 Hi again everybody, I'm Dr. Christopher Grittice, I'm the historian of Japan here in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures. One of the modules that I teach each term to every year is Modern Japan. It's a lecture-based class with a discussion-centered tutorials that are aimed to help you better understand the period in Japanese history when Japan became a modern empire. Together we'll explore the social and political contexts of modernization and industrialization alongside the establishment of Japan's overseas empire. The first and second Japanese Sino-War, also known as the Pacific War or the World War II, all the way up to the rapid economic growth that followed the end of the war in 1945. It's a lot of reading, but you're going to be asked to consider film and fiction alongside historical narrative in order to help you better understand the transformations of Japan that occurred during the 20th century.