Statement (it also appears in Kingston, p. 130), and the recent Settlement arrangement with South Korea that now seems problematic,

-- issues related to other wartime atrocities like the Nanjing Massacre, the Medical Experiments Unit 731: Here is also a grisly NYT account

--If you would like to pursue the work of a postwar Japanese writer or filmmaker, you could do this by discussing some of their principal works and what they have to say about postwar Japanese society or culture, and tie them back into some of the course materials.

The final paper will be due Monday, May 8, by 3:00 pm.

As far as writing style, organization and footnoting go, you might find Diane Hacker's online resource site useful:

http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/history/sample.html

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Read and Discuss Joe Moore, "Japanese Workers and the Struggle for Power" Ch. 2, pp. 48-61; Chs.7- 8 (see "Moore" Folder on Resources section of WISE for pdf copies).

Read and Discuss David Halberstam, The Reckoning, Ch. 7-9 (52 pp., 131-187) in "Halberstam" folder on Resources section WISE for a pdf copies.