EAS375H1

Postwar Japan: Crisis, Apocalypse

This course explores the history of the postwar period in Japan and its former colonies in order to delineate a way to think of the idea of apocalypse in relation to crisis in advanced capitalism. Through an examination of the history of capitalist crisis in postwar Japan, the course investigates themes of apocalypse in atomic-bomb literature, television, Godzilla, radical students movements, ecological-industrial disasters, worker art movements, debates on modernity and fascism, avant-garde theatre, popular music, religious movements, nationalism, populism, and the so-called “ageing population” problem. The course revolves around texts by philosophers, economists, novelists, essayists, artists, and critics, as well as film and audio recordings.