Starting with the fall of the Daimyo/Samurai in the Meiji era and ending with the many facets of current-day Japanese society in the Heisei period, this course aims to trace the emergence of modern political, societal, ideological, and technologies that shaped the concept of “Japan” or “Japanese-ness” over the last 150 years. The course will cover each era since 1868, looking at the different ways Japanese society created or maintained power, privilege, oppression, and opportunity. Beginning with the “Steam-Samurai” of the Meiji period, the invention of traditions and the shifting discourses of Kaika (開化) all contributed to forming a newly constructed Japanese identity privileging the “Yamato," which continued into the “mass” culture of the Taisho period. The course will also focus on the imperialism, technocracy, and state-ideology of the early Showa period, as well as the post-war situation of Japanese society during the late Showa. Lastly, this course will end on a discussion of Japan’s global impact in the Heisei Era by looking at the political legacy of their empire, the economic mythology of the “samurai work ethic,” and how the globalization of Japanese media through Film, Jpop, Anime, Games, and Vtubers creates certain ideas about what “Japan” is.