The Progress of Japan’s Modernization
(westernization/modernization; Russo-Japanese War, unequal treaties, Aizawa Seishisai) Since the Bakumatsu period, some intellectuals realized that the Bakufu had to build a strong military to strengthen the country, defend from the Western imperialism, and avoid colonization. However, the Bakufu continued to adopt Sakoku to close the country, and ordered to repeal the “barbarians”. Until Matthew Perry from the United States arrived in Japan in 1853 and forced the Bakufu to sign the unequal treaty to open the ports, the Japanese civilians experienced the Western advanced military and weapons. Therefore, the Japanese samurai and intellectuals started to promote modernization in Japan, to strengthen the
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In the Tokugawa period, some intellectuals had already noticed the threat of Western imperialism, such as Aizawa Seishisai. Aizawa wrote the “New Thesis” in 1825 and mentioned that the powerful military forces of the West made the West be superior, which encouraged the expansion of imperialism of the West. Thus, Aizawa suggested the Bakufu abolish Sankin Kotai and open the country, to strengthen itself. However, the Bakufu continued to adopt Sakoku to close the country and ordered to repeal the barbarians in 1825, which interrupted most of the connections with the West, except the Nagasaki port. In the Tokugawa period, the Bakufu did not have the idea of “modernization” to strengthen itself until the invasion of Western imperialism. In 1853, Matthew Perry from the U.S. arrived in Japan and forced the Bakufu to sign the unequal treaty, the Treaty of Kanagawa, to open the country by the “Gunboat” Diplomacy in 1854. Since then, in order to open the country and engage the world to strengthen the country, the Tozama Daimyo of Choshu, Satsuma, Tosa, and the dappan ronin, such as Sakamoto Ryoma, formed new imperial forces to defeat the Bakufu and established a new Meiji government in …show more content…
In the Meiji period, the government treated the West as “modernization” and “civilization” because of the idea of “systems of representation”, which normally comes out a set of urban equals to developed, developed equals to “western”; in contrast, non-industrial equals to rural, rural equals to under-developed, under-developed equals to “non-western”. Therefore, the Meiji government treated “modernization” as “westernization”, and followed the idea of “Goodbye Asia (Datsu-a)” from Fukuzawa Yukichi of an anonymous “Pan-Asianism” editorial in 1885, that encouraged Japan to leave from the “barbarians” of China and Korea, and enter the civilized West, to carry out the civilization movement (bummei kaika) in the Meiji Restoration. The Meiji government also carried out the Iwakura Mission in 1871, to send the government leaders to the U.S. and Europe and study the Western system, in order to transform the politics, society, economy, and culture of Japan, to achieve the goal of “modernization”. For example, the political westernization of changing Han system to prefecture system and changing conscription policy. The economic westernization of changing taxation policies which paid with money and based on income, instead of koku and rice-centric economic system, and the industrialization of economic industries, such as textile
To many Japanese and in particular the samurai and daimyo, the Tokugawa appeared weak in how it had responded to the Western pressure to sign the ‘required’ treaties. “In 1867, Tosa, Mito, Choshu and satsuma daimyo allied with each other against the Tokugawa house.” (Woods, SW. (2004). Japan an Illustrated History (1st Edition). Hippocrene books pg. 111). The citizens of Japan wanted the Emperor to restore power over the Shogun, resulting in the sonno joi (revere the sovereign (Emperor), expel the barbarian.) The influence of Western ideas on some samurai caused some to question Tokugawa’s ideas of how to rule Japan, which is how the sonno joi movement began in 1858. Sonno joi was the movement that satsuma and choshu went through to aim to restore the power of the Emperor and bring down the
...tute of Navy and studied military technology. In 1868, a new government was established and made the first constitution refereed by Germany. Unfortunately, after this era, the Japanese started dominating other Asian countries just as the West did before. It was an ironical aspect of Perry’s opening pu of Japan to the world.
The Meiji Restoration was a political revolution during the Meiji Period (1868-1912) that resulted in the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate and restored the control of Japan to the rule of Emperor Meiji, which means enlightened rule (cite). The end of the Tokugawa Shogunate terminated Japan’s isolationist foreign policy known as sakoku (cite) and resulted in a new era of reformist political, economic, ideological and technological development along with westernization
The goals of the Meiji Restoration included dismantling of the old feudal regime and the creation of a nation-state capable of standing equal among Western powers, including the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the Unites States. The leaders of the Meiji Restoration were mostly young samurai motivated by increasing domestic problems and threats of foreign intrusion. Saigō Takamori was also an influential leader in the Meiji Restoration. He was responsible for leading several rebellions against the government in companionship with samurai warriors and peasants who distrusted the new regime. The citizens of Japan were also, arguably, influential leaders of the Meiji restoration. Under their pressure to insist on the creation of a constitutional government, the government formed a Cabinet system in 1885 and in 1886 began developing the Constitution, which would be presented as a gift from the emperor to the people in 1889 and established a bicameral parliament. Revolutionary tactics from the Meiji Restoration included the development of transportation and communication. Railroads were built, telegraphs connecting major cities, and the institution of a European-style banking system developed. We can clearly recognize differences between the revolutionary tactics of the Meiji Restoration to those in the Mexican Revolution and those in the
In the late 19th century, Japan and Germany each developed into powerful, imperial countries as a result of modernizing and transforming into a manufacturing based society. The manufacturing industry is most favorable for a society because it “promotes the general welfare, increases population, public revenue, and the power of the country.” (List, 9). The people who benefitted most from the rapid industrialization and modernization were the owners of capital at the top of the political hierarchy and the Industrial Middle Class. By turning away from the feudal, agricultural based society to a manufacturing based society Japan and Germany were enabled to efficiently “extend [their] influence to all parts of the world.” (List,9). One reason for Japan and Germany’s rapid industrialization was the active role played by their governments who promoted and guided change. Each country used their powerful military to be recognized as a dominant force in the markets which as a result encouraged industrialization, however, the initial motives for industrialization in japan and Germany differed due to the pre-existing conditions in each country.
Japan's Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji Period. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1985. Print. The. Hall, John. The Whitney.
When the American Commodore Perry arrived and forced the Japanese to open up trading with the Americans in 1853 it caused a massive shift in the way Japan was run. The shogun could not deal with the looming threat and began a campaign of anti-foreignism “’Toi!’ (Expel the Barbarians!)” . The shogun eventually capitulated and began to allow foreign ships into Japan; this sparked the anti-foreign element, created by the shogun, to remove the shogun and reinstate the Emperor into power: “’Sonno’ (Revere the Emperor) was added to their mantra of ‘Toi’ to represent the old system where the Emperor was like a god. The Emperor took power back into his hands and renamed himself Meiji meaning “Enlightened Rule.” However, the Emperor did not expel the ‘barbarians’, instead he saw them as a method of creating a better Japan and began a campaign known as the ‘Meiji Restoration’ to modernize the nation. Japan needed to modernize because the western countries had forced the Tokugawa shogunate to sign unfair treaties that greatly favoured the western countries, notably the United States of America, Russia, Great Britain and France . One of the key events of the Meiji Restoration was the decline and fall of the samurai class in Japan. This essay intends to show the reasons for the decline of the samurai at the beginning of the Empire of Japan through the policies enacted during the Meiji Restoration. This will be shown through the military, cultural, political and social reforms enacted by the Japanese government.
In the early 1800’s, Japan had blocked off all trade from other countries. Foreign whaling ships could not even reload or repair their ships in Japan territory. This offended many other countries. In 1852, Matthew Perry was sent to Japan to negotiate open trade. Japan felt threatened by the United States, and gave in to their demands. Japan was frightened by their stipulations, and immediately began to reform. They developed a new education system that was similar to America and Europe’s. They also developed a Western style judiciary system.
To fortify their nations, Japan and the Ottoman Empire underwent modernization and reformations between 1850 and 1914. At the start of the reforms both regions efforts at modernization were defensive, and both regions adopted Western elements into their society. Nonetheless, Japan worked to become a more industrialized nation, dissimilar to the Ottoman Empire, which was unable to create an industrial economy or strong state. Differences are also apparent during this modernization where women in the Ottoman Empire experienced greater opportunities than women in Japan who were suppressed in both public and political life. The efforts made in modernizing and creating reforms during the nineteenth century were defensive in both regions.
In 1868, after more than two centuries of self-imposed isolation, Japan finally begun to emerge into the modern world. The beginning of the 16th century saw the Tokugawa family awarded military control of Japan, and the introduction of an isolation policy on their behalf. During this period, starting in the 1630s and ending with the arrival of Matthew Perry in 1853, Japan had extremely limited contact with the outside world. Japanese culture and Japan’s internal economy continued to develop, however, almost completely without foreign influence. After reopening its borders to the rest of the world in 1868, the nation entered a period of rapid modernisation, drawing in technological, cultural, military and educational influences from other countries around the world. The Tokugawa family’s isolation policy had a moderate effect on the modernisation of Japan. The isolation policy had allowed Japan to progress beyond localised warfare, establishing trade and communication routes between previously disconnected localities, and together with the the 250 years of peace enabled by Tokugawa rule, allowed Japan’s continuous development throughout this period. The Tokugawa family’s isolation policy prevented foreign influence, however, separating the country even further from the West. Japan’s modernisation after this period saw the introduction of a bureaucratic government, improvements to their transport system, further improvements to their industrial sector upon those already made during Tokugawa rule, and the implementation of a powerful military. This military along with other things, led the Japanese down the path of rapid international expansion and colonisation (Pyle, 2006).
as well.8 The Meiji period was an important part of Japan's changing western ways. After World War II, Japan changed forever. With the Atomic bomb physically destroying their cities, and their defeat destroying their. imperialistic mentality, Japan was deeply wounded. Japan lost the respect of the world during the war and few people felt sorry for them....
Japan had always been an ally of the United States. Japan tried to collect their share of treasure from Versailles. Japan ran into some troubles, Woodrow Wilson. Wilson rejected Japan’s claim to German concessions in Shantung. Duan Qirui, a Chinese warlord and politician had borrowed money from Japan to make China’s army stronger. Japan used that loan and wanted it to be repaid by getting the concessions in Shantung. In 1921, at the Naval Conference the US pressured the Britain’s to end their 20 year alliance with the Japanese. Japan was now isolated, Stalin’s unhappy empire to the north, t...
Though it seems that it was the Western influence that set off this revolutionary change, a more scrutinizing look into Japanese society at the time reveals that Japan was in fact on the brink of supplanting the fixed, hierarchical Tokugawa order for one that was better suited for its fast evolving, capitalistic society. As historian David Lu states, “Our people began to discover [modern civilization’s] utility and gradually and yet actively moved towards its acceptance. However, there was an old fashioned and bloated government that stood in the way of progress.” (Lu, 351). Therefore in a way we can view the intrusion of Western powers in Japan on that infamous July day in 1853 as an event that occurred during a time when Japan was ready for a world renewal, and not a direct and complete cause of modernization of Japan; in fact it was Japan’s revaluation of modernization and what it meant to be Japanese amidst strong western influences that eventually ...
Imperialism has not only influenced colonial territories to better themselves or to further the mother country’s realm of power, it also had a significant impact on the people’s culture, education, environment, and political systems. Japan and Britain were two imperial systems that countered each other in many facets but also had strikingly similar qualities that had helped them become strong imperial powers that needed one another to continue their position amongst others. The Japanese empire was an inspirational country to other Asians that spearheaded the fight against the European imperialism. After the Meiji restoration, the emperors decided that the modernization of Japan was going to begin and in order for it to be a success, the government had to change along with their culture, “.restored authority faced new dangers in a new age.
...high power status, Japan had to have a self-reliant industrial common ground and be able to move all human and material resources (S,195). Through the Shogun Revolution of 1868, the abolition of Feudalism in 1871, the activation of the national army in 1873, and the assembly of parliament in 1889, the political system of Japan became westernized (Q,3). Local Labor and commercial assistance from the United States and Europe allowed Japan’s industry to bloom into a developed, modern, industrial nation (Q,3). As a consequence production surplus, and food shortage followed (Q,3). Because of how much it relied on aid of western powers, Japan’s strategic position became especially weak. In an attempt to break off slightly from the aid of the west Japanese leaders believed that it would be essential for Japan to expand beyond its borders to obtain necessary raw materials.