Modern World History Fall 2001
Study Questions on The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa, revised translation by Eiichi Kiyooka (New York: Columbia University Press, 1966).
This book is the autobiography of one of Japan's great reform educators. Fukuzawa (his last name) lived through some of the most important events in modern Japanese history, and his autobiography describes what life was like for a Japanese interested in the "West" before and after the Meijii Restoration.
Be sure to read the Forward (pages v-xv) before beginning the rest of the book. It will give you more background on Fukuzawa.
There will be many names and events mentioned in this book that you may not know. Be sure to look at the NOTES in the back of the book (pages 337-371), which will give you useful "extra" background information. The notes are listed by page (in bold Roman numerals) and by note numbers (in small type).
The book also has two useful appendixes.
Appendix I (pages 373-389) is a chronological table that tell you what was happening in Fukuzawa's life and what was happening in history in general year-by-year.
Appendix II is one of Fukuzawa's most famous essays, "Encouragement of Learning," in which he stresses that the Japanese can and must learn more by studying "the West."
This is an autobiography, not a diary. Fukuzawa wrote this as an old man, looking back at his life. His book can tell us a lot about the times in which he lived, but we also have to remember that he was trying to convince us as readers that we should understand the events he lived through in a certain way--the way that he understands them.
As you read this book, ask yourself the following questions (one of these questions will be on Exam Two):
How does the Autobiography demonstrate changes in Japanese attitudes towards the West between the 1850s and the 1890s?
How does the Autobiography demonstrate the transformation of Japan's caste system to a more "open" social structure?
How does the Autobiography demonstrate the incorporation into Japanese life of European ideas about politics, society, and the economy?