Professor Hirano is very knowledgeable about the material and an excellent lecturer. The class consisted of two weekly lectures and a discussion. There were reflections due before every lecture graded for completion, two graded papers, and no exam. The class was structured thematically rather than chronologically, which was a fresh way to learn history. I would definitely recommend this class to anyone, whether you're looking for a GE, trying to satisfy a major requirement, or just want to learn about Japanese history!

I took Professor Hirano for a seminar class in which we all pursued our own research topic and were pretty much independently working. Because of this individualized style of a course, I didn't really get a chance to see him lecture. However, Hirano was incredibly helpful and informative in our projects and would always provide useful guidance for how we could better tailor our research to fit our interests. Meeting with him individually, he would recommend historical works, important figures, and more to assist in our search for information. And we would also present our projects and ask questions about others' projects as a group, which facilitated interaction and learning between students, despite the course being more self-guided.
My only disappointment with the course was that we didn't get feedback on our final papers, and just got grades. I'd have liked to receive suggestions/comments/critiques on my work to know where there's room for improvement. But otherwise, it was a great course.

This class is great! There are two 5-6 (double spaced) page papers, and 2 assignments per week (graded for completion). If you have good time management you'll be fine, but it'll be tough if you don't, as there can sometimes be 100+ pages of reading in a week. The class is manageable if you pay attention in lectures and do the readings, it will be hard to write the essays if you don't. Lectures were interesting and covered a lot of different anti-colonial thinkers. Overall, I really enjoyed the class and the material, but it might be a little tougher than other History GEs.

Professor Hirano is a wonderful professor. His classes are focused on "themes" rather than dates, so there's not much need for memorization or anything like that. You're good as long as you understand the main concepts. There's about 40 pages of reading per week, but as long as you understand the main gist of the readings, you'll be okay. There's a weekly assignment where you need to write like a 1 page paper about the readings for that week, but it's not bad. Make sure you attend your discussions. You will get docked points for not going. Also make sure to attend the lectures. If you don't attend the lectures, you will have a much harder time understanding the readings.

I'm not a huge fan of history classes, but Professor Hirano made his class super interesting. He doesn't just go on and on about history facts---he focuses on what lessons we can learn from history. He wants students to learn about why incidents like the East Tokyo Great Earthquake of 2011 were important (ex: it wasn't just an earthquake, it was a nuclear disaster that revealed the fallacies/hypocrisy of the Japanese government.) He's also very fun to talk to during office hours. The conversations you have with him will broaden your understanding of the world, for real. Would highly recommend as a GE.

Professor was very understanding throughout the entire course. During our quarter, we were supposed to submit an in person midterm (essay) and a final that would make up the bulk of our grade. However, with the strikes going on that quarter, the midterm essay was essentially waived for us. Because of this, it's hard to determine how easy or hard the class typically is, but from the lectures and discussions, it seems that as long as you put sufficient effort in you should get the grade you want. There is a good amount of reading in the class however, but as long as you get the main ideas of the texts, you should be ok.

Prof. Hirano was a great professor for a GE class. He formats this class based on "themes" rather than the usual history class (no memorizing dates, no memorizing historical figures). I also liked how he ended his class with current issues in Japan (eg. Nuclear Power). Especially with the protests going on throughout this quarter, Prof. Hirano was very flexible and understanding of our situation (and of the TAs striking). I am not sure how a usual quarter would have been with him (the format of midterm/final changed a lot for us), but if you put in a okay amount of work I think you will be able to do well in this class.

Prof. Hirano was a great professor for a GE class. He formats this class based on "themes" rather than the usual history class (no memorizing dates, no memorizing historical figures). I also liked how he ended his class with current issues in Japan (eg. Nuclear Power). Especially with the protests going on throughout this quarter, Prof. Hirano was very flexible and understanding of our situation (and of the TAs striking). I am not sure how a usual quarter would have been with him (the format of midterm/final changed a lot for us), but if you put in a okay amount of work I think you will be able to do well in this class.

Hirano was a great lecturer, the workload was so manageable (short 1 page paper due every week in discussion, and papers due as the midterm and final). Obviously if you don't love reading & writing, this probably is not the course for you. However, if those are your strong-suits, the course material was very interesting and the class was not hard at all.

One of the best classes I've ever taken here at UCLA. Hirano is an amazing lecturer and my TA was just as great at discussing the course material. The class was graded with two papers, and weekly assignments that are mainly used to think about the readings, alongside attendance. Whatever the workload may be, it is 100% worth it. The detail and stories that Hirano goes into will want to make you do the readings; this was one of the classes I've put full effort into reading every page because the sources and lectures were amazing. Highly recommend.

Pretty easy class, but all history courses grade essays harshly. Felt difficult to get an A, as the TAs loved to give out Bs and B+s on essays. The workload and content are pretty low, and the class is not bad for a GE, but there are easier and more interesting options. Not an easy A, but an easy A-, if that's what you're looking for.