Japan and Hawaii: History and Connections

2018-2019

WYATT EXPLORATION PROGRAM

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Wyatt Exploration Program..............................................................................6-7Japan and Hawaii: History and Connections.................................................8-9Affiliated Courses................................................................................................10Wyatt Lecture Series......................................................................................11-13Film Showings................................................................................................14-15Wyatt Fellow 2018-2019....................................................................................16Dr. Dorothea Wyatt.............................................................................................17A Look Back: Washington D.C. Nation’s Seat in History.........................18-19

Department of History

Dr. Roy S. Hanshiro, Professor Mr. Gregory M. Havrilcsak, Lecturer

Dr. John S. Ellis, Professor Dr. Mohamed Daassa, Lecturer

Dr. Douglas Knerr, Professor Dr. Michael B. Kassel, Lecturer

Dr. Thomas Henthorn, Associate Professor Mr. Wade Merrill, Lecturer

Dr. Christopher Molnar, Assistant Professor Mr. Matthew Thick, Lecturer

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2018-2019 Wyatt Events• Kick-Off: Wednesday, September 12• Film Showing: Abacus & Sword, Monday, September 24• Guest Lecturer: Dr. Lane Earns ,Wednesday, October 10• Film Showing: Little House (Chiisai Ouchi) Monday, October 22• Guest Lecturer: Dr. David Tobaru Obermiller, Thursday, November 8• Film Showing: Midnight Diner, Monday, November 12• Guest Lecture: Dr. Elizabeth D. Lublin, Thursday, December 6• Film Showing: Udon, Monday, December 10

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Wyatt Exploration Program

About the Program

Each year, the Wyatt Exploration Program provides a unique and exciting opportunity for students and faculty to join together in the intellectual exploration of the human past. Organized by the Department of History with financial support from the Wyatt Endowment, the program focuses on the history and culture of a specific place or on a particular historical topic. This theme changes on an annual basis, allowing our explorations to span the history of our country and the world beyond. The department’s Wyatt Fellow, a faculty member who is an expert in the field under exploration, plans and organizes the program. Featuring affiliated course offerings, special extra-curricular events on campus, and a competition to participate in a university-funded student travel expedition, the Wyatt Exploration Program enriches and deepens our understanding of the world and its history.

The Department of History is thrilled with this unique opportunity for learning and enrichment that the Wyatt Exploration Program provides at the University of Michigan-Flint. The department’s faculty looks forward to sharing these incredible experiences with our students and hopes that all of you will share in our excitement as we explore the history of the world around us.

Wyatt Travel Expedition The culmination of each year’s exploration will take place in either the spring or summer semester with a student travel expedition led by our Wyatt Fellow. Selected from our history majors and minors (including TCP and Honors), a group of students will be invited by the History Department to participate in this trip. Most student travel expenses will be fully funded by the Department of History. Selection will be based on several factors, including the student’s academic record and coursework in the field under study. However, the primary factor to be considered will be active participation in that year’s on-campus Wyatt Exploration events. You don’t need to have the highest GPA or to have taken courses in the subject under exploration to be selected. Rather, we are looking to assemble a diverse team of students who have demonstrated their enthusiasm and engagement with the on-campus exploration activities, who are most likely to benefit from the travel experience and who will work together most effectively as a group. Every history major or minor is truly a potential candidate for selection and we encourage all of our students to participate and apply. Students will complete and submit an application form to be considered for the selection process in winter semester, 2019. Students must be a currently enrolled history major or minor at the University of Michigan-Flint during the 2019 winter semester.

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Guest Lecture Series A central part of the Wyatt Exploration Program is our guest lecture series. During the course of the fall and winter semesters, the program will bring celebrated scholars from around the nation and world to our campus to speak on that year’s theme. This is a great opportunity to meet and learn from acknowledged experts in their field while developing a sense of history as an intellectual community, endeavor, and discipline. For history majors and minor, participation in the guest lecture series is expected of all potential candidates for the travel expedition. Although we understand that students may not be able to attend all of these sessions, please try to attend as many of these events as possible to maximize your potential as a travel expedition participant.

Coursework and Extra-Curricular Activities A list of affiliated courses will match the subject of exploration for that year. Although primarily history courses, this list may also include courses in other disciplines that complement the theme. Students will have the opportunity to take some of these courses during the academic year. If students have already taken any of these courses in previous years, this will also be recognized in the selection process for the Wyatt Travel Expedition. The exploration program provides a wonderful opportunity for additional depth of instruction and experience for those students who are taking or have taken one or more of these courses. However, history majors and minors are still viable candidates for the travel expedition even if they have not taken any of these affiliated courses and they are encouraged to participate in other on-campus exploration activities instead. In addition to the guest lecture series and formal coursework, the Wyatt Fellow may organize co-curricular activities and discussion sessions devoted to the year’s theme. All students are invited to these activities and participation will be considered in the selection process for the travel expedition. Wyatt Exploration Passports To chart student participation in Wyatt events, history majors and minors will receive a Wyatt Exploration Program Passport. Bring this passport to any Wyatt Exploration Program event or activity, and you will receive a stamp that verifies your attendance. Students will then submit this passport along with their travel application, and the number of stamps they have collected will be considered in the selection process for the travel expedition. Be sure to retrieve your passport each year from the history department after the competition is over, as you can continue to use it for the following year. Stamps collected in previous years will be considered in the travel expedition selection process. So, start collecting stamps!

 For more information on the Wyatt Exploration Program visit us online at: www.umflint.edu/history/wyatt.htm

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Kyoto: The seat of aristocratic rule during the Heian Period (794-1185). Known as Heian-kyō, this imperial city remained as the capital of Japan until 1869. Kinkakuji: Temple of the Golden Pavilion. This is one of the structures that represent Japan and the symbol of power for the Muromachi shogun, Ashi-kaga Yoshimitsu (1358-1408). Originally a villa, the Golden Pavilion became a Zen temple after the death of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

Hiroshima: This city’s history goes back to Warring States Period, when a regional ruler named Mōri Terumoto made this place his seat of power in 1589. Hiroshima is best known as the first city where the atomic bomb was dropped.

 

Hiroshima Peace Memorial: It is better known as the Atomic Bomb Dome, but it is actually a large complex with

several buildings and serves as a memorial for those who died as the result of the atomic bomb that was dropped on this city on 6 August 1945.

This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

Okinawa: The island of Okinawa is part of the Ryūkyū Islands. With its royal heritage, long contact with China and distinctive dialect, the Okinawan culture is unique. During WWII, the last battle in the Pacific was fought in Okinawa.

Shuri Castle: Shuri Castle (on the cover) was the center of the Ryūkyū kingdom from late 1300’s to 1879. The royal court was located at this castle, but it was much more than an administrative and political center. Not only did commercial activities flourish here, but also it was the heart of the Ryūkyū culture. The original Shuri Castle was completely destroyed

Japan and Hawaii: History and Connections

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during WWII.

This is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Muse-um: Located where the worst fighting took place during the Battle of Okinawa, this peace park is a me-morial to all who have perished during this battle. It is estimated about 200,000 (civilians and soldiers) were killed during the Battle of Okinawa.

Honolulu: The 50th state of USA, Hawai’i is similar to the Ryūkyū Islands in that it was a kingdom with a unique culture. Honolulu (“sheltered bay” in Hawaiian) is the state capital and has been the center of politics and economy. It is perhaps the most diverse city in Hawai’i, as people from various parts of the world came to the islands as immigrants. This immigration continues today, bringing a new layer of cultural dimension to Hawai’i.

Pearl Harbor: Pearl Harbor is now under the National Park Service and part of “World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument” that includes sites in Alaska and California. It was

after the attack on Pearl Harbor that United States entered the war against Japan. USS Arizona Memorial is the final resting place for many crewmen who lost their lives during the attack by Japan on 7 December 1941.

This is a National Historic Landmark site.

Hawai’i’s Plantation Village: This is a living history museum that recreates a very important part of Hawaiian history. This village is an outdoor museum that represents the plantation community from approximately 1850’s to 1950’s. Many people in Hawai’i are descendants of those who came to the islands to work on the plantations. Coming from Japan, China, Korea, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico as well as other places, they were all looking for a better life.

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Affiliated Courses:• HIS 371: Japan from Antiquity to 1300• HIS 377: Japan from 1300 to 1800• HIS 378: Japan As A Global Power

Affiliated Courses

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Wyatt Lecture Series

Japan’s Engagement with the Outside World, 1853-1912 Dr. Lane Earns, Professor Emeritus History Department Wednesday, October 10 12:30-1:45 PM , 110 French Hall

Lane Earns was born and raised in Flint, Michigan and received his B.A. from Michigan State University in International Relations and

Education in 1973. That summer, he participated in a two-month study abroad program to Japan, and, the following year, he received a year-long Fulbright Fellowship to Nagasaki. Upon completing the fellowship, Earns went to the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where he earned an M.A. in Asian Studies in 1977. He then returned to Nagasaki and taught English for two years at a wom-en’s junior college there.

In 1979, Earns returned to Hawaii to enter the Ph.D. program in history. In 1983, he received a Japanese Foundation Grant to conduct his dissertation research at the Historiographical Institute at the University of Tokyo. He then taught two more years in Nagasaki before returning to Hawaii to complete his dissertation in 1987.

Earns began his academic career at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh that same year as an Assistant Professor of History and was promoted to Professor in 1997. From 2004 to 2017, Earns served as Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at UW Oshkosh. He retired in August 2017 and now lives with his wife in Belmont, Massachusetts, which is located just outside of Boston.

Earns, whose research focuses on Nagasaki, is currently working on his third book on the Japanese city. The working title is “Yankees in the ‘Naples of the Orient’: A Century of Culture, Commerce and Catastrophe.”

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The Okinawa that Can Say No: the Role of Okinawan Identity in Contesting Japanese Rule Dr. David Tobaru Obermiller, Associate Professor in History, Gustavus Adolphus College Thursday, November 8 2:30-3:45 PM, 121 Murchie Science Building

David is currently serving as Chair of History, and is also affiliated with the Japanese Studies Program and the Environmental Studies Program.

David has been at Gustavus since 2008, previously he taught at University of Wisconsin-Superior for seven years. He received his Ph.D. from University of Iowa in modern Japanese history with an emphasis on Okinawa’s postwar history. His research examines the twenty-seven year US military occupation of Okinawa and in particular how Okinawans resisted the occupation and how this experience led to questions about their identity as Japanese. Drawing upon on his archival work and oral history project in Okinawa, he weaves this top-down history with that of his Okinawan family experience and other ordinary Okinawans who experienced life under military occupation. In 2013, his essay, “Dreaming Ryukyu: Shifting and Contesting Identities in Okinawa,” was published in an edited book, Japan Since 1945: From Postwar to Post-bubble (Bloomsbury Press), and it highlighted how identities are malleable and shaped by historical contingencies. His current research on Okinawa examines how the protracted US military presence has caused ecological havoc ranging from soil and water contamination due to Agent Orange, exhaust fumes and noise pollution from military aircraft and vehicles, the poisoning of soil and water from the use of “depleted uranium” munitions, and the traffic congestion caused by the military bases.

Since coming to Gustavus, he has gone beyond his Asian specialty to teach environmental history, drawing upon his years as an environmental activist. In the

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summer of 2014, his Asian and environmental interests intersected when he had an opportunity to study China’s environmental sustainability projects and the level of environmental degradation. His current interdisciplinary research project, “Why East Asia Matters: Economic Power, Environmental Degradation, and the Global Order,” critiques the economic measure of GDP, and how such a myopic perspective has created an environmental disaster with consequences for both China and the world.

Exploring Nationalism in Meiji Japan Through the Lens of the Tobacco Industry Dr. Elizabeth D. Lublin, Associate Professor of History and Chair of Midwest Japan Seminar Wayne State University Thursday December 6 12:30-1:45 PM, 212 French Hall

Elizabeth D. Lublin holds a BA in history and East Asian Studies from Yale University, an MA in Japanese Studies from the University of Michigan, and a PhD in modern Japanese history from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She joined the faculty at Wayne State University in 2001 and teaches survey courses on modern East Asia along with upper-level classes on premodern and modern Japan, the history of Japanese pop culture, gender in modern East Asia, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki in history and memory. Her first book explored the activism of the Japan Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and she is currently working on a second manuscript on the tobacco industry during the same period.

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Abacus and Sword Monday, September 24, 5:00-8:00 PM

Set during the Meiji Restoration period of Edo era Japan, Naoyuki belongs to the 8th generation of the Inoyama family, a family known for finance and accounting. He is also a gifted mathematician and uses the abacus with extreme skills. Naoyuki works under the declining Kaga clan. Because of this, Naoyuki and his wife Koma suffer hardships as their stature and wealth dissipates. The film is based on a real diary describing the life of a 3rd generation

samurai household during the late Edo period, in the midst of the Meiji Restoration which marked the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. This movie was nominated for 2 Japanese Academy Awards (2010).

The Little House (Chiisai Ouchi) Monday, October 22, 5:00-8:00 PM329 French HallVeteran director Yôji Yamada (The Twilight Samurai) brings us a well-regarded film that focuses on a key era of Japan’s historical past. Here, in The Little House (Chiisai Ouchi, 2014), the time frame is 1931-1945, as Japan drifts towards war--but while the sociopolitical aspects make an important backdrop, Yamada zeros in on a deeply personal story: the doomed illicit love between a married matron (Takako Matsu) and her husband’s artistic colleague (Hidetaka Yoshioka), as observed and later recalled by an innocent servant girl (Haru Kuroki). Shot by Masashi Chikamori, and featuring a lovely score by Joe Hisaishi.

Film Showings

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Midnight DinerMonday, November 12, 5:00-8:00 PM329 French Hall

The tiny restaurant is located in the middle of Tokyo that is opened from midnight to 7 in the morning. There is only one person who works at the restaurant, who is the cook and proprietor. The menu is extremely limited, but the cook aims to fulfill the customer’s request despite his limited ingredients. This film is much more than a cooking show, as the cook is kind and does his best to help people. Offering advice and consoling his customers, we get a glimpse of issues people face, who are up and round during these hours.

UdonMonday, December 10, 5:00-8:00 PM329 French Hall

Kosuke is 31 and tired of his hometown where nothing happens. On a whim, he departs for New York with dreams of making it big but return defeated and with debt. Little does he re-alizes upon his return, that he would rediscover the town’s - and the rest of the world’s - fixation with udon.

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Wyatt Fellow, 2018-2019Professor Roy Hanashiro

This academic year marks the tenth year of the Wyatt Exploration Program. Starting from Poland and recently to Washington, D.C., this program has brought history majors and minors to various parts of the world. Many of the Wyatt Explorers have said that these trips were a life changing experience, as the interacted with history and culture outside of their own. Some have returned to places that they visited to further their studies; for example, to Japan and Poland. Indeed, I hope that the Wyatt Explorers that I will travel with to Japan and Hawaii in May of 2019 will have similar experiences.

I have often told people that when I came here in 1989, the idea of international studies and study abroad hardly

existed. The term internationalization was a mystery to many. Nevertheless, there were faculty members including those in the History Department that saw the need for internationalization. Now, we have significantly increased the number of international students, and there are several study abroad trips every year. Wyatt Exploration Program holds a special place. It is not only a trip aboard, but it is a year long program with affiliated courses, lectures and films that is put together by an expert. Thus, the Wyatt Explorers often visited historical sites that they had studied, which in itself is meaningful, but the Wyatt Explorers also have interacted with people from different countries. Through this interaction, some of the Wyatt Explorers have made friends and are still maintaining contact with them. This is building bridges, and I believe it is priceless.

This will be my third Wyatt Exploration. Never did I imagine that I would be bringing students to Japan for the third time. Although we will be visiting various places in Japan, this Wyatt Exploration is a bit different from the previous ones in that we will be spending more time on Okinawa to understand the diversity of Japan and the uniqueness of the Okinawa. The theme of Okinawa would be carried over to Hawaii not only to examine Japanese immigration but also to see how an immigrant group maintained its own unique culture in a foreign land.

It is my honor and pleasure to put together the 2018-2019 Wyatt Exploration Program and to lead the study abroad tour.

Roy S. Hanashiro, Professor History Department University of Michigan-Flint

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Dr. Dorothea E. Wyatt,1909-2007

The generous bequest of Dr. Dorothea E. Wyatt has made the Wyatt Exploration Program possible. A stalwart supporter of her univer sity and her discipline, Dr. Wyatt made this extraordinary gift to further develop and improve the program in history here at UM- Flint.

A graduate of Stanford University, Dr. Wyatt was one of the original sixteen faculty members of the Flint College of the Universityof Michigan when it was founded in 1956. She was the first chair of the Department of History and she served as the University’s Counselor to Women, the Secretary to the Governing Faculty, and on countless university, college, and departmental committees throughout her career. An adored teacher, Dr. Wyatt specialized in American cultural and women’s history. She was an unflagging advocate for the humanities and women’s issues. In 1989, the UM-Flint recognized her dedication to the university and these issues by creating an award in her name for faculty and staff members who work to better the status of women on campus. In 1974, Dr. David M. French spoke of Dr. Wyatt’s uniquely personal contribution to the university, writing, “Her greatness of spirit, her generosity, her sincere interest in students young and old… and the uninhibited way she has always shared her joy in learning and scholarship with those around her have run like a golden thread through the eighteen years since the Flint college was founded.” As a scholar, Dr. Wyatt is primarily known for her biography of Julia S. Tutwiler (1841-1916), an early advocate for women’s rights and educational reform in Alabama.

Dr. Wyatt was active in the local community and served a variety of organizations, including the American Association of University Women, the Zonta Club, Delta Kappa Gamma, and the Genesee County Library Board. She retired as a Professor Emeritus in 1975. Shortly before her retirement, Dr. Wyatt wrote:

What has brought us together as students and faculty in our University of Michigan- Flint College has been an abiding faith in education. We have all been seekers after knowledge: of ourselves, of the world about us, and of the ideas and ideals that have stirred and enriched mankind… For the true object of a college education is not to learn all that one will ever want to know but to acquire the ideas, habits, and methods needed in the continuous process of educating oneself during the years to come.

The Department of History at the University of Michigan-Flint is proud to be the heir of that spirit and philosophy. We believe that the Wyatt Exploration Program and other opportunities provided by Dr. Wyatt’s generosity will be a fitting testament to the life of this fine teacher, scholar, and advocate.

For 2017-2018, we focused exclusively on one city, Washington DC. As we explored our theme, The Nation’s Seat of History, we attempted to complicate the often one-dimensional perception Americans have of the District. Consisting much more than sound bites by political pundits or a handful of white marble monuments, we offered students a number of different ways to understand the complicated history our nation’s capital.

Our speaker series featured the ways political history unfolded in the middle of the twentieth century. David Johnson joined us on campus in October to share some details from his award winning book, “The Lavender Scare.” Johnson work informed students of a critical moment in American political history, as well as his contributions to understanding LGBTQ history in Washington DC. As the city with numerous public history institutions, James Smithers, director of Grand Valley States University’s Veterans History Project shared his oral history research and its relationship to the Library of Congress. Much of Washington DC’s history is in the people who live and work there. Our final speaker was photographer, writer, film documentary producer, social justice activist and native Washingtonian, Phil Portlock. Following a screening of his documentary F-Street, the discussed how F Street has held its own for nearly 200 years as the tide of commerce has ebbed and flowed.

On the last day of April 2018, six students and Dr. Thomas Henthorn departed for Washington DC. Following themes such as local and regional history, African-American History, urban history, LGBTQ History and Public History we covered every cor-ner of the city. Some days were spent exploring many of the District’s historic neighborhoods. Our lodgings were nestled on the edge of the Logan Circle neighborhood where its historic four-story townhomes lined the narrow streets. From here, we explored nearby Georgetown which was just a short bike ride away. To the northeast was the Shaw neighborhood with iconic eatery, Ben’s Chilli Bowl. We dedicated a full day to neighborhood walking tours of the Capitol Hill and Dupont Circle neighborhoods lead by volunteers from

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A look back...Washington D.C.

Nation’s Seat in History

the Rainbow History Project who illuminated aspects of the city’s LGBTQ history. We spent an entire day in Anacostia, a historic African-American neighborhood in the District and home to the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site.

As a city renowned for its public history institutions, we made sure to make stops at some of the most well-known. Dr. Kathleen Franz took us on a behind the scenes tour of the Smithsonian Museum of American History to explain how the museum handles its vast collections. We made a stop by the Library of Congress to speak with staff from the American Folklife Center. There we delivered oral histories taken of veterans from Flint, Michigan to be stored at the Library’s Veterans History Project. Among the public history sites are the several historic homes in the District such as Tudor House in Georgetown - one of the first structures in America elevated to National Landmark status. Arlington House, overlooks Arlington National Cemetery and offers one of the most starling views of the capitol. Perhaps the most visible of public historic sites in the District is the National Mall. We traverse the sprawling green space filled with monuments and museums by bike at sundown and seeing the varied bike riding abilities of students was as enjoyable as the monuments lighting up the night sky.

The cemeteries of Washington DC hold as much history as the neighborhoods and museums. At our visit to Arlington National Cemetery we ran into another group from Flint. Congressional Cemetery was once on the list of America’s most endangered historic sites. Today, it hosts thousands of visitors and is a regular meeting place for neighborhood dog owners who need to give their four-legged family members some exercise. Students especially enjoyed a visit to Oak Hill

Cemetery in Georgetown where the groomed landscape was punctuated by monuments designed by some of the nations most prominent memorial architects.

It was a pleasure to spend time with such a fine group of students. I am looking forward to next time I am able to lead a group to the nation’s seat of history.

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University of Michigan-FlintDepartment of History

260 French Hall303 E. Kearsley StreetFlint, MI 48502-1950

Phone: (810) 762-3366

www.umflint.edu/history