Featured Content
Resource: Starbucks Employees
Starbucks employees, who met as part of a company gathering, posing in front of a Starbucks stand at Ueno Station in Tokyo in October, 2007.
Resource: Anime - An Annotated Filmography for Use in the Classroom
In this filmography, Japanese historian and anime and manga expert Antonia Levi recommends anime movies to use in the grade K-12 classroom. For each movie, she gives a synopsis, suggests age appropriateness, and offers points of discussion.
Resource: Crown Prince Akihito's First Birthday observed by Young Women's Patriotic Association
Picture of the Showa branch of the Young Women's Patriotic Association showing their allegiance to the Imperial Family on the first birthday of then Crown Prince Akihito on January 10, 1935.
Essay: The Meiji Restoration Era, 1868-1889
In this essay, historian James Huffman outlines the history of the critical transition Japan underwent between 1868 and 1889, as well as providing some background about the events leading up to this period of rapid societal change.
Resource: Saigo Takamori Statue
This statue of Saigo Takamori, a leader in the Meiji Restoration and later rebel against the Meiji government, is a famous meeting point in Ueno Park in Tokyo.
Lesson: Akutagawa Ryunosuke and the Taisho Modernists
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: English and Language Arts
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.
