DO NOT TAKE AS A GE. If you have no prior knowledge of japanese history/are not japanese do not take this as a GE course because majority of the people taking it have background knowledge that makes it a lot harder to do well relative. It is ridicoulous for a GE to have this much course work. Weekly quizes in discussion section - three of which are dropped but genuinely they are hard and on two readings per week which can be up to 20 pages each. Then, you have an essay on the readings. And the tests are soooo hard like its crazy. For reference, i went to every single lecture, read every single reading and still stuggled on the tests. They genuinely expect you to memorize over 1000 years of history along with time periods and dates stuff happened. It is not general. The time commitment i put into this class is very similar to the time i put into Econ 11 for context. If you want a chill easy GE this is not it.

This was a pretty easy and straightforward class. An essay (500-700 words) each week over the lecture material. The professor seems to have a genuine interest in the content and is a decent lecturer. Would definitely take to satisfy the GE requirement.

I LOVE PROFESSOR DUTHIE!! he is the sweetest man ever and cares so much about his students like genuinely just want them to succeed. (he also has a cute english accent) this was the first time he did quizzes so it was constantly changing depending on student feedback. the first 3 quizzes were completely doable and the final one was super easy. (i think a lot of people complained to him about how hard the quizzes were). His office hours were on zoom so it was a tiny bit awkward but TA Min was SO NICE!! there was participation for the discussions but as long as you asked 1 question per module you're basically guaranteed full marks:) The paper was not graded harshly at all! I'm pretty sure no one got below a 90%. i learnt a lot from this class too and it was super fun to take! Prof. Duthie does go a little fast and it is a little content heavy but everything was just so enjoyable! He also records all his lectures. The final and midterms were just the papers. (1000 words)
Grade distribution break down:
2 papers - 20%
participation - 10%
small presentation - 10%
4 quizzes - 60% (15% each)
If you have the opportunity to take this class PLEASE DO! (and take it with TA Min:)

the textbook is not needed, don't buy it. the slides are not posted but lectures are all recorded, and if you scrub through them at 2x speed, you should be able to get through all of them pretty efficiently. you do need to either attend the lectures or watch them later though because the tests will be based on them. previous quarters had weekly write-ups, but we didn't because of the potential of students using chatgpt. instead, they were replaced by mcq quizzes--10 questions and 15 points each, with half of the questions being worth 2 pts. the tests are difficult but you get 3 tries (questions change, but there's a finite bank) and there's only 4 of them. the essays are easy. there's two, and i spent like an hour each on them and got an A on both. TA Alex is great, if you get him, your discussions will be fun and engaging. participation matters in that you need to attend discussion sections and give 1 presentation but that's fine. actually the presentation is the most boring part of the discussion, but that's all dependent on your classmates and how good/bad they are at presenting. overall, i loved this class. it was the light of my life during an otherwise boring quarter. 10/10 would take again, wish i legitimately could because i miss it. the material is super interesting too, if you like history.

WARNING: he changed the structure of his class for our semester because he wanted to try something different. We had quizzes every 2 weeks, and 2 essays (one for the final and one for the midterm). No tests. He mentioned in class how he might change it back to his old structure because it was too much stress and time for him to do all the quizzes.

- Quizzes were relatively hard at first, but then it was really easy once you got used to it
1. You get three attempts
2. Answers are in paragraph forms
3. Tests more on how you can take a test rather then the content
4. Multiple choice answers are insanely specific
5. All the answers seem right but one is more like his lecture

- All the answers to his quizzes are straight from his lecture (so you just have to pay attention to that)
- He opened quizzes up for another attempt/would do the quiz with you so you could succeed in the class
- Essays were graded easy

Love professor duthie. Content was lengthy, but relatively interesting. He wanted all his students to succeed, so he purposely will go out of his way to help you with the quizzes and try to help you get an A in his class. Def recommend.

This class is not like previous years like writing 1000 words essay every week. Instead you take a very tricky test every 2 weeks (4 in total). You have to read primary reading every and eventually present on one which is pretty easy. You just talk for 5 minutes with your interpretation. You then have to write an essay about your source which I wrote a pretty bad essay but I got a 9/10. The lectures are very jam packed full of dates and full of information. Personally I did not attend any classes expect one. I simply watched the recording and watched it at my own pace because he can load a lot in. The discussion is mandatory and participation is a grade. There is also a textbook he tells you to read every week but I haven't really found any use for it (personally). My biggest gripe with this class is the quizzes. You get 3 attempts, 1 hour, and open everything (including internet). However he made it anti-cheat meaning he may put wiki answers in and it would be wrong. That's the thing with his quizzes, they ask you a very simple question like "who is __". Then give you 3 large paragraphs for possible answers and there all technically right (unless it has a small date , or piece of information wrong). It's tough because all the answers could possibly be correct. It was only after quiz 2 did the professor make it a bit more obvious but people would still argue otherwise. However the professor is very kind and sympathizes. he has open the quizzes again and given us a curve twice. If you really struggle he is even willing to do the quiz with you in office hours. He's very nice and soft spoken. Overall, the class can be hard at first but if you figure out a system to beat the quizzes you're golden. You could always ask for help, and the professor will be more than glad to help you.

This class was a great GE. The lectures were generally very interesting and Duthie is quite engaging. If you make notes of the key points from each of his lectures and from each period, the midterm and final should be fine. His past papers are a good representation of what you'll get on the final and midterm.

Each week you have one paragraph to write on readings which aren't too hard.

Reading the textbook is useful for getting a good understanding of each period and for studying but it is quite expensive and very hard to find pdf version. If you need one however, contact ********** for cheaper price.

I took this class last minute for a GE as a P/NP. It was easy and I only attended the discussion. My TA gave us study guides for the test, and if you studied that enough your test grade was fine. I had to study a lot for the final (over the period of a day). If I had just attended lectures, no studying, I would have been fine. If you attend the lecture and try even a little bit in the discussion, you could probably get an A.
One thing I did not think about when taking the class, is that I have zero knowledge/understanding of the Japanese language so everything sounded like jibberish to me making memorization way harder. The people in the class with me who knew a bit more of the language found it way easier than I did.

Selling textbook for the class (text me **********) as of Dec. 2018