An American Historian in Japan

Lynn Dumenil

In October 1997, I participated in the first year of the OAH's and Japanese American Studies Association's Residency program for American historians. For two weeks I was affiliated with International Christian University, whose beautiful campus is located in a suburb of Tokyo. Somewhat similar to a U.S. liberal arts college, ICU proved an especially good match for me as I teach at Occidental College in Los Angeles. The residency program provides a welcome contrast to giving guest lectures, where the visitor zooms in and zooms out, barely having an opportunity to engage in her surroundings. At ICU, I participated in an American Studies course taught by one of my hosts, Professor Naoki Onishi. The class text was the Norton Anthology of American Literature, and I integrated my three lectures to their readings. Spreading my lectures out over the course of my stay enabled to me to adjust my presentations to my students and gave them the opportunity to get used to my interactive lecture style. I enjoyed their comparative perspectives and remember particularly students' interest in the topic, "The 1950s and the Male Mystique." In response to my comments about The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit, one young man explained to me that the parallels for contemporary Japan were striking, except that the "salaryman's" suit was blue.

As interesting as I found the experience at ICU, I was also appreciative of the opportunity to visit other Tokyo campuses. My husband, Norman S. Cohen, who is also a U.S. historian, joined me in a shared seminar on "Multicultural Perspectives on the 1920s" at the American Studies Center at the University of Tokyo, where we immensely enjoyed the ensuing discussion with graduate students and professors. Especially rewarding was an afternoon spent at Tsuda College. After a lecture to a large group of undergraduates, Norman and I met with Professor Fumiko Fujita's graduate students and some of her American Studies colleagues to explore trends in recent social history. The students then shared with us their research interests. We were impressed with all the graduate students we encountered in Tokyo. Their command of the literature in their field was excellent and they seemed exceptionally open and enthusiastic.

In the planning stages of the trip, I had concentrated on preparing for specific lectures and seminars, but what I had not clearly anticipated was how important the extracurricular activities would be. Our hosts were very generous with their time and resources. The students at ICU staged a wonderful going-away party for us and there were numerous other memorable meals with faculty from various institutions. The food was terrific, but not as wonderful as the conversations where we talked about our respective research interests (including Professor Onishi's work on the mythology connected to Plymouth plantation and the celebration of Thanksgiving and Professor Fujita's on American engineers employed in Japan's northern frontier, Hokkaido, in the late nineteenth century).

While history and American Studies was the focus of my trip to Japan and my classroom activities kept me quite busy, I am happy to report that the structure of the residency is flexible enough to include some time for exploring and traveling. Although Norman and I could never manage to get up early enough to make it to the famous Tokyo fish market in time to see all the action, as dedicated food hounds, we did visit the area, where we had our best sushi of the trip.

We also traveled further afield. Professor Ken Kondo, one of our hosts at ICU, helped us make the arrangements for two weekend trips. We had two unforgettable days in Kyoto, a charming city whose shrines, gardens, and temples, embody so much of "old" Japan. Our second weekend was more dramatic. We took a bullet train to Hiroshima and spent an afternoon exploring the museum there. The wall text in English was eloquent, but balanced. In keeping with the overall message of "peace,"in addition to its major focus on the American bomb that shattered the city on 6 August 1945, it also detailed Japan's aggression in the Far East. The museum provided an excellent opportunity for ruminating about how history is packaged for public consumption and speculating about the similar and different ways in which visitors from all over the world might "read" the Hiroshima story.

If this account borders on the genre of "How I Spent My Summer Vacation," it's because it is so hard to convey the intangible rewards of teaching American history abroad. While I hope, of course, that I offered valuable insights to scholars and students in Japan, I am mostly aware of how much I benefitted from the experience. The OAH/Japanese American Studies residency program provided an excellent opportunity for me to hone my skill at conveying American history and to gain new insights drawn from international perspectives.

Lynn Dumenil is Robert Glass Cleland Professor of American History at Occidental College.