Lesson: Nature and the Environment in Postwar Japan
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: English and Language Arts,Social Studies
Modern Japan has a particularly fascinating relationship with the environment. Students will explore Japan's seemingly contradictory attitude and actions, characterized both by a profound, self-proclaimed respect for nature along with a proclivity to exploit and degrade the natural environment. Students will use a variety of sources including informational texts, poetry, and traditional and modern art to explore this paradox. They also will evaluate the government's response and the social reprecussions.
Essay: Japan's Forests: Good Days and Bad --Rhythms of Damage and Recovery -
Japan historian Conrad Totman provides an overview of Japanese history from the viewpoint of the relation between humans and forests. This view of history incorporates the relationship between environmental, political, technological, and economic history.premodern Japan
Essay: The British Isles and Japanese Archipelago: A Comparison of Environmental Basics
Japan Historian Conrad Totman explores the ramifications of the environmental similarities and differences between the Japanese archipelago and the British Isles.
Essay: Rice: A Major Force in Japan's History--The Basic Mechanics--
Why do societies that practice rice cultivation tend to be densely settled and complexly organized? Conrad Totman, Professor of Japanese History at Yale University (Emeritus) responds to this question with an accessible overview of the history of and mechanics behind rice cultivation in Japan.
Resource: Modern Shinkansen
This photo taken in July 2008 shows one of Japan's high speed trains, or Shinkansen.
Resource: Map of Railway Lines in Central Japan, 1885
This map from 1885 shows completed, in progress and proposed railway lines in central Japan.
Resource: Nagaragawa Bridge Collapse
Photo of the collapsed Nagaragawa bridge after the 1891 Mono-Owari earthquake.
Resource: Ginza
This building in the Ginza has been one of the landmarks of the fashionable region of Tokyo since the early 20th century.
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