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
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.
Western influence played a significant role in the downfall of the Shogunate. The arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853 and the signing of the ‘unequal treaties’ lead to further discontent in Japan’s Feudal Structure and rebellions against the government. Although in the lead up to the arrival of Perry, there were already problems within the Feudal structure of Japan, it was the response of the Shogunate to Western influence that ultimately lead to an alliance, which sped up the downfall of the Shogunate. Internal Changes Issues within the Feudal structure of Japan were already occurring, even with the support of their 200 years of peace, which eventually played a role in the downfall of the Tokugawa shogunate. Internal changes were already
...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 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.
After a long period of isolationism, China and Japan were pressured to open trade and have foreign relations with the West in the nineteenth century. During the late 1800’s the Industrial Revolution created a huge gap between the Western and Eastern powers, which left China and Japan in a military and technological disadvantage (Fruhstuck, Lecture). Initially, China and Japan closed their doors to the West because they were both self sustaining nations, did not like foreign influences, and believed that their society was superior to the West. They both tried to resist foreign influences by keeping their interaction with the West to a minimum, but they were no match for Western technology and eventually they each had to sign unequal treaties that favored the Western powers (Craig & Reischauer, 1978). However, China and Japan’s reactions to the treaties that forced them to open their trading ports for foreigners were very different; China rejected Westernization while Japan accepted it (Lockwood, 1956).
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.
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).
Learn all you can from the Europeans and Americans"2 was what Emperor Meiji was speaking to the Japanese in 1867. During this period, Japan agreed. to change its hereditary authority and class barriers between its people. Japan also opened their ports during this period 4 and sold fuel to other countries such as the US.5 The Japanese language took a major turn, too. with the addition of borrowed words from all over the world.6 Japan borrowed the American education system of elementary, middle school and universities during this time.7 A new western style army and universal military conscription program was soon set up by General Yamagata Autamo.
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...
In the mid-nineteenth century, the Tokugawa system that had successfully reigned over Japan for over two hundred years was beginning to feel the internal and external pressures of a modern world; ultimately calling for a renewal of the world order (Yonaoshi) (Wilson, 59). That calling came when a series of black ships led by Commodore Perry landed off the port of Uraga on July 8, 1853. After over two centuries of seclusion, Japan was being pried open by Western forces, who though were in search of setting up trading posts in Japan, indirectly served as the catalyst that set off the series of events that helped Japan transcend its fixed and permanent system, into the modern era that was characterized by rapid political, economic, social and cultural change (Wilson, 52-53).
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
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.