Visualizing Japan in the Modern World

“Visualizing Japan in the Modern World” is an experience-based course for which we use educational materials from “Visualizing Japan,” an edX course offered by MIT. In this class, we will learn about Japan by exploring images that pertain to the emergence of Japan as a modern state. We will first focus on images that depict Japan as it comes into contact with the rest of the world after its long and deep isolation during the feudal period. We will compare images drawn from a wide range of collections in the U.S. and Japan to visualize the time when Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrived in Japan in 1853-54. Later sections of the course will cover the opening of Japanese ports, especially Yokohama; Russo-Japanese War, and the Hibiya Park riot immediately after it; foreign photographers’ images of Japanese people and the nation; modern Japanese women (the Shiseido Archives); and so forth.

We will also visit places that are relevant to the content of the course. More details about the field trip will be provided during the course.

＊This course will be conducted in English.
＊This class is normally held as a five-day intensive course in February after the end of the A semester.

Contact：vj.seut[at]gmail.com (please change [at] to @)