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Godzilla and the Bullet Train: Technology and Culture in Modern Japan
Art: Lantern Slide - Cross-Section of Watt's Rotative Double-Acting…, Circa 1782 · Public domain
- Instructor
- Dr. Takashi Nishiyama
- Term
- Fall 2005
- Level
- Undergraduate
- What's inside
- 1 reading · 8 other files · 2 web pages
- Materials open
- MIT OCW
About this course
Source: MIT OpenCourseWare STS.S28 Godzilla and the Bullet Train: Technology and Culture in Modern Japan, Fall 2005, Dr. Takashi Nishiyama — original course page on ocw.mit.edu ↗. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Study order: MIT's own listing order, section by section. Taken from MIT's published course files, downloaded from ocw.mit.edu on September 23, 2026. How RedLectern is built.
Materials are grouped the way MIT organized them. A verified, course-wide order has not been established here.
Before you start
Prerequisites are not listed here. Check MIT's own syllabus for this course.
How this course was organized
What's here, and what isn't
- A lecture sequence of 13 items is confirmed. Assignment and exam materials exist too, but MIT's own order for them could not be verified, so they're shown as materials below rather than a sequence.
Not included here
8 items from the source could not be safely included:
- MIT's page format for this item wasn't recognized clearly enough to place it safely. (6 items)
- Referenced in a table, but without MIT's own verified order, so it isn't used to claim a sequence. (2 items)
Materials by section
Grouped by section, as MIT organized them. Not sequenced or ordered.
Readings
- Bring the State Back in the Global/Genomic World: Racial Difference and the Transforming States of Japan, Taiwan and Singapore (Courtesy of Dr. Wen-Hua Kuo. Used with permission.) Download
- Timeline Comparing Japan, U.S. and Other Civilizations Download
Assignments
Course outline
Readings · Lecture Notes
Lecture 2: Reading Maps and Defining Technology
Readings · Lecture Notes
Lecture 3: Tokugawa Japan, 1600-1868
Readings · Lecture Notes
Lecture 4: Meiji Japan, 1868-1911
Readings · Lecture Notes
Lecture 5: Imperialism, Technology, and Business
Readings · Lecture Notes
Lecture 6: Kamikazation of Japan, 1937-1945
Readings · Lecture Notes
Lecture 7: Postwar Japan I, 1945-73
Readings · Lecture Notes
Lecture 8: Symbol of Postwar Japan: Godzilla
Readings · Lecture Notes
Lecture 9: Symbol of Postwar Japan: The Shinkansen Bullet Train
Readings · Lecture Notes
Lecture 10: Postwar Japan II, 1973-Present
Readings · Lecture Notes
Lecture 11: Symbol of Postwar Japan: Anime
Readings · Lecture Notes
Lecture 12: Japan in the “West”
Readings · Lecture Notes
Lecture 13: Review: Technology and Culture in Modern Japan
MIT OpenCourseWare, Dr. Takashi Nishiyama, STS.S28 Godzilla and the Bullet Train: Technology and Culture in Modern Japan, Fall 2005.
License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Edition: Fall 2005 · Open the original course on OCW ↗
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