• Japan's Modern History: An Outline of the Periods [Asia for Educators]
Divides Japanese history from 1600 to the present into four periods, providing teachers with a synopsis of major events placed in the context of overall historical developments. Also includes a timeline activity for students (to be completed with information from the reading).

• Timeline of Modern Japan (1868-1945) [About Japan: A Teacher's Resource]

• The Meiji Restoration and Modernization [Asia for Educators]
In 1868 the Tokugawa shôgun lost his power, and the emperor was restored to the supreme position. This event was known as the Meiji Restoration. This essay examines the period during and after the Meiji restoration, discussing the new civic ideology of the time, social and economic changes of the period, and Japan's colonialism and expansion of the late 19th and early 20th century.

• Imperial Japan: 1894-1945 [About Japan: A Teacher's Resource]
Essay providing "an overview of Japanese political history during this period" and "situating it within the larger context of East Asia and Japan's views towards East Asia."

Teaching Unit w/Lesson Plans • Imperial Democracy and Colonial Expansion, 1890-1945 [About Japan: A Teacher's Resource]
"In five activity and primary source-intensive lessons that address the major social and political shifts of the period from 1890 to 1945, the authors emphasize that these shifts were interdependent forces that operated on both international and national levels."

Teaching Unit w/Lesson Plans • Japan’s Rapid Rise and Fall, 1868-1945 [About Japan: A Teacher's Resource]
"Japan 'modernized' in the late 19th century, but 'modernization' meant empires and colonies as well as industrialization and representative government, leading ultimately to destruction on a scale never before experienced on the archipelago. In five lessons using a wide variety of sources, ranging from the visual arts to political documents, this unit examines the reasons behind these rapid changes and how these changes affected the fabric of life in Japan."

Lesson Plan • The Path to Modernization in Popular Art: From Yokohama Prints to Taisho Chic [Program for Teaching East Asia, Center for Asian Studies, University of Colorado]

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Primary Source w/DBQs • Kokutai no hongi (Fundamentals of Our National Polity), 1937 [PDF] [Asia for Educators]

Lesson Plan • The Fifteen Year War, 1931-1945: Promoting the National Agenda Through Censorship and Propaganda [About Japan: A Teacher's Resource]
"This lesson encourages a richer understanding of both Japan’s national self-concept and international image leading up to and during the Pacific War through an exploration of the interplay between artistic expression, popular perception, and governmental control of contemporary visual and performing arts of Japan, as well as comparisons with international propaganda."

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Teaching Unit w/Lesson Plans • Throwing Off Asia III: Woodblock Prints of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) [Visualizing Cultures, Massachusetts Institute of Technology]
Featuring photographs and rare war prints illustrating the "titanic war against Tsarist Russia that stunned the world and established Japan as a major imperialist power with a firm foothold on the Asian mainland." A teaching unit richly illustrated with high-resolution images and maps and featuring essays by John W. Dower, MIT professor of Japanese history. The Visual Narratives section offers a shorthand view of the unit's primary themes and images; the Curriculum section includes eight lesson plans related to the unit.

Teaching Unit w/Lesson Plans • Asia Rising: Japanese Postcards of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) [Visualizing Cultures, Massachusetts Institute of Technology]
"Imperial Japan’s 1904-05 war against Tsarist Russia changed the global balance of power. The first war to be widely illustrated in postcards, the Japanese view of the conflict is presented in images..." A teaching unit richly illustrated with high-resolution images and maps and featuring essays by John W. Dower, MIT professor of Japanese history. The Visual Narratives section offers a shorthand view of the unit's primary themes and images; the Curriculum section includes five lesson plans related to the unit.

Teaching Unit w/Lesson Plans • Yellow Promise/Yellow Peril: Foreign Postcards of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) [Visualizing Cultures, Massachusetts Institute of Technology]
"Imperial Japan’s 1904-05 war against Tsarist Russia changed the global balance of power. The first war to be depicted internationally in postcards is captured here in dramatic images..." A teaching unit richly illustrated with high-resolution images and maps and featuring essays by John W. Dower, MIT professor of Japanese history. The Visual Narratives section offers a shorthand view of the unit's primary themes and images; the Curriculum section includes five lesson plans related to the unit.

Lesson Plan • The Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905: A Turning Point in Japanese History, World History, and How War is Conveyed to the Public [About Japan: A Teacher's Resource]
"Students will examine the significance of the Russo-Japanese War as a critical event in Japanese, as well as world history through comparisons of the events’ portrayal in contemporary traditional and emerging media; from woodblock prints, to photographs and film."

• Portsmouth Peace Treaty, 1905-2005 [Japan-America Society of New Hampshire]
"The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 was fought between Russia, an international power with one of the largest armies in the world, and Japan, a tiny nation only recently emerged from two and a half centuries of isolation. These Web pages explore the causes of the war, the military conflict on land and sea, President Theodore Roosevelt's back channel diplomacy, and the peace negotiations hosted by the United States Navy and the State of New Hampshire."

Primary Source w/DBQs • The Treaty of Portsmouth (1905) [Asia for Educators]

• Looking East: William Howard Taft and the 1905 Mission to Asia (The Photographs of Harry Fowler Woods) [Ohio Historical Society]
"On July 8, 1905, one of the first and largest U.S. foreign diplomatic delegations to Asia embarked from San Francisco for a three-month goodwill tour, stopping in Japan, the Philippines, and China. Under the leadership of Secretary of War, William Howard Taft... The 1905 voyage carried two serious diplomatic purposes: to assist with peace negotiations in order to end the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05); and to demonstrate American accomplishments in the Philippines." Includes a 25-page curriculum guide providing extensive historical background information, plus primary-source documents and map activities.

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Okuma Shigenobu, 1838-1922
Primary Source w/DBQs • "Illusions of the White Race" (1921) [PDF] [Asia for Educators]

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• Japan's Quest for Power and World War II in Asia [Asia for Educators]
Two background readings, one examining the reasons behind Japan's military expansion into Asia and another discussing the bombing of Pearl Harbor. With discussion questions.

Documentary Film • Wings of Defeat [Edgewood Pictures]
"In Japan, WWII Kamikaze are still revered as self-sacrificing heroes. Internationally, they remain a potent symbol of fanaticism. In astonishingly candid interviews, four former Kamikaze reveal that they were neither suicidal nor fanatical. In fact, they were young men sentenced to death by a military that could not admit defeat. In heartbreaking testimony corroborated with rare archival footage, they tell us about their dramatic survival and their survivors’ guilt. This riveting, seamlessly edited film is an emotionally charged and timely exposé probing the responsibilities that a government at war has to its people and its soldiers."

Nagai Ryutaro, 1881-1944
Primary Source w/DBQs • "Some Questions for President Roosevelt" (1939) [PDF] [Asia for Educators]

Primary Source w/DBQs • Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Saito on the Conflict in the Far East [PDF] [Asia for Educators]

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• Teaching about Japanese-American Internment [PDF] [Japan Digest, National Clearinghouse for United States-Japan Studies]
"Although many state and national U.S. history standards include the Japanese-American internment experience, more often than not it is a topic that is treated without nuance. This digest offers suggestions on the teaching of Japanese-American internment as a supplement to current textbook offerings on the subject."

• Manzanar National Historical Site [United States National Park Service]
"Manzanar National Historic Site was established to preserve the stories of the internment of nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II and to serve as a reminder to this and future generations of the fragility of American civil liberties." With an extensive HISTORY & CULTURE section for background information and an excellent FOR TEACHERS section with lesson plans for the primary (4th grade) and secondary (10th-11th grade) levels.

• Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar [The Library of Congress]
"In 1943, Ansel Adams (1902-1984), America's most well-known photographer, documented the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California and the Japanese-Americans interned there during World War II." See COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS (in second paragraph of text) for a selection of images. See BACKGROUND AND SCOPE for a more in-depth overview, plus a link to images of the entire first edition of Born Free and Equal, Adams's publication based on his work at Manzanar. Or select the NEW SEARCH link at the bottom of this page to search the entire collection of 244 photographs.

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Primary Source w/DBQs • The Atomic Bomb [Asia for Educators]
Background reading discussing some of the events that preceded the U.S. dropping of the atomic bomb and presenting some of the questions left about the necessity and results of the bombing. With three primary source documents with document-based questions [Report of the Interim Committee on the Military Use of the Atomic Bomb (May 1945) [PDF]; Report of the Franck Committee on the Social and Political Implications of a Demonstration of the Atomic Bomb (For a Non-Combat Demonstration) (June 1945) [PDF]; The Potsdam Declaration (July 26, 1945) [PDF]], plus activities for students.

Primary Source w/DBQs • "The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb," by Henry Lewis Stimson (February 1947) [PDF] [Asia for Educators]

• Ground Zero 1945: Pictures by Atomic Bomb Survivors [Visualizing Cultures, Massachusetts Institute of Technology]
"These drawings and paintings by Japanese survivors of the atomic bomb were created more than a quarter century after the bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945." The ESSAY section examines Ground Zero 1945 using the images by survivors of the atomic bomb blast; the VISUAL NARRATIVES section features the story of one survivor who tells her story through images. With an essay by John W. Dower, MIT professor of Japanese history.

• Interview with John Dower [PDF] [Education About Asia, Association for Asian Studies]
John Dower, professor of Japanese history at MIT and a specialist in modern Japanese history and US-Japan relations, discusses the Visualizing Cultures project, which he co-founded, as well as the impact of the atomic bombings upon Japan, the United States, and the world.

• Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Atomic Bombings and Resultant Biological Effects of Radiation [Japan Teaching Module, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga]
"Nuclear science is often perceived as a difficult element of the science curriculum. This component was specifically designed to present content in short segments so that student users might successfully master one component before moving on to another. To increase interest and decrease frustration, special effort was made to illustrate complex processes with graphics and photos and to provide links to animations and video footage whenever possible. A large selection of photos depicting damage according to distance from hypocenters is also included. The final module provides photos and video footage of survivors, along with their personal health stories, in audio in an effort to enable the reader/user to develop a personal connection to those affected."

Video Unit • A-Bomb Survivor Panel Discussion & Live Webcast [Japan Society]
"Survivors of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima discuss their experiences with Dr. James Orr of Bucknell University. Ms Setsuko Thurlow and Ms. Shigeko Sasamori, both age 13 at the time, experienced the bombing first-hand. Mr. Takahisa Yamamoto was only 16 months old when his mother brought him to Hiroshima to look for his father, two days after the bomb was dropped."

Video Unit • From Hiroshima to New York: Survivors of the 1945 A-Bombing of Hiroshima Discuss Their Experiences, Paper Cranes & 9/11 [Japan Society]
"On June 13, 2009, Masahiro Sasaki and Tsugio Ito discussed their memories of the bombing of Hiroshima and its meaning and impact on their lives with a group of teachers visiting from New York. Mr. Sasaki, who was four years old when the bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945, did not suffer any injuries. However, his sister, Sadako, developed leukemia and passed away 10 years later at the age of 12. Sadako, who became one of the inspirations for the anti-nuclear movement in Japan, has had versions of her story chronicled in many books, including the popular children's picture book Sadako and 1000 Cranes. Mr. Sasaki tells the story of his sister and its meaning, and shares one of the cranes his sister made, in this lecture. Mr. Ito, who was ten years old at the time of the bombing, lost his older brother shortly after the bomb fell. Tragically, on September 11, 2001, Mr. Ito lost his oldest son in the attacks on the World Trade Center. Speaking publicly about these events for only the second time in his life, Mr. Ito shares these stories and their meaning to him."

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• The American Occupation of Japan, 1945-1952 [Asia for Educators]
A teaching unit with an essay outlining Japan's political and economic transformation under the American Occupation, with discussion questions, a supplementary reading list for student reports, and additional student activities.

• The Allied Occupation of Japan [About Japan: A Teacher's Resource]
Essay providing "an overview of the reforms and examin[ing] the controversy surrounding an especially contentious period in Japanese history, the Allied Occupation."

Primary Source w/DBQs • The Constitution of Japan (1947) [PDF] [Asia for Educators]

• Lessons on the Japanese Constitution [PDF] [Japan Digest, National Clearinghouse for United States-Japan Studies]
"Following a brief exploration of the history of Japan's 1947 Constitution, this digest introduces recent scholarship and offers examples of how that scholarship deepens the story of Japan's postwar constitutional process. In its final section, the digest provides ways in which study of the postwar constitution can enrich social studies instruction."

Lesson Plan • The Occupation of Japan and Democratic Reform [About Japan: A Teacher's Resource]
Learning goals for students: 1) Understand the relationship between the Japanese people and the Occupation, and the nature of the Occupation’s democratic reforms; 2) Understand the origins, content, and implications of the 1947 “MacArthur” Constitution; 3) Understand why the decision was made to retain Emperor Hirohito on the throne and what the larger, long-term implications of this decision might have been.

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• Selling Shiseido: Cosmetics Advertising and Design in Early 20th-century Japan [Visualizing Cultures, Massachusetts Institute of Technology]
"The 20th-century history of the Shiseido cosmetics company provides a vivid image of the efflorescence of modernity in Japan — reflecting the changing ideals of feminine beauty, the emergence of a vibrant consumer culture, cutting-edge trends in advertising and packaging, and the persistence of cosmopolitan ideals even in the midst of the rise of militarism in the 1930s. This unit draws on Shiseido’s vast archives, focusing on the marketing of concepts of modern beauty from the 1920s through 1943, when wartime exigencies eventually curtailed the promotion of an international aesthetic of worldly chic."

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Lesson Plan • Akutagawa Ryunosuke and the Taisho Modernists [About Japan: A Teacher's Resource]
"The modernist literary movement is commonly characterized by experimental styles and themes. Literature produced in Japan during the Taisho Period shares many characteristics with this global movement, as students will discover by analyzing literature from this period such as Akutagawa Ryûnosuke’s short story "In a Grove," (1922) as well as Kurosawa's film Rashômon (1950), a later film based on Akutagawa’s works."

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• A Brief History of Benshi (Silent Film Narrators) [About Japan: A Teacher's Resource]
"The Russo-Japanese War caused a huge upsurge in cinema attendance, as Japanese citizens rushed to see pictures of their 'heroic' soldiers battling the Russians. During the war years, 80% of the motion pictures shown in Japan were Russo-Japanese War films. Some of these films were actual news reels of the fighting. Most, however, were staged re-creations ... In front of packed houses, Benshi roused audiences into a nationalistic fervor by providing extremely patriotic and jingoistic commentaries."

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