This page presents the full reading list for this class as well as a calendar of the reading assignments for each lecture.
Required Texts
Bring the State Back in the Global/Genomic World: Racial Difference and the Transforming States of Japan, Taiwan and Singapore (PDF) (Courtesy of Dr. Wen-Hua Kuo. Used with permission.)
Bartholomew, James R. The Formation of Science in Japan: Building a Research Tradition. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989. ISBN: 9780300042610.
Blackford, Mansel G. The Rise of Modern Business in Great Britain, the United States,and Japan. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780807847329.
Cusumano, Michael A. The Japanese Automobile Industry: Technology and Management at Nissan and Toyota. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989. ISBN: 9780674472563.
Dower, John W. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1999. ISBN: 9780393046861.
Kingston, Jeffrey. Japan in Transformation, 1952-2000. New York, NY: Longman, 2001. ISBN: 9780582418752.
ICH Steering Committee. “The Future of ICH - Revised 2000: A Statement by the ICH Steering Committee on the occasion of the Fifth International Conference on Harmonisation, 9-11 November 2000, San Diego.” (PDF)
Koizumi, Kenkichiro. “In Search of Wakon: The Cultural Dynamics of the Rise of Manufacturing Technology in Postwar Japan.” Technology and Culture 43, no. 1 (2002): 29-49.
Napier, Susan J. Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation. New York, NY: Palgrave, 2001. ISBN: 9780312238629.
Nishiyama, Takashi. “Cross-disciplinary Technology Transfer in Trans-World War II Japan: The Japanese High-Speed Bullet Train as a Case Study.” Comparative Technology Transfer and Society 1, no. 3 (2003): 305-325.
Nutley, Caroline. “The Value and Benefits of ICH to Industry.” 2000. (PDF)
Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko. Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalism: The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780226620916.
Partner, Simon. Assembled in Japan: Electrical Goods and the Making of the Japanese Consumer. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780520219397.
Samuels, Richard J. “Rich Nation, Strong Army”: National Security and the Technological Transformation of Japan. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780801427053.
Morris-Suzuki, Tessa. The Technological Transformation of Japan: From the Seventeenth to the Twenty-first Century. Cambridge, MA, England, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780521424929.
Tobin, Joseph, ed. Pikachu’s Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokémon. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780822332879.
Tsutsui, William M. Godzilla on My Mind: Fifty Years of the King of Monsters. New York, NY: Palgrave, 2004. ISBN: 9781403964748.
Reading Assignments
| Lec # | Topics | Reading Assignments |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction: Understanding Japan | Timeline Comparing Japan, U.S. and Other Civilizations (PDF) |
| 2 | Reading Maps and Defining Technology | |
| 3 | Tokugawa Japan, 1600-1868 |
Bartholomew, chapters 1 and 2, pp. 1-48. |
| 4 | Meiji Japan, 1868-1911 | Samuels, chapter 3, pp. 33-78. |
| 5 | Imperialism, Technology, and Business | Blackford, chapter 5, pp. 103-127. |
| 6 | Kamikazation of Japan, 1937-1945 |
Ohnuki-Tierney, chapter 5, pp. 157-185. |
| 7 | Postwar Japan I, 1945-73 |
Dower, chapter 1, pp. 33-64. Morris-Suzuki. The Technological Transformation of Japan. Chapter 7, pp. 161-208. |
| 8 | Symbol of Postwar Japan: Godzilla | Tsutsui, chapter 3, pp. 81-111. |
| 9 | Symbol of Postwar Japan: The Shinkansen Bullet Train |
Koizumi Nishiyama |
| 10 | Postwar Japan II, 1973-Present |
Partner, conclusion, pp. 225-242. Cusmano, conclusion, pp. 374-384. |
| 11 | Symbol of Postwar Japan: Anime |
Napier, chapter 5, pp. 85-102. Toby, conclusion, pp. 257-292. |
| 12 | Japan in the “West” |
Blackford, chapter 8, pp. 228-234. Kingston, chapter 9, pp. 92-103. |
| 13 | Review: Technology and Culture in Modern Japan |
