HIST 321
History of U.S.-Japan Relations
Last Offered Fall 2017
Division II Exploring Diversity Initiative
Cross-listed ASST 321
This course is not offered in the current catalog

An unabating tension between conflict and cooperation has been an undercurrent of U.S.-Japan relations for over 150 years, at times erupting into clashes reaching the scale of world war and at times allowing for measured collaboration. We will explore the U.S.-Japan relationship from the perspectives of both countries with a focus on how culture, domestic concerns, economic and political aims, international contexts, and race have helped shape its course and nature. Topics will include early U.S.-Japan encounters; the rise of both countries as imperial powers; the road to, and experience of, World War II; the politics and social history of the postwar American occupation of Japan; the U.S.-Japan security alliance; trade relations; and popular culture. Contemporary topics will also be discussed.