In My Asakusa, Sawamura Sadako introduces us to two traditional Japanese celebrations, which are Hatsumode (the New Year and the New Year Eve) and the Obon Festival (the return of deceased ancestors). a. How are these festivals being celebrated in the local community AND in the Sawamura’s family? b. What kinds of privilege does Sawamura’s father enjoy in these family celebrations? And what does it tell about men’s and women’s social roles in modern Japan?

1. In My Asakusa, Sawamura Sadako introduces us to two traditional Japanese celebrations, which are Hatsumode (the New Year and the New Year Eve) and the Obon Festival (the return of deceased ancestors).
a. How are these festivals being celebrated in the local community AND in the Sawamura’s family?
b. What kinds of privilege does Sawamura’s father enjoy in these family celebrations? And what does it tell about men’s and women’s social roles in modern Japan?

2. a. How did Sawamura, who was still a little girl, react to and feel about the arrangement? What does the father look like in the girl’s eye?
b. Judging from the girl’s reaction, do you think she has willingly accepted the so-called tradition or established social norms?
c. In what ways have the little girl’s perception of the father subverted and contradicted the established social role he publically enjoys?

3. When Sawamura’s mother prepares for the Obon festival, she has closely followed all the traditional practices.
a. Does the mother do everything simply for the sake of honoring her husband’s family and ancestors? If not, what are her “personal meanings” for celebrating the Obon festival?
b. Are women “living the tradition” simply a matter of following traditional practices, or do they generate new implications?

4. Sawamura describes the celebration of Hina Matsuri (The little girl’s festival) on pp. 64 to 65.
a. Why did Sawamura continue to celebrate Hina Matsuri by herself after she has graduated from high school? (By then, she was no longer a girl)
b. What does the personal celebration tell us the changes she had gone through over the years, and presumably her transition from girlhood to womanhood?
c. After the Pacific War (1941-1945), Sawamura, now a middle-aged woman, decided to display her Hina Matsuri dolls all year-long. At this stage of her life, what do those dolls remind she of, and what is she celebrating for?

5. We often think of tradition as a set of established social practices. In My Asakusa, however, Sawamura, her mother, and her aunt O-Tomi (who worships the Awashima Sama) seem to have celebrated traditional festivals for their own purposes. What kinds of value, belief, faith, or attitude do they subscribe to in these celebrations? And how do these women’s shared beliefs give those “traditional” celebrations “new” meanings and significance?

Timeline of Events Related to Readings

Era Names: 1603 – 1867: Edo (Tokugawa) Period 1926 – 1989: Showa Period
1868 – 1912: Meiji Period 1989 – 2019: Heisei Period
1912 – 1926: Taisho Period 2019– present Reiwa Period

7th century: Sensōji, Tokyo’s oldest temple, is founded in Asakusa
1590s: Japanese invasion of Korea (led by Hideyoshi); the Ming army aides in defense of Korea
1603: Tokugawa Ieyasu becomes Shogun; Edo period begins; Korean relations more cordial; status system solidifies
1853: Commodore Perry (U.S.) uses gunboat diplomacy to open up Japanese ports
1868: Meiji Restoration; Japan begins quest in earnest to meet the challenge of the West
1871: Status system abolished; society divided into commoners/aristocrats; provinces become prefectures
1872: Japan’s first rail line (Shimbashi-Yokohama) opened; government takes control of Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa)
1876: Treaty of Kanghwa – Japan’s gunboat diplomacy opens Korea (checks Korea’s reliance on China)
1895: Sino-Japanese War; Japan annexes Taiwan; forces China to recognize Korea as independent state
1889: Meiji Constitution promulgated; the family legally becomes the central unit of society (koseki)
1894-95: Sino-Japanese War; Japan makes Taiwan a colony and becomes Russia’s rival in East Asia
1905: Russo-Japanese War; Korea become a Japanese protectorate (Treaty of Portsmouth)
Korea controlled by governor general (Ito Hirobumi the most important one)
1909: Ito assassinated in Manchuria by Korean nationalist
1910: Japan annexes Korea
1914: World War I begins (ends in 1918)
1919: Mansei 万歳 Incident (aka March 1 Movement) Similar to May 4 (1919) Movement in China
Reaction to Woodrow Wilson’s proclamation of national self-determination (Jan 1919)
Rally for independence quelled by Japanese forces; military rule becomes more lenient
1923: Great Kanto Earthquake – thousands of Koreans massacred in Tokyo and Yokohama
1931-32: Japanese army invades Manchuria; sets up puppet state
1936: Assimilation policy (naisen ittai 内鮮一体) ramped up (Japanese language learning, Shinto shrine attendance)
1940: Koreans forced to adopt Japanese names; efforts made to obliterate Korean culture
1941: Pacific War begins with Japanese bombing raid on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii (Japan at war w/China since 1937)
1945: Air raids on all major Japanese cities, including Tokyo and Kobe; atomic bombings of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki; a total of 300,000 – 400,000 civilians killed; Japan surrenders August 15; Korean independence
1947: New Constitution promulgated; women equal to men; the individual is legally the basic unit of society
1952: Allied (mostly American) Occupation of Japan ends; postwar censorship lifted
1950-53: Korean War; Japan’s economy gets a boost; the ‘high-growth’ economy soon to follow
1958: Prostitution banned; Tokyo Tower (for TV broadcasting) completed
1964: Shinkansen (‘Bullet Train’) links Tokyo with Osaka and later other cities; Tokyo Olympics held
1972: Okinawa, occupied by the U.S. since the war, reverts to Japanese control; U.S. military bases remain
1973-74: ‘Oil Shock’ follows Middle East War; Japan’s double-digit ‘high-growth’ economy comes to an end
1991: Tokyo Metropolitan Govt. Bldg (‘New City Hall’) moved to Shinjuku; economic ‘bubble’ bursts
2002: Japan co-hosts FIFA World Soccer Cup with South Korea
2011: Tohoku Earthquake; 25,000 killed or missing; nuclear disaster ensues; Tokyo Sky Tree nears completion

Foreign colonies and territorial possessions in East Asia in the early 20th century:

Great Britain: Hong Kong (lease), Shanghai (settlement); huge holdings in other parts of the world
France: Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos); Shanghai (concession)
Germany: China (concessions in treaty ports such as Shanghai and Tientsin)
Russia: sought and/or gained control of Hokkaido, Korea, Manchuria, Sakhalin
United States: The Philippines (a U.S. territory) Shanghai (settlement)

Roster of Dependencies: http://www.worldstatesmen.org/COLONIES.html
Growth of Japanese Empire: http://www.japanfocus.org/data/asia_map_large.jpg
Growth of Japanese empire with map centering on Korea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Korea_map_1939.svg