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The Meiji Restoration of 19th-century Japan essays
The Meiji Restoration of 19th-century Japan essays
The Meiji Restoration of 19th-century Japan essays
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Before the Meiji era, Japan experienced rule by the Tokugawa shogunate in the Edo era. The Tokugawa shogunate did not allow other nations into Japan because “they had opened Japan to ‘corruption’ by the ideas of Christianity” (Beasley 22). However, the arrival of the American commander, Commodore Matthew C. Perry in the port of Edo changed Japan forever. “The advent of the Western powers thoroughly dislodged the Tokugawa international order. In March 1854, Japan concluded with the United States the ‘Treaty of Amity’ and, in July 1858, the ‘Treaty of Amity and Commerce’” (Zachmann 12). Japan was forced to sign the treaty, which opened the floodgates for other nations such as Britain and Russia to impose unequal treaties on Japan. This marked the end of feudalism in Japan, and the beginning of the Meiji era and imperialism.
Meiji expansion happened so rapidly that it led scholars to wonder whether imperialism was based on preordained design or on Japan’s reaction to these events as they happened. Was Meiji imperialism the result of long-time planning or a reaction to various unexpected happenings? After examining the debate between qualified scholars in the history of Japan, the unplanned theory best exemplified Meiji imperialism.
Bonnie B. Oh was one scholar that argued that the Meiji expansion was phenomenally rapid. Oh explained that the brief forty-four-year Meiji period “increased Japanese territorial holdings from less than 142,000 square miles of the four main islands to over 242,000 square miles, an increase of more than one and a half times. The colonies of Taiwan and Korea added some 15 million to a Japanese population which was already growing rapidly to almost 50 million by the end of the Meiji period” (Wray 125).
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....G. The Rise of Modern Japan. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990. Print.
Conroy, Hilary and Peter Shin. “[untitled].” The Inernational History Review 16.1
(1994): 159-161. Print. 6 pars. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.
Hirobumi, Ito et al. “Treaty of Shimonoseki: April 17, 1895.” International.ucla.edu.
UCLA Center for East Asian Studies, 29 May. 2008. Web. 10 Mar, 2010.
< http://www.international.ucla.edu/eas/documents/1895shimonoseki-treaty.htm>
Hunter, Janet. The Emergence of Modern Japan: An Introductory History since 1853.
London: Longman Group UK Limited, 1989. Print.
Wray, Harry and Hilary Conroy, ed. Japan Examined: Perspectives on Modern Japanese
History. Honolulu: Hawaii UP, 1983. Print.
Zachmann, Urs. China and Japan in the Late Meiji Period – China policy and the
Japanese discourse on national identity, 1895-1904. New York: Routledge, 2009.
Print.
Japan led a ruthless assault in the Pacific for fifteen years. This small island was able to spread imperialism and terror to neighboring countries through means of force and brutality. Japan even attempted to combat and overcome European and Western countries such as Russia and the United States. Even with an extreme militaristic government, Japan was unable to achieve the glory it was promised and hoped for. The Pacific War analyzes Japan’s part in the war and what the country could have done to prevent such a tragedy.
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.
“By 1870, 90% of Japan’s international trade was controlled by Westerners living in Japan.” (Woods, SW. (2004). Japan an Illustrated History (1st Edition). Hippocrene books pg. 111).
Japanese aggression originated in the fall of 1931 when the explosion of a section of the South Manchurian Railway in northern China occurred, causing Japan’s Kwangtung Army, who was guarding the railroad, to exchange fire with the Chinese Army and then proceed to occupy all of Manchuria. Soon after, the Kwangtung Army set up a puppet government and renamed the region Manchukuo. The Chinese Army claimed that the Japanese purposely blew up part of the railroad to initiate a confrontation and therefore a reason to occupy Manchuria.2 Later, in 1937, Japan decided to go ahead with plans to further invade China, and conquered most of the northern and eastern regions within a year. This was later t...
Feifer, George. Breaking Open Japan: Commodore Perry, Lord Abe, and American Imperialism in 1853. New York: Smithsonian Books/Collins, 2006. pp. xx, 389 p.: ill., maps; 24 cm. ISBN: 0060884320 (hardcover: alk. paper). Format: Book. Subjects: Japan Foreign relations United States /United States Foreign relations Japan.
In the middle of the 19th century, despite a few similarities between the initial responses of China and Japan to the West, they later diverged; which ultimately affected and influenced the modernizing development of both countries. At first, both of the Asian nations rejected the ideas which the West had brought upon them, and therefore went through a time period of self-imposed isolation. However, the demands that were soon set by Western imperialism forced them, though in different ways, to reconsider. And, by the end of the 19th century both China and Japan had introduced ‘westernizing’ reforms. China’s aim was to use modern means to retain and preserve their traditional Confucian culture. Whereas Japan, on the other hand, began to successfully mimic Western technology as it pursued modernization, and thus underwent an astounding social upheaval. Hence, by the year 1920, Japan was recognized as one of the world’s superpowers, whereas China was on the edge of anarchy.
The Discourse acts as a forum for the exploration of the political pathways that Japan could follow following the Meiji Restoration in 1868. At a time when Japan had just begun to consolidate herself, Chomin’s Discourse was aimed at discussing Japan’s long-term trajectory through three imaginary mouthpieces, ‘The Gentleman of Western Learning’, his opposition ‘The Champion of the East’, whose debate is being observed and arbitrated by a ‘Master Nankai’.
21 Pitts, Forrest R., Japan. p. 113. -. 22. Davidson, Judith. Japan- Where East Meets West, p. 107.
middle of paper ... ... In conclusion, Japan tried to isolate themselves, and China tried to compete with them, using their land, and excess population. Documents one through ten were all about China, and documents eleven through sixteen were about Japan. Documents one, two, three, and seven talked about whether China was prepared for the European countries, and documents five, six, and nine talked about whether or not China compared to the European countries.
In the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, China at the time confronted impending risk of being parceled and colonized by colonialist powers...
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.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Chinese and Japanese faced much internal conflict, but while China faced a combination of economic setbacks and political weakness, the Japanese were riddled with wars along their countryside. First, the Chinese emperor was too weak in comparison to his bureaucracy, which ended up making most of the decisions for the last Ming dynasty emperor. This was due to the emperor’s realization that having a title as Son of Heaven did not mean he had all the power of the empire. Instead he lived a laid back life where the bureaucrats vied for power and wealth amongst themselves and he merely managed them. Like the Chinese, the Japanese also saw elites battling it out for power, but this time on the battlefield with armies of samurai. These battles put Japan in a period much like the Warring States period in early Chinese history, where families fought and fought for power almost endlessly. The political weakness in China contributed to its economic failure as well. With no force to manage to seas, pirates were free to raid trade ships and villages along the coast line, weakening the Chinese economy that relied on a transport system to supply the country. These two major forces led to China’s fragmentation and eventual takeover by the Manchu. In contrast, the battles happening in Japan were not harmful to the economy as much as they were in China. This is due to the fact that the Japanese daimyos were independent...
Douglas Reynolds, China, 1898-1912: The Xinzheng Revolution and Japan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993.
...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.
Our preliminary class gave a brief, yet detailed outline of major events affecting the East Asian region. Within that class, prompted by our limited geographical knowledge of Asia, we were given a fundamental explanation of the geographical locations of the various events taking place in the region. In subsequent classes, we were introduced to the major wars, political shifts, and economic interests which shaped Japan, China and Korea to what they are today. We examined the paradigm of pre-modern Japanese governance, the Shogunate, and the trained warriors which defended lord and land, Samurai. In addition, we examined the socio-economic classes of Medieval Japan, which included the Samurai, peasants, craftsmen, and the merchants. We also examined pre-1945 Japan’s policies toward foreign entities, notably the Sakoku Policy, which sought to expunge all foreign presence and commerce in an effort to protect its borders and culture. 1945, however, saw ...