For students enrolled in or before 2014
K0113
Labor in Contemporary Japan
【JPN LABOR】
2 credits
Fall 2015
INSTRUCTOR: Taeko Shibahara
EMAIL: [email protected]
Course Description
This course explores Japanese society and culture through the lens of laobr. Through
lectures, readings, and discussions, students are akded to consider the various
experiences of labor in Japan based on a historical, sociological, and cultural analyseis.
This course highlights the role of labor history in Japan in the pre-war, WWII, and post
war eras. This course will combine lectures, readings, and weekly discussions.
Course Objectives
The objective of this class is to introduce students to some central issues in the study of
labor history in Japan. Students will get a brief history of Japan since the late nineteenth
century, focusing on the struggles and efforts working people to secure a better life for
themselves and their families. By the end of the course, students will have a good
overview of these issues and be able to intelligently analyze the contemporary questions
raised by these.
Course Requirements and Assignments
a) Attendance, Readings and Participation:
You are required to attend the lectures and have an attendance record of at least 80%.
You are responsible for completing the readings (course readings and press handouts)
for the day they are assigned and come to class prepared to discuss them. You are
expected to actively participate in group discussions.
b) Presentation:
You are required to present one research paper on labour issues in Japan that will be
assigned to you during the course. You will prepare a one page handout with bullet
points, A4 single spaced, and make copies for all students.
c) Final Paper:
At the end of the course you are required to submit the research paper that is the final
format of your presentation.
Evaluation Criteria & Grading
Grading for the course will be determined as follows:
1.
2.
3.
Final Paper submission
Contributions to the class including presentations, class
discussions, attendance
Reading Report submission
30 %
30 %
40 %
Additional Information: CLASSROOM POLICIES
1. Since discussion is an essential part of this course please come to class prepared and
on time. Do not enter the classroom if you are late more than 15 minutes.
2. Let me know if you have an emergency and will not be able to come to class.
3. Please turn off your mobile phones. It is inappropriate to go outside to make calls or
to send or read text messages during class.
4. No sleeping in class.
5. Plagiarism and Cheating
Doshisha University does not tolerate plagiarism, cheating, or helping others to cheat.
These actions will result in an automatic “F” in the course. Plagiarism is defined as
misrepresenting the work of others (whether published or not) as your own. It may be
inadvertent or intentional. Any facts, statistics, quotations, or paraphrasing of any
information that is not common knowledge, should be cited.
For more information on paper writing, including how to avoid plagiarism and how to
use citations, there are many resources to help you in the Library. Please speak with
the Librarian.
Course Materials
Andrew Gordon, The Wages of Affluence: Labor and Management in Postwar Japan,
Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1998.
Christopher Gerteis, Gender Struggles: Wage-Earning Women and Male-Dominated
Unions in Postwar Japan, Cambridge, Harvard University Asia Center, 2009.
E. Patricia Tsurumi, Factory Girls: Women in the Thread Mills of Meiji Japan,
Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1992.
Joshua Hotaka Roth, Brokered Homeland: Japanese Brazilian Migrants in Japan,
Ithaka, Cornell University Press, 2002.
Sheldon Garon, The State and Labor in Modern Japan, Berkeley,University of
California Press.
1990
Taeko Shibahara, Japanese Women and the Transnational Feminist Movement before
World War II, Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 2014.
Additonal supplementtary articles will be placed on reserve or made available to
students directly.
Course Schedule
Week 1Introduction
Topic: Introduction, course description
Assignment: Reading, Garon Chapters 1-2
Week 2 Labor in the pre-war period, 1
Topic: The Origins of Japanese Social Policy, 1868-1918
Garon, Chapter 1
Assignment: Reading, Garon, Chapter 3
Week 3 Labor in the pre-war period, 2
Topic: “The Social Bureaucrats and the Integration of Labor, 1918-27”
Garon, Chapter 3
Assignment: Reading, Garon, Chapter 6
Week 4 Labor in the pre-war period, 3
Topic: Labor in the war state
Garon, Chap. 6
Assignment: Reading, Shibahara Chapter 1 and Tsurumi Chapter 2
Week 5 Labor in the pre-war period, 4
Topic: Factory Girls in the Meiji era
Shibahara Chapter 1 and Tsurumi Chapter 2
Assignment: Tsurumi Chapters 8 and 10
Week 6 Labor in the pre-war period, 5
Topic: Exploitation of female workers
Tsurumi Chapters 8 and 10
Assignment: Reading Gordon, Chapters 1- 3
Week 7 Labor in the post-war period, 1
Topic: Labor and management to the 1950s.
Gordon, Chapters 1-3
Assignment: Reading, Gordon, Chapters 4-6
Week 8 Labor in the post-war period, 2
Topic: Labor, Management, and State
Gordon, Chapters 4-6
Assignment: Gordon, Chapters 7-9
Week 9 Labor in the post-war period, 3
Topic: Labor, Management, and State
Gerteis, Chapters 4 and 6
Assignment: Reading, Gerteis, Chapters 4 and 6
Week 10 Contemporary labor issues, 1
Topic: Union and Women
Gerteis, Chapters 4 and 6
Assignment: Kaye Broadbent, Women’s Employment in Japan: The Experience of
Part-Time Workers, New York, Routledge, 2003, Chpaters 1-2.
Week 11 Contemporary labor issues, 2
Topic: Feminization of part-time work
Broadbent, Chapters 1-2
Assignment: TBA
Week 12 Contemporary labor issues, 3
Topic: Family, Work, and Laws
TBA
Assignment: Reading, Keiko Yamanaka, “New Immigration Policy Unskilled Foreign
Workers in Japan,” Pacific Affairs, 66, no. 1 (Spring, 1993), pp. 72-90
Kiyoto Tanno, “The Economic Crisis and Foreign Workers in Japan: Why Does Japan
Treat Migrant Workers as Second Class Citizens?” Japan Labor Review, 7, no. 3
(Summer 2010), pp. 109-126
Week 13 Globalization and workers,1
Topic: Immigration Policies
Keiko Yamanaka, “New Immigration Policy Unskilled Foreign Workers in Japan,”
Pacific Affairs, 66, no. 1 (Spring, 1993), pp. 72-90
Kiyoto Tanno, “The Economic Crisis and Foreign Workers in Japan: Why Does Japan
Treat Migrant Workers as Second Class Citizens?” Japan Labor Review, 7, no. 3
(Summer 2010), pp. 109-126
Assignment: Reading Roth, Chapters 1, 5, and 6
Week 14 Globalization and workers, 2
Topic: Experiences of Japanese Brazilian workers
Roth, Chapters 1, 5, and 6
Assignment: Complete final paper and be ready for presentation
Week 15 Review and Presentation Day
Note: final paper due
Note: This syllabus will be subject to changes and/or revisions