Description:
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This course examines the history of Japan in Asia, and how this legacy impacts dealings with its Asian neighbors. How is Japan optimizing it's position in Asia and how are these efforts seen by others in the region? How do Japanese cultural exports work to change perceptions of Japan and the Japanese people in countries once colonized by Japan? How is Japan opening up to people from other countries in Asia and where does it fall short as a regional leader?
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Course Narrative
This class was a discussion heavy forum discussing the political structure of South East Asia, with a focus on Japan, its influence and the effects on Japan. The various discussions centered specifically on global type of issues, in which international politics as well as Japan's alliances came into play. It was a very different perspective for me, being previously unaware of Japan's political history. As a previous monarchy, Japan has a recent history with a style of politics that does not align with today's societal expectations of democratic/republican based theories. And given the line of monarchs and their past actions and decisions, Japan has gained a number of enemies that have not removed Japan from such a list, despite having a change of political stance. For example, Japan is on questionable terms with China, with an on again off again change in trading goods, political agreements and agreements on ownership of bodies of water. The same can be said for South Korea, with whom the United States also has an alliance agreement, making the relations between both countries and the United States tedious to tread.
Photo used under Creative Commons from Free Public Domain Illustrations by rawpixel