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Imperial Japan, 1890-1950 - HIS00116H

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  • Department: History
  • Module co-ordinator: Prof. Oleg Benesch
  • Credit value: 40 credits
  • Credit level: H
  • Academic year of delivery: 2022-23

Module summary

One of the most enduring tropes about Japan is that it is a homogenous society characterised by a unique blend of ancient traditions and hypermodernity. Geisha and castles are juxtaposed with robots and bullet trains in journalistic accounts, tourism materials, and popular culture. By focusing on supposedly unique elements of Japanese culture, this portrayal often obscures the fact that modern Japan developed through an extensive engagement with the rest of the world. Understandings and uses of the past played an important role in this process. Between 1895 and 1945, Japan built a diverse, multi-ethnic empire that rivalled and threatened those of the Western powers. The fifty years of imperial expansion into Asia that dramatically changed the societies of Japan and the countries it occupied, and have had a lasting global impact.

This module examines the development of Japanese society from the late nineteenth century to the Second World War through a range of primary and secondary materials. We will consider especially how the past was used to construct new identities, and how ideas of gender, race, and nation were contested and disseminated within Japan, in spheres including culture, religion, politics, sport, and the military. We will explore these developments in light of Japan’s relationship with the wider world. As was the case with other imperial powers, even as Japan was constructing its empire, the empire was simultaneously constructing Japan.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Autumn Term 2022-23 to Spring Term 2022-23

Module aims

The aims of this module are:

  • To introduce students to in depth study of a specific historical topic using primary and secondary material;
  • To enable students to explore the topic through discussion and writing; and
  • To enable students to evaluate and analyse primary sources.

Module learning outcomes

Students who complete this module successfully will:

  • Grasp key themes, issues and debates relevant to the topic being studied;
  • Have acquired knowledge and understanding about that topic;
  • Be able to comment on and analyse original sources;
  • Be able to relate the primary and secondary material to one another; and
  • Have acquired skills and confidence in close reading and discussion of texts and debates.

Module content

Teaching Programme:

Students will attend a 1-hour briefing in week 1 of the autumn term. Students prepare for and participate in fifteen three-hour seminars. These take place in weeks 2-5 and 7-9 of the autumn term and weeks 2-5 and 7-10 of the spring term. Both the autumn and spring terms include a reading week for final year students and so there will be no teaching in week 6. There will also be a two hour revision session in the summer term. One-to-one meetings will also be held to discuss the assessed essay.

Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:

Autumn Term

  1. Japan in 1890

  2. Throwing off Asia

  3. Becoming Samurai

  4. Rural Life and Emigration

  5. Religion and the Empire

  6. Constructing Colonies

  7. Democracy and Militarism

Spring Term

  1. (Re)building Japan

  2. Sporting Identity

  3. Modern Girls

  4. Touring the Empire

  5. Industrial Imperialism

  6. Exceptional Times

  7. Defeat and Occupation

  8. The Afterlife of Empire

Assessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
4,000 word essay		 N/A 50
Online Exam - 24 hrs (Centrally scheduled)
Open Exam - Imperial Japan		 8 hours 50

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

For formative assessment, students will be given the opportunity to do two practice gobbets and then are required to write a 2,000-word procedural essay relating to the themes and issues of the module in either the autumn or spring term.

For summative assessment, students complete a 4,000-word essay which utilises an analysis of primary source materials to explore a theme or topic relating to the module, due in week 5 of the summer term.

They then take a 24-hour online examination for summative assessment in the summer term assessment period comprising: one essay question relating to themes and issues, but showing an awareness of the pertinent sources that underpin these AND one ‘gobbet’ question (where students attempt two gobbets from a slate of eight).

The essay and exam are weighted equally at 50% each.

Reassessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
4,000 word essay		 N/A 50
Online Exam - 24 hrs (Centrally scheduled)
Open Exam - Imperial Japan		 8 hours 50

Module feedback

Following their formative assessment task, students will typically receive written feedback that will include comments and a mark within 10 working days of submission.

Work will be returned to students in their discussion groups and may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss the feedback on their procedural work with their tutor (or module convenor) during student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.

For the summative assessment task, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 20 working days of the submission deadline. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.

Indicative reading

For term time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading:

Gordon, Andrew. A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Walthall, Anne. The Human Tradition in Modern Japan. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002.

Benesch, Oleg. Inventing the Way of the Samurai: Nationalism, Internationalism, and Bushido in Modern Japan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University is constantly exploring ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. Where appropriate, the University will notify and consult with affected students in advance about any changes that are required in line with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.