“I think it is the responsibility of anyone involved in politics to always think of what Japan can do to contribute more to the peace and stability not just of Japan and the region but of the entire world.”

– Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

HIST 459 – Japan Since 1800 begins with the tumultuous end of the Japan’s last shogunate, which was followed by an era–the Meiji period–where the country’s leaders made studied efforts to modernize (and at times, westernize) the once insular nation. What emerged by the first decade of the 20th century was a Japan that was primed to compete on the international scene. The rest of our course will explore Japan’s involvement in the two world wars, its occupation by MacArthur and the U.S. forces, its astounding economic growth in the 1960s and 1970s (and subsequent recession), and finally its internationally renowned popular culture.

HIST 459 fulfills the Culture and Social Sciences GEP credits, as well as the upper level non-western history requirement for History majors. HIST 459 meets TuWeTh 1 – 4:10 p.m. on the UMBC-Shady Grove campus during UMBC Summer Session II. 

HIST 103 or an equivalent East Asian Civilizations class is helpful before taking HIST 459.

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HIST 459 is taught by Professor Julie Oakes, who received her PhD from the University of Chicago. She published in Looking Modern: East Asian Visual Culture from the Treaty Ports to World War II in 2008.

The summer after graduating high school, I was ready to take on college. But I knew that college would bring a whole slew of new problems, from making friends to really hard classes, and the possibilities of things that could go wrong seemed endless. I had some AP credits transferring, so I knew I would be okay credit-wise, but what I really wanted to do was to spend some time on campus. What better way to dip my foot into the big pool than to take some summer courses? I looked at all of the classes UMBC offered, and decided to start the summer with a stretch and a course in my very own major. I enrolled in Media and Communications 101 and Yoga.

My first day of college was sunny and hot, with the sun ablaze above my head as I stepped out of the car and onto UMBC’s campus. I was nervous about whether I would find the classroom, and whether the teacher would like me. But, it turns out, my professor was wonderful, the class size was small and I was able to really shine. Yoga was a similar experience. The second half of the summer, twice a week I headed over to the RAC to increase my flexibility, and get a general education requirement out of the way through meditation (during which I had the habit of falling asleep).

Throughout the first semester of the summer, I got to know my professor in my class of only about 9 students. I had more time to participate in class and I could share my thoughts with the class, engaging in conversations about the theories behind social media, technology and media. I completed projects like making a whole magazine on my own, and learned about press releases and the definitions of terms like “digital natives” and “digital immigrants.” In the meantime, I was getting to know the campus, eating at Commons and making new friends.

Feeling at home, I switched gears into Yoga at the RAC. I began, nervously in yoga pants with my mat in hand. I handed my Red Card to the desk staffer for the very first time, and wandered down the empty hall with the ellipticals and treadmills on the left-hand side. The instructor, a Health Administration and Policy professor, was kind and encouraged us to take our time, learning each new move slowly and carefully, so as to avoid hurting ourselves.

The classes gave me the opportunity to explore UMBC before the rush and pressures of my first semester, and I believe it’s helped me adjust better to the “college experience,” as it kept it more gradual. Since then, I’ve also taken a course during my first winter break. If you want to get ahead, keep your mind engaged over breaks and stay on track for graduation, check out UMBC’s wide variety of summer and winter classes online.

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Anjali DasSarma has been an intern at the Division of Professional Studies since January of 2018. She is a sophomore Media and Communication Studies major with a minor in Journalism. She is also a Humanities Scholar and an Honors College student at UMBC.

To learn more about UMBC Summer Session, please visit summer.umbc.edu.