24-hr course for secondary teachers featuring 3 webinars with Dr. Roderick I. Wilson and investigation of primary and secondary sources The role of the natural environment is a recent scholarly lens providing new perspectives and understandings of early modern and modern Japanese history, geography, and culture. Applying this focus, this course critically analyzes the popular notion of Japanese harmony with nature, investigates the theme of people being shaped by and shaping their environment, and explores how Japan can be referred to as both the “green” and “toxic” archipelago.
The everyday in children’s lives in Japan’s transwar period (1940s to 1960s) are imagined in Freeman Book Award 2023 Of Note children’s literature by Yukie Kimura, Kōdo Kimura, & Steve Sheinkin, Allen Say, and Sonoko Sakai. Participants will read and discuss Yukie’s Island: My Family’s World War II Story by Yukie Kimura, Kōdo Kimura, & Steve Sheinkin and illustrated by Kōdo Kimura, Kozo the Sparrow by Allen Say and The Story of Mai and the Missing Melon by Sonoko Sakai and illustrated by Keiko Brodeur. This 20-hour online course for K-8 teachers will explore the Japan-related books’ diverse geographic settings, historical situations, and cultural aspects such as school life, architecture, food, and classic stories. In the book group discussions, participants will consider classroom applications of the three books for language arts and social studies.