Japan in war and peace

Abstract

This is a module framework. It can be viewed online or downloaded as a zip file.

As taught in Autumn Semester 2009/2010

This module consists of a detailed examination of the critical period in Japanese history from the end of the Pacific War through the U.S. Occupation between 1945 and 1952 and recovery in the 1960s and beyond. The lectures and seminars examine the following topics:

Japan’s Road to War The Japanese experience of war and defeat The A-bomb in history and memory The ‘Allied’ Occupation of Japan The changing Japanese family Japan’s economic recovery in the 1950s and 60s The environmental costs of rapid economic development The Asia-Pacific War in Japanese memory and popular culture

Suitable for: Undergraduate year one students

Dr Susan C. Townsend, School of History.

Dr. Townsend is Associate Professor of Japanese history in the School of History, University of Nottingham. She has published on Japanese intellectual history, including Yanaihara Tadao and Japanese Colonial Policy: Redeeming Empire (Curzon, 2000) and her most recent monograph Miki Kiyoshi 1897-1945: Japan’s Itinerant Philosopher (Brill, 2009). She is now developing a major collaborative project entitled Motor Cities: A Comparative History of Nagoya, Japan and Birmingham, England in the Twentieth Century in association with the University of Leicester, Birmingham City University and Nagoya University. A major focus of the project is the role of the motorcar and the automotive industry in city-centre design and regional development.