Wednesday, December, 2025 | 8:00-9:30 PM ET REGISTER FOR ZOOM
Rethinking Japan's Modernity: Stories and Translations (Harvard University Asia Center Press, 2024)
Presenter: M. William Steele, Professor Emeritus, International Christian University
Discussant: Robert Hellyer, Professor of History, Wake Forest University
Moderator: Emer O'Dwyer, Associate Professor of History and East Asian Studies, Oberlin College
The Modern Japan History Association invites the wider community to a conversation with M. William Steele, who will be speaking about her new book Rethinking Japan's Modernity: Stories and Translations (Harvard University Asia Center Press, 2024). Rethinking Japan's Modernity takes a new look at the people, places, and events associated with Japan’s engagement with modernity, starting with American Commodore Matthew Perry’s arrival in Japan in 1853. In many cases, this new look derives from visual sources, such as popular broadsheets, satirical cartoons, ukiyo-e and other woodblock prints, postcards, and photographs. The book illustrates the diverse, and sometimes conflicting, perceptions of people who experienced the unfolding of modern Japan. It focuses both on the experiences of people living the events “at that time” and on the reflections of others looking back. Also included are three new translations—two of them by Japan’s pioneer Westernizer, Fukuzawa Yukichi, and another by Mantei Ōga—parodying Fukuzawa’s monumental work advocating Western learning. These and other stories show how Japanese views of modernity evolved over time. Each chapter is prefaced with a short introduction to the topic covered and historiographical approach taken, allowing each to stand alone as well as support the overall goal of the work—to inform and challenge our understanding of the links between Japan’s past, present, and future. Robert Hellyer (Wake Forest) will serve as interlocutor.
The Modern Japan History Association is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supported by member contributions.
