HIST 172CModern Japanese History, 1850 to 1945
History · 4 units · Undergraduate upper division (100-199)
Designed for juniors/seniors. Investigation of meaning of modern “Japan” for newly national (and imperial) populace, and resistance to consequent radical upheavals in daily experience, both in Japan and Asia. Exploration of meaning of “modern” and fraught interplay of imperial and anticolonial ambitions in domestic and foreign politics. World War II experience and radical and conservative effects of Allied Occupation. Foregrounding of professional practice of history and historical creation of categories, practices, and perspectives that have become second nature (i.e., linear time, nation, and modern social norms). Topics also include gender, sexuality, aesthetics, fascism, eugenics and race, hygiene, bloodsucking, monsters, anarchism, time, colonialism, feminism, art, censorship, protest, and Cold War. Socratic-style discussion in lecture.
P/NP or letter grading.
When it runs
- Spring 2026
- Spring 2027
Scheduled, not typical — from UCLA’s Schedule of Classes, which publishes Fall 2025 through Spring 2027 and nothing before it.
Requisites
UCLA lists no requisites for this course.
Requires
Everything that has to come before this course, not just the courses named in the requisite above.
Nothing — this is an entry point.
Unlocks
What this course is a requisite for, and what those courses lead to in turn.
No course in the catalog lists this as a requisite.