Harvard Japanese History Class by Chie Sato

This book, written by Chie Sato, author of the bestseller "Japan: The Most Popular Country at Harvard," features interviews with ten Harvard professors, structured as ten lectures.

The author has visited Harvard University several times over the past few years to research what students and faculty are learning from Japan.
Every year, 900 students learn the essence of leadership from case studies of Japanese companies such as Toyota and JR East Technoheart.

Themes related to Japanese history were particularly popular among students, such as:
"Yataro Iwasaki, founder of the Mitsubishi Group," "The world's first futures market, the Dojima Rice Exchange, and Tokugawa Yoshimune,"
and "The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Truman."

Harvard University was founded in 1636, which in Japan corresponds to the era of the third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu.

Kentaro Kaneko, a Meiji-era bureaucrat and politician who was among the first Japanese students to study abroad in 1872, contributed to the Imperial Constitution and diplomatic efforts during the Russo-Japanese War.
He and Theodore Roosevelt hit it off as fellow alumni and deepened their friendship.

Roosevelt took on the role of mediator to end the Russo-Japanese War and concluded the Treaty of Portsmouth, which contained terms favorable to Japan.
It is said that this may have been due to the influence of Kentaro Kaneko.

Jutaro Komura, who participated in the Portsmouth Peace Conference, was also a Harvard graduate, and it is said that Otohikomatsu Matsukata, a samurai from the Satsuma Domain, influenced the Japan policy of Franklin Roosevelt, with whom he became close while studying abroad.

Isoroku Yamamoto was also a student during the same period and seemed to recognize America's national power better than anyone else.
It is also well known that Isoroku Yamamoto was a master of poker.

In addition to topics like "Bushido," "Chushingura," and "Made in Japan," the book also covers readings of the "Imperial Rescript on the Surrender" and the depth of Japanese cuisine.

When the Japan Institute was established at the university, Kakuei Tanaka announced a policy to support Japanese studies in the United States and provided 10 million dollars (3 billion yen at the time).
There is no doubt that this led to significant progress in Japanese studies.

In this book, I listened to ten professors who are experts in their respective fields of Japanese history, environmental history, economics, business administration, cultural anthropology, and political science. Every professor was well-versed in Japan, and their insights into Japan's strengths and weaknesses, as well as what Japan should be from a global perspective, were very much to the point and refreshing.

While suggesting what Japan should work on to contribute to the world, they also sincerely expressed that they are glad the country of Japan exists in the world.

Above all, it was fascinating to learn so many things that I had never even been taught in Japanese history classes.

Table of Contents

Japan has transformed itself as if it were a different country since the Meiji Restoration, but perhaps it has now become a civilized power without a clear goal.

I hope that the way Japanese history is approached in Harvard's classes will be used as a reference in Japan as well.

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