Lesson: Our Family and Other Families: Using Totoro to Teach Family Structure
Grade Level: ElementarySubject Area: English and Language Arts,Social Studies
In this lesson for elementary students, children find similarities between their own families and Japanese families using the well-known and well-loved film "My Neighbor Totoro."
Lesson: Popular Culture and Japan’s Gross National Cool
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: Social Studies
Modern Japan's pop culture, from Hello Kitty to Wii, has been successfully exported worldwide. This lesson explores the varied roots of these cultural trends and their significance in a global context.
Lesson: The Bubble Economy and the Lost Decade
Grade Level: Secondary,Post-SecondarySubject Area: English and Language Arts,Social Studies
This lesson uses well-know editorials, speeches, and poems to explore the Japanese reaction to the Bubble Economy and Lost Decade.
Lesson: Japan in the World Since 1945
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: Social Studies
This lesson explores Japan's politics after the Allied Occupation, in particular the close but conflicted relationship with the United States, the sometimes strained relations with China and South Korea, and Japan's military policy.
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: Empire At All Costs, 1932-1945
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: Social Studies
In retrospect, the decision for war clearly led to disaster for Japan. Through the use of maps, diaries, and photographs, this lesson helps students understand why Japan pursued this course towards destruction, consider alternatives Japan could have followed, and understand the cost of the war for the Japanese populace.
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: After the Meiji Light: The Transition to Taisho, 1905-1912
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: Social Studies
Using a combination of literature and political history, this lesson examines the complex changes in Japanese political and social life during the years following the Russo-Japanese War.
Lesson: Becoming World Citizens, 1912-1925
Grade Level: SecondarySubject Area: Social Studies
From 1912-1925, Japan underwent complex political changes on the domestic and international fronts, including conflicting trends towards increased popular political participation in combination with movements towards political repression. At the same time, Japan’s relative power in global affairs changed at a rapid pace. Using art, film, literature, and source documents, this lesson offers multiple approaches for teaching this vital historical period.
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.
Displaying 1—10 of 21
