Japanese 353 - Japan Through Its Afflictions

This course explores how illness, medicine, and healing have been understood and represented in Japan over the past millennium, offering valuable perspectives on the meaning and treatment of illness in other "modern" and "modernizing" societies. Topics considered include the impact of Chinese medicine and medical learning in early Japan, the development of indigenous medicine, the transformation of Japanese notions of illness and wellness through contact and exchange with foreign (and particularly Western) societies, and contemporary challenges facing the Japanese healthcare system (including alcoholism, geriatric diseases, and COVID).