Title: Rise of Imperial Japan

Developed for and by:

Honors World History

Mount Juliet High School

Mount Juliet, TN

Mrs. Amy Wilken

Time Allotted: Three 50 minute block classes

Materials needed: background knowledge of the consequences of Treaty of Versailles, computers, and internet.

Standard Addressed in this lesson:

W.39 Use technology to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing projects describing how economic instability in many parts of the world helped give rise to dictatorial regimes such as Adolf Hitler’s in Germany and the military’s in Japan.

W.49 Utilize primary and secondary sources to describe the contributions and roles of leaders during the war, including Hideki Tojo.

Objectives: After completion of this lesson students will be able to:

  1. Describe the reasons why the military took over Japan’s government
  2. Know the role of Hideki Tojo
  3. Show an understanding of the impact of the take over.
  4. Complete a timeline of events that took place in Japan under the military’s control
  5. Create a newspaper to show mastery of the standard.

Procedures:

  1. Briefly discuss the Treaty of Versailles (if available, show the end of the DVD World Wars part one made by the History Channel.)
  2. Locate Japan on a map, discuss the size and the possible products it may producefrom natural resources.
  3. Have students then look at a map to show the major natural resources Japan has and what they lack. This should give them good background information about the rise of Imperial Japan.
  4. Have a class discussion on how geography plays a role in how independent a country can be. Try to get students to understand the relationship between Japan’s natural resources and expansion of Japanese Imperialism and World War II in Asia.
  5. Have students read different sources pertaining to the rise of Imperial Japan, including articles on Hideki Tojo, U.S foreign policy, and the rise of Imperial Japan.
  6. Students will be responsible for creating a newspaper to show mastery of the materials read, discussed, and researched. (rubric should be given to help guide them)

Evaluation:

Students will create a newspaper to show their mastery of the standards. The newspaper should include the following information;

  1. A mock interview section with Hideki Tojo - students should pretend to have interviewed him to get a better understanding of why he became the leader of Japan. It should show that the students have analyzed different sources to get a better understanding of who he was and what he did.
  2. An advertisement section about Japanese joining the military
  3. Political Cartoon - create a cartoon expressing the take over
  4. Map - describing natural resources of Japan and surrounding countries.
  5. An editorial - students should write their opinion on why military leaders wanted to create Imperial Japanand their reasoning behind the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
  6. A few articles (teacher discretion) on Japan and the rise of Tojo, Imperial Japan, and the impacts it had on the rest of the world.

Use a rubric to score the student’s work. To help better their understanding of the material newspapers should include not only the writings, but pictures as well.Teachers should pay close attention to the students’ understanding of the economic turmoil in Japan and how it led to Imperial Japan.

Resources:

[The World Wars, DVD, History Channel - Disc One]This portion of the documentary occurs before the rise of Hitler. Provides information about Japanese discontent because of the Treaty of Versailles. DVDs are available through retail outlets such as Walmart and Amazon and you may also find digital versions through Apple iTunes and Amazon Prime Video.

East Asia in Geographic Perspective: Maps of Japan.

This website gives great views of maps for students to gain better understanding of Japan’s geography and the role it played in creating Imperial Japan.

History Channel, this day in history, Tojo makes himself “military czar”

This website gives a brief description on the rise of Tojo.

Asia for Educators. Japan’s Quest for Power and WWII in Asia.

A good overview for students to read about Japan before the military took over, why the military decided to take over the government, and the attack on Pearl Harbor. This also gives great questions for students to reflect upon after the readings. Analyzing this information will give students a better opportunity to show mastery in constructing their newspaper.

History Channel, Imperial Japan, WWII History

This website provides a brief summary on why Japan turned to its military during theWorld Depression.

How U.S. Economic Warfare Provoked Japan’s Attack on Pearl Harbor. Robert Higgs.

An opinion based article on how the United States and FDR provoked Japan into bombing Pearl Harbor. Gives students another perspective that the history books don’t give them. May allow for some debate to occur.

Imperial Japan. East Asia History for Kids.

Great website forenhancing students’ grasp of why the military was able to take over Japan and the impact on the country.

RubriStar - a free website for teachers to create rubrics for projects and presentations.