Lesson: Rights and Responsibilities: Looking at the Meiji Constitution
Grade Level: ElementarySubject Area: Social Studies
The Meiji Constitution serves as a starting point for an analysis and debate of the distinctions between rights and responsibilities, as well as the role of the populace in influencing government.
Lesson: Changing Times, Changing Styles: New Japanese Literary Styles of the Late 19th Century
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: English and Language Arts
Kunikida Doppo’s story, "Unforgettable People," provides an example of a style of Japanese literature that developed in the 1880s and 90s as a result of encounters with European literature and other changes in the Japanese lifestyle related to the Meiji Restoration. The author(s) of this lesson suggest ways in which a discussion of the impact of this type of cultural contact may be introduced into the classroom.
Unit: Imperial Democracy and Colonial Expansion, 1890-1945
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: Social Studies
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.
Lesson: Building “Greater” Japan, 1890-1905
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: Social Studies
Focusing on the Russo-Japanese War, this lesson utilizes source documents and provocative questions to explore the significance of early Japanese imperialism.
Lesson: Constructing Imperial Japan, 1868-1890
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: Social Studies
Using Japan during its period of rapid modernization as a base, this lesson asks students to reflect on what it means to be “modern” and how and why Japan embraced this concept.
Lesson: Individual and Society: Natsume Sôseki and the Literature of the Early 20th Century
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: English and Language Arts
The place of the individual in society is a significant issue in understanding Meiji Period Japan. In reading and discussing the novel Sanshirô by Natsume Sôseki, students will consider the ways in which Japanese writers of the period reflected larger societal trends, and, more generally, how individuals react to societal change.
Lesson: National Identity and Literature from Okinawa
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: English and Language Arts
Through examples of Okinawan literature and its relationship to the larger genre of “Japanese literature,” the author(s) of this lesson addresses problems in the definition of ethnic and national identities.
Lesson: Shifting Perceptions: Japan and the World in the Late 19th Century
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: Social Studies
This lesson concentrates on enhancing students’ ability to utilize documents such as maps, artwork and primary source materials to interpret history. This is accomplished via an investigation of changing perceptions of Japan by Asia and the international community as a result of Japan’s changing political and social landscape following the First Sino-Japanese War.
Lesson: The “I” Novels in the Context of Early 20th-Century Japan
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: English and Language Arts
Focusing on developing students’ understanding of how a writer's background affects the way he or she writes about personal experience, this lesson utilizes the literary works of Shiga Naoya and Hayashi Fumiko to show how “I novels” provide insight into both the authors’ backgrounds as well as their reflections on problems of human existence and social life.
Lesson: The Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905: A Turning Point in Japanese History, World History, and How War is Conveyed to the Public
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: Social Studies,Visual & Performing Arts
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.
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