In this presentation, Dr. David Howell (Harvard University) argues that the night-soil economy of Edo offers a novel way to situate late Tokugawa and early Meiji Japan into the broader history of the nineteenth-century world, while at the same time challenging the tendency to essentialize the “greenness” of early modern Japanese cities.

This presentation was delivered on 10th November, 2017 at the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. 

In this episode, Dr. Yi reads the Meiji Period from the perspective of literary studies and discusses the impacts of the Meiji Restoration on writers in Japan, especially Korean and Korean-Japanese writers composing literature in Japanese.  We discuss issues of language and identity in the prewar Japanese empire, definition of the “modern" Japanese literary canon in the Meiji Period, and increasing recognition of Korean-Japanese writers in Japanese literature. 

In this episode, Dr. Yi reads the Meiji Period from the perspective of literary studies and discusses the impacts of the Meiji Restoration on writers in Japan, especially Korean and Korean-Japanese writers composing literature in Japanese.  We discuss issues of language and identity in the prewar Japanese empire, definition of the “modern" Japanese literary canon in the Meiji Period, and increasing recognition of Korean-Japanese writers in Japanese literature. 

In this episode, Dr. Nosco dispels several misconceptions about individuality in Japan prior to the Meiji Restoration.  We then contrast the protest movements of the 1860s in Japan to those of the 1960s, with Dr. Nosco sharing several fascinating anecdotes of personal experiences of the 1960s student protests in the US and Japan.

In this episode, Dr. Nosco dispels several misconceptions about individuality in Japan prior to the Meiji Restoration.  We then contrast the protest movements of the 1860s in Japan to those of the 1960s, with Dr. Nosco sharing several fascinating anecdotes of personal experiences of the 1960s student protests in the US and Japan.

In this episode, Dr. Dierkes analyzes how the Meiji Restoration is presented in history textbooks in Japan.  We compare the historiography of the Restoration in Japanese and Western scholarship, as well as discuss recent issues surrounding textbooks in both Japan and the United States.

In this episode, Dr. Ruoff explains the impact of the Meiji Restoration in global history and the role of the emperor system in Japanese modernization.  We discuss the longevity of the emperor system in relation to its flexibility, as well as its centrality in both the prewar and postwar Japanese political and cultural environments.

In this episode, Dr. Ruoff explains the impact of the Meiji Restoration in global history and the role of the emperor system in Japanese modernization.  We discuss the longevity of the emperor system in relation to its flexibility, as well as its centrality in both the prewar and postwar Japanese political and cultural environments.