Ron Sivillo
• 9th grade Honors Social Studies (1st Semester -- American Civics / 2nd Semester – World Geography)
• 11th/12th grade – Asian Studies (elective)

• Excerpts from the book are appropriate for 9th (Honors Level) and 11th and 12th grades

1. What did you already know about early modern (Tokugawa) and modern (1868-present) Japan before starting the readings? (A brief answer will be fine for this question.)
Being a political science major, I have always gravitated toward the contemporary aspects of the courses I have taught. My desire to learn history has always been dwarfed by intense need to consume information about current issues and trends. Luckily for me, my teaching course load has remained heavy on the contemporary aspects of economics, government, politics, etc. Certainly, this has not exempted me from understanding and teaching history; however, it has allowed me to deal with the topics of my courses with a heavy emphasis on the 20th century and forward. Even for the Asian Studies course which I teach (actually co-teach), pre-20th century topics have typically been taught by the “co-teacher.” However, having been a participant in the NCTA Seminars (2007), I have gained a solid grounding in the Tokugawa and “modern” eras of Japan. Admittedly, though, the Ebrey text has provided a richer and more detailed account of these time periods.
Specifically, in terms of what I already knew before reading the Ebrey text, can be summed up as “limited.” Clearly, before the NCTA seminars, my knowledge was limited by the heavy attention paid to World War II Japan and certainly post-World War II Japan in high schools and popular culture and media. Certainly, the media I have consumed most of my adult life (most prominently The Economist, The Nation, BBC News and the New York Times) has dealt with contemporary Japan (or at least post-WWII Japan). As mentioned, even the courses I teach had not forced me to learn more in any great detail. Therefore, before the readings, I was certainly aware of the relative peace of the Tokugawa period and the blossoming of the arts in Japan (i.e., Kabuki theatre) and the social class structure of Japan (Daimyo, Samurai, etc.). Moreover, incursions by the Europeans (16th c.) and the eventual isolation of Japan was at least documented in my memory bank. The United States’ (and other western nations) incursions into Japan (19th c.) and the eventual dismantling of the Tokugawa Shogunate was also part of my understanding of Japan. Further, the militarization of Japan and its quest for natural resources, to wars with China and Russia (20th c.), to the conquering of Korea and eventual conflict in World War II rounded out the “big ideas” of which I was aware.

2. What did you learn about Japan from the Ebrey/Murphy readings? (What was new information to you, for example? What surprised you? What was most interesting?)
This is a relatively difficult question as the text is a rather detailed account of Japan (and the other East Asian countries). Nonetheless, overall I would have to say that I have learned (and perhaps found most interesting) that post-war Japan’s “economic miracle” did not materialize with at least some level of dissent and political/social protest (see. p.p. 540-541 of Ebrey text). For instance, I found it interesting that Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had such a strangle-hold over the Japanese political and legal systems that those who opposed its policies typically had to resort to working outside the political system. This was exemplified by demonstrations (mostly in the 1950s) against American military bases and nuclear testing, and through opposition to the centralization of educational policy. In fact, a slew of issues marked the 1950s, perhaps most prominent the 1959-60 political demonstrations over revision and extension of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, which involved over 134 Japanese groups and organizations. Simply put, a conservative and progressive thread in Japanese politics, groups which had differing viewpoints on how Japan should progress into the latter half of the 20th century, clashed more than I had realized before reading parts of the Ebrey text. However, Japanese productivity and ingenuity progressed and propelled Japan into the economic success that it is to this day.

3. Finally, what would YOU want to know about this material if you were considering using it in your classroom? Please tell the reader what the book is about, and make suggestions for how you would use it (or have used it) in class.
This book is, essentially, precisely what the title implies; that is, a cultural, social, and political history of East Asia. It spans the earliest civilizations of East Asia through the early years of the 21st century. The book is rather comprehensive, and in areas where it might be less detailed than some readers may desire, it provides a “Suggested Reading” summary after each chapter. For most high school students, the book will likely be more detailed than practicable. Perhaps in an elective, one which concentrates only on East Asia, will the text be entirely digestible by a high school student. However, for an instructor whose knowledge base of East Asia is underdeveloped, the text is accessible and relatively detailed.
In terms of what I would “want to know if (I) was considering using it in (my) classroom”, I would want to know how “decipherable” the material is for students who are at the high school level. For instance, in the 9th grade World Geography class which I teach, I find that much of the material is too dense and detailed for the attention that can be paid to it in my curriculum. Certainly, the information in the text is rich and detailed, and provides very good background knowledge for the instructor. Moreover, the text provides primary-source documents and other enriching pieces of information, many of which add depth and “real life” examples of the factual information contained in the text (i.e., Material Culture, p. 337). However, my belief is that this is primarily a college-level text, and therefore information would have to be adapted to a level commensurate with the reading comprehension and skill level of the students in the class.