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"Kittenish Appearance:" Western Fashion In Meiji Japan, Harry Zhang Jun 2023

"Kittenish Appearance:" Western Fashion In Meiji Japan, Harry Zhang

Gettysburg College Headquarters

This paper seeks to examine the degree to which Meiji era Japan adopted Western fashion. It uses written and photographic sources to understand the attitude of Meiji era Japanese towards the introduction of Western fashion into everyday life, and the changing of said attitudes throughout the Meiji era and its implication on Japan's national identity.


When Big Brother Blinks, Josh Eyre Jan 2023

When Big Brother Blinks, Josh Eyre

BYU Asian Studies Journal

When discussing modern Japanese literature, works of the late 1930s and early 1940s are largely left out of the discussion. Stories written during this time are ignored by scholars, forgotten by readers, and at times even excluded from an author’s “complete works” by publishers (Keene 1987, 906–907). These works are often thought to be devoid of literary merit or not worth studying due to the high levels of scrutiny and censorship that Japanese authors were subjected to by the far right and intensely nationalistic Japanese government of the time. I would argue, however, that the near total dismissal of Japanese …


Christianity On Home Brew, Brayden Lane Jan 2023

Christianity On Home Brew, Brayden Lane

BYU Asian Studies Journal

In 1659, after enduring three years of torture and refusing to renounce his teachings, a Christian priest was executed in Nagasaki by decapitation under order by local officials. This man, who had taken the name of Bastian at his baptism, had spent the previous several years leading and teaching his fellow Christians in the villages near Nagasaki. He did this in secrecy, for in those days, professing belief as a Christian had been declared illegal by the Japanese government under penalty of death. In the course of his ministry, he saw many of his brethren meet their deaths for their …


Creative Citizen Peacebuilding: Japanese Artists And Audiences Respond To The Vietnam-American War, Long T. Bui, Ayako Sahara May 2022

Creative Citizen Peacebuilding: Japanese Artists And Audiences Respond To The Vietnam-American War, Long T. Bui, Ayako Sahara

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article explores two case studies related to South Vietnam and Japan, relating them to the controversial history and legacy of the Second Indochina War. The first is the Japanese adoption and adaptation of South Vietnamese antiwar music. The second is a Japanese film, uncovered decades later after the war, exposing the role of Japan in South Vietnam. Cultural productions, from nations allied with the United States, sought to expose the popular struggle for peace against the rising tide of Cold War military violence and corporate capitalist exploitation. Through interviews, archival research, and textual analysis, the article argues for a …


A Comparison Of The Canadian And Japanese Unesco Cultural World Heritage Sites, Tessa L. V. O'Connor May 2022

A Comparison Of The Canadian And Japanese Unesco Cultural World Heritage Sites, Tessa L. V. O'Connor

The Confluence

The purpose of this comparative study was to explore the similarities and differences between Canadian and Japanese cultures through a comparison of their respective UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Sites. Specifically, the historical, religious and spiritual, and geographical factors that led to the designation of said World Heritage sites in each country are compared. Analysis of these factors reveals that Canadian Cultural World Heritage Sites, as well as modern Canadian culture, have been molded by a combination of foreign and domestic influences. In contrast, Japanese Cultural World Heritage Sites and modern culture are primarily a result of domestic influences. The cumulative …


Visions For Japanese Society: An Examination Of Japanese Postwar Occupation Period Film, Kaitlin Smith, Michael Gibbs Jan 2022

Visions For Japanese Society: An Examination Of Japanese Postwar Occupation Period Film, Kaitlin Smith, Michael Gibbs

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

By following the films of directors Akira Kurosawa ( 黒澤明), Yasujiro Ozu ( 小津安二郎), Masaki Kobayashi (小林正樹), and Shohei Imamura (今村昌平) around occupation period Japan, unified visions for Japanese society are formed as it transitions from wartime into the postwar era. Each of these films conveys a sense of rapid change in society, external pressures and foreign influence, a daily struggle, and immediate postwar suffering. Not only can these films be seen across a wide variety of styles, but they also each approach these issues with immediacy and show tentative outlooks for how Japan functioned and felt for most people …


Japan's War On Three Fronts Prior To 1941, Shaohai Guo Jan 2020

Japan's War On Three Fronts Prior To 1941, Shaohai Guo

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

This paper argues that Japan fought a three-front war prior to 1941. Japan not only fought China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, but conducted military operations against the Soviet Union. The third front occurred within Japan, as military factionalism prevented Japan from focusing on either China or the Soviet Union. By 1941, weakened through years of war, Japan focused their attention on French Indochina. This ultimately led to U.S entry into World War II.


Effects Of The United States Reconstruction On Nationalism In The Japanese Education System, Connell Murphy Jun 2018

Effects Of The United States Reconstruction On Nationalism In The Japanese Education System, Connell Murphy

Voces Novae

When the United States began its reconstruction of Japan after World War II, they consistently put their own interests within the country before what would benefit Japan the most . While the first two years of the occupation led to significant changes inside and outside schools, including the Ministry of Education’s diminished role, increased local involvement in the academic system, and the removal of nationalistic “morality” classes such as shushin. All of these changes were necessary efforts to denationalize and decentralize Japan’s educational system and allow more choices for teachers and schools. When Washington began to take an increased interest …


The Rise And Fall Of The Zaibatsu: Japan's Industrial And Economic Modernization, David A. C. Addicott Jan 2017

The Rise And Fall Of The Zaibatsu: Japan's Industrial And Economic Modernization, David A. C. Addicott

Global Tides

Throughout the past century, the rise and fall of the zaibatsu and the operations of their direct successors has not only shaped Japan’s economic and financial landscape but also has been instrumental in the modernization of the world economy. Many of these corporations traced their roots to Japan’s premodern era, and were directly responsible for the transformation of a nation of rice farmers into an industrial powerhouse in the years prior to World War II. Following Japan’s defeat, these monopolistic corporations were dismantled by the Keynesian economists of the Allied occupation and were reorganized into the keiretsu system, which exists …


Comfort Women: The 1946-1948 Tokyo War Crimes Trials And Historical Blindness, Kathryn J. Witt Ms. Sep 2016

Comfort Women: The 1946-1948 Tokyo War Crimes Trials And Historical Blindness, Kathryn J. Witt Ms.

The Great Lakes Journal of Undergraduate History

This essay analyzes why the comfort women were not mentioned until recent decades. The essay starts with an overview of Japan’s colonization and formation of the Comfort Women system; next, the history of the women and a comparison between the Korean and Dutch comfort women are being compared before going into the Tokyo War Crimes Trials. It discusses historical blindness through the Tokyo War Crimes Trials. There are three factors into how the United States government officials, including General Douglas MacArthur and Joseph Berry Keenan, manipulated the trials: United States government’s conduct, the general view on gender crimes, and the …


Book Review: The Nature Of Beasts: Empire And Exhibition At The Tokyo Imperial Zoo, Andrew W. B. Kustodowicz May 2015

Book Review: The Nature Of Beasts: Empire And Exhibition At The Tokyo Imperial Zoo, Andrew W. B. Kustodowicz

Madison Historical Review

No abstract provided.


Getting Out, Ron Baenninger May 2012

Getting Out, Ron Baenninger

Headwaters

No abstract provided.


"100 Spears Worth 100 Pieces": The Impact Of Ashigaru On Sengoku Jidai, Austin W. Clark Jan 2011

"100 Spears Worth 100 Pieces": The Impact Of Ashigaru On Sengoku Jidai, Austin W. Clark

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

In the year 1545, during the latter half of Japan‘s Sengoku Period or ―Age of Warring States‖, the minor samurai Ukida Naoie was assigned thirty men and a small fief in the province of Bizen. His task was to cultivate and defend this small corner of the province from the ambitious and power-hungry lords and bandits that abounded in the Sengoku Period, but Naoie set his sights higher. Given direct control over his thirty men, a mere garrison force of infantry, he used them to conquer and rule over neighboring fiefs in the province. His reputation and his army grew …


The Contradictions Of Kitabatake Chikafusa's Jinno Shotoki: How The Jinno Shotoki Shows That Japan Is Not Shinkoku, Adam Wheeler Jan 2010

The Contradictions Of Kitabatake Chikafusa's Jinno Shotoki: How The Jinno Shotoki Shows That Japan Is Not Shinkoku, Adam Wheeler

BYU Asian Studies Journal

It is widely held by Japanese and non-Japanese historians alike that Japan has enjoyed an uninterrupted reign by a single royal family for at least the last 1,500 years, if not longer. This unprecedented system of government has given rise to much investigation as to how such a feat could have been accomplished and has also given rise to the belief that Japan is Shinkoku, or “divine land.” Theories on the longevity of the Japanese imperial family have been based on the relationship between them and surrounding families of influence, as well as the tenuous relationship that existed between …


Broken Bodies, Shattered Dreams: The Aftermath Of A Life As A Korean "Comfort Woman", Jessica Wininger Jan 2003

Broken Bodies, Shattered Dreams: The Aftermath Of A Life As A Korean "Comfort Woman", Jessica Wininger

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

The Pacific War in Asia is infamous for the sickening atrocities committed by the military forces of both the Allies and Japan. Proof of the carnage is undeniable and is often discussed in textbooks, history classes, and documentaries around the world. The forced recruitment of women to serve as sex slaves to the Japanese military is included on the long list of wartime tragedies, however it often remains on the periphery of discussions on wartime violence. The negligence is due in part to the half century of silence that followed the victimization of the women most often known as “ianfu,” …