The modern history of Japan has been significantly influenced by Japanese contact with other nations: initially through the Dutch traders in the Tokugawa period and then through much greater contact with the West and elsewhere with the opening of Japan in the 1860s. Just as this allowed Japan to learn about the outside world, it also allowed the outside world to learn more of Japan. Indeed, Japan has long held a fascination for foreigners, from Victorian-era travellers and diplomats to hippies and businessmen in the post-war period.

This course will study the history of this transnational contact, chiefly through the eyes of visitors to Japan, reading their published accounts, letters and diaries. We will seek not only to ask what these texts can tell us of Japanese history, but also examine the authors themselves, developing ideas for a transnational history of travel.

• Discuss the history of Japan’s cultural relations with the wider world, as seen through the eyes of visitors to Japan
• Analyse the changing ways in which different writers have imagined, experienced, and interpreted Japan for a wider audience, and how their different perspectives (time, place, cultural origin) have shaped how they have created their portrait of Japan
• Apply skills in interpreting, critiquing and analysing primary sources, and place them in a wider context
• Make use of historical concepts such as orientalism, trans- and inter-nationalism, memory, and subjectivity in discussing primary sources and their wider historical context

A range of teaching methods will be used in each of the sessions of the course, comprising a combination of lectures, seminar discussion of major issues and workshops for the study of primary source material. The syllabus is divided into a series of major course themes, then sub-divided into principal topics for the study of each theme.

Lectures:

The aim of the lectures is to provide a brief introduction to a particular topic, establishing the salient features of major course themes, identifying key issues and providing historiographical guidance. The lectures aim to provide a basic framework for understanding and should be thought of as useful starting points for further discussion and individual study. Where appropriate, handouts and other materials may be distributed to reinforce the material discussed.

Seminar and Source Workshops:

The primary aim of the sessions will be to generate debate and discussion amongst course participants, focused in particular on primary source material. Seminars and source workshops for each of the course topics will provide an opportunity for students:

(a) to discuss topics or issues introduced by the lectures,

or(b) to discuss related themes, perhaps not directly addressed by the lectures, but drawing on ideas culled from those lectures.

and(c) to analyse different types of primary sources available, discussing the principal ways in which they can be used by historians.

Seminars and source workshops will provide the student with guidance on how to critically approach the various types of primary source material. Preparation for seminars and workshops will focus on specific items from the sources and related background reading, with students preparing answers to questions provided for each session. Both seminars and source workshops will provide an opportunity to discuss and debate the issues with fellow students. Classes will be divided into smaller groups for discussion purposes, with the results presented as part of an overall class debate at the end of the session.

• communicate ideas and arguments effectively, whether in class discussion or in written form, in an accurate, succinct and lucid manner.
• formulate and justify arguments and conclusions about a range of issues, and present appropriate supporting evidence
• an ability to modify as well as to defend their own position.
• an  ability to think critically and challenge assumptions
• an ability to use a range of information technology resources to assist with information retrieval and assignment presentation.
• time management skills and an ability to independently organise their own study methods and workload.
• work effectively with others as part of a team or group in seminar or tutorial discussions.   

Students will be assessed by means of a combination of an assessed essay relating to primary sources [20%], an assessed essay [30%] and an examination paper [50%].

Course assignments:

1. TheAssessed Essay relating to primary sources will contribute 20% of the final mark for the module and must be no longer than 1,000 words.
2. The Assessed Essay will contribute 30% of the final mark for the module. It is designed to give students the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to review evidence, draw appropriate conclusions from it and employ the formal conventions of scholarly presentation. It must be no longer than 2,000 words.
3. The Examination will take place during the second assessment period [May/June] and will consist of an unseen two hour paper that will contribute the remaining 50% of the final mark for this module. Students must write 2 answers in total.

There will be a mix of lectures and seminars. The lectures will provide the context of Japan’s relations with the wider world, as well as considering some examples of travellers not considered in the seminars. For the seminars we will read and discuss specific primary sources.

General topics will include:

• The nineteenth century, Sakoku, and the Dutch trade
• The 1850s/60s opening of Japan to the wider world
• Early Meiji era expatriate residents and Yokohama
• The origins of Japanese studies
• Tourism and travel in late nineteenth century Japan
• The 1904-5 Russo-Japanese war and Japan’s rise to great power status
• Japan in Asia in the early twentieth century
• World War Two, the Occupation and Area Studies
• Zen Buddhism and the West in the post war period
• The high growth era, and beyond

Ian Buruma, Inventing Japan, (Phoenix Publishing, 2004)

Christine Guth, Longfellow’s Tattoos, (University of Washington Press, 2004)

Christopher Benfey, The Great Wave: Guilded Age Misfits, Japanese Eccentrics and the Opening of Old Japan, (Random House, 2004)

Pat Barr, The Deer Cry Pavilion, (Macmillan, 1968)

Please see Essential Reading List.