Nelson Mandela once said, “When people are determined they can overcome anything.” This line helps reveals that an individual must have determination and the spirit to strive, in order to overcome the obstacles. However, things were different for developing countries. As time passed on, development became an essential element for countries in order to progress, in which they could have done anything to overcome difficulties that came in their way. But, certain internal factors played a key role in the lag of development of developing countries. Even the determination like Mandela stated didn’t help these countries to develop until later. Internal factors such as the caste system and traditional Japanese structure were weakness from the countries …show more content…
Japan had a traditional society which gave great importance to powerful military caste. For example, as stated in chapter five in Barrington Moore’s text “Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy,” “Beneath the daimyo was the main body of samurai, or warriors, among whom there were divide variations in power and wealth” (Moore 232). This line by Moore reveals the position of classes that were in Traditional Japanese society. Samurai’s were warriors and they dominated the Japanese government, feudal system of Japan, and early-modern Japan. The samurai’s were trained for military tactics. Where on the other hand, Daimyo were lords who ruled over others and most powerful under the Shogun. Also, it is made clear that these two classes had vast amounts of power since they were the highest class and helped maintain order in Japan. As a result, since Daimyos were so dependent on the merchants and farmers they did not have the ability to move from it since there higher authority didn’t allow it. The merchants did not have any political or legal freedom from the feudal government. As a result, there was no rural society in urban capitalist because of the social classes that wanted to keep their order in society. In addition, as stated in chapter 17, “Culture and Change in the Third World”, the author reveals the change that is brought in the world and the connection …show more content…
For example as stated in the article, “The Confucian Ethic and Economic Growth” by Herman Khan “…Confucian societies uniformly promote in the individual and the family sobriety, a high value on education… A properly trained member of a Confucian culture will be hardworking, responsible, skillful… and creative in helping the group… There is much less emphasis on advancing individual (selfish interests)” (Kahn 78-79). This line reveals that having Confucianism values in traditional Japan reveals how individuals feel about morals, and hierarchical order in society that would prevent development since most Japanese focused more on their government and society. This once again explains that for individuals in traditional society life was all about being with your family in the social class that you belong without any rebellious attitude. As a result, there was less emphasis on becoming successful in one’s own life since the real central idea concerned around society. As a result, of Confucianism caused individuals in Japan to work collectively, for the benefit of the higher authority or people in command such as the samurai’s. As a result, individuals didn’t break away from their class and ahead their way upwards from the traditional system towards freedom and more advancement through the use of technology instead of work being performed by farmers or
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...
The imperial power of the Japanese empire was ruled by the warrior class. By the end of
Japan lasted from 1185-1603. During that time Japan had emperors, shoguns, daimyos, samurai, and peasants who were all apart of a social class, and all together it was called the Samurai Society. The emperor was just a figurehead for the shogun. The shogun was a powerful military leader that ruled in the emperor’s name. Daimyo were powerful landlords. The daimyo often led armies of samurai. These samurai were trained professional warriors who served daimyo and shoguns. The samurai had to follow a certain code of rules for samurai called Bushido. One of their rules included to always have self-discipline to become a good samurai. The samurai warriors wore light armor, helmets (usually shaped like an animal), and had two swords around their waist. Their armor had a lot of detail and color to it, like their unique helmets. After the samurai comes the peasants, which included farmers and fishermen. They usually always work, then pay takes to the shogun. They usually gave the shogun what they earned from working like food or crops. What made their jobs a bit difficult was their topography. Japan’s topography included many mountains, undersea volcanoes, and barely any flat land to farm on. The Japanese didn’t only work they also practiced their religion. For example, they practiced Confucianism, Buddhism (...
Confucianism has a close concern on social reality and strong sense of mission on history that ‘the country management and governess as own responsibility’ (Cline, 2007, pp.231). It refers that a person should keep learning and practice what has learnt to become benevolent and righteous for himself, and help others, manage state affairs as well as protect the peace of country (Confucius, 1994). This is a positive life attitude for human being relates to what called “Dao”. In contrast, the ideology of Taoism ignored and removed the barrier of interpersonal relationship, insisting to build peaceful in world based on the value orientation. The theory taught people to show no interest in physical success and social issues because everything has its own natural attributes ( 'Taoism and the arts of China ', 2001). It means that they think doing nothing is better than doing something because the latter one may break the perfection and harmony of nature. Most excellent Confucianism learner became politician in the future, however, most of Taoism learner became solitary (Wang & Chanzit, 2004). It address that the most important thing comes from the interior mind. Taoism cares about the pursuit of spiritual thing like moral and characteristics rather than physical or superficial thing such as reputation and welfare, corresponding to the
The top structure of the society includes the Shoguns, Daimyos and Samurais. ‘Shogun’ was the title granted by the Emperor to Japan’s top military commander (Web-japan.org, 2013). Initially Emperors controlled the country but over time Shoguns became more powerful than the Emperor and took over the whole government, the Shogun was generally the real ruler of the country until 1867 when feudalism was abolished (Web-japan.org, 2013). Daimyos were the lords and their roles were to manage and maintain the law, collect taxes and aiding in armed forces for the Shogun (Ask.com, 2013). Samurais were the members of the military class, they were the warriors of traditional Japan. The roles of the Samurais were to protect and serve their daimyos or lords usually in wars (Answers.yahoo.com, 2013).
...ty for one that better suited its capitalistic tendency. That opportunity came in1868 when the Meiji imperial rule was able to overthrow the Tokugawa regime, setting off a political, economic, social and cultural change that transformed Japan. As Japan embraced modernity with full force, some began to realize the negative impact of modernization on the rural life, social structure and most importantly on its culture, blaming it on the western influence on its modernization. Thus as Japan neared World War II, it embraced a new sense of modernization, one that was separate from westernization, creating a nationalistic and fascist government policy. Japanese society is characteristic of plurality and opposing value systems coexisting. As new ideals and institutions arise, Japan sees itself transforming and changing at the hands of internal and external forces.
In conclusion, I tried to explain what experienced in Japan during the first years of rapid economic growth in terms of its social consequences. According to my argument, I tried to show imbalances which occurred with economic development in post- war Japan. In other words, economic development cannot appear as linear social development. Post- war Japan has witnessed positive and negative social consequences after implementing economic recovery. Therefore, we can say that society cannot always embrace economic development positively. Economic transformation brings its own waves and thus society fluctuates regarding its embracement. Japanese society received its share with this economic recovery during post- war period.
In the category of view of society, each belief has a different view. The Confucians believed that you develop good character through a good life and that everyone has their own role.
... feudalistic society that they belonged to, in both Japan and Western Europe, exchanged military service and loyalty for land. On the other hand there were multiple differences in the practices of feudalism between Japan and Western Europe including, influence of religion, social mobility of the warrior class and the power of the merchants. Understanding how feudalism worked can help us to understand how certain societies formed into what they are today. Karl Marx once described that capitalism was the economic situation coming after feudalism. Capitalism is now one of the most used social market models in Western Europe. Based on this theory, we might be able to predict that over time, a non capitalistic society that had just emerged and is feudalistic, or an existing society that has just crumbled down to feudalism, could later on form a capitalistic social order.
63). This not only increased the Japanese people’s nationalism but also their imperialistic journey because of the samurai having military leadership roles; this stressed the importance of their loyalty to society. British roles that already existed in Japan had affected their education— “For a long time, Japanese naval cadets had been sent to Great Britain for training. British experts and officers had worked in Japan in advisory and instructing roles, and most of the Japanese fleet had as built in British yards” in which Japan resulted with multiple strategies for way (Roberts, p. 62 and 212). Another thriving element was Japan’s environment; it provided support through trading with other countries by being a “…semi-developed, diversifying society, with a money economy, large commercial cities and the beginnings of a quasi-capitalist structure in agriculture.” Therefore, they were able to compete and trade not only with Britain but with
...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.
For many centuries, Confucianism has been widely revered by the Chinese for its emphasis on morality. Confucius, who lived from 551 to 479 BCE, is different to most philosophers in that he showed no interest questioning his existence, the possibility of a God, or the reality that he seemed to live in; instead he focused on the human relations side of philosophy as it was his belief that people should “give (themselves) earnestly to the duties due to men … (and) keep aloof from (spiritual beings)” (Confucius 195). By negating the metaphysical side of philosophy, he was able to devote himself to mold his disciples into ideal gentleman who were morally righteous, and were able to benefit society. He believed in the importance of individuals who knew their roles in an well-structured society, that was a feudal system. In his opinion, the ideal gentleman should be obedient to his elders, have humanness and be morally righteous. Through his teachings, he was able to reform an entire country; the Chinese found Confucianism to embody practices of humaneness that they could apply in their daily lives through his religion.
Japan has very significant characteristics in terms of their economic power either in the Asia- Pacific region or around the world. After World War II the Japanese economy was deeply affected by shortages, inflation, and currency devaluation means that Japanese economy was bankrupt position. Therefore, Japan passed under the control of US in the post- Second World War period. From this point, economic transformation or recovery or development has started in Japan with the impacts of US and Japanese governments. Besides this economic aid, US also guided Japan in democratization and demilitarization whereas Japanese government had direct role dealing with those developments different from what happened in Germany at that time. What it means that is Japanese government had played interventionist role into economy. On the other hand, one of the significant reasons of why US needed to help former enemy is the fact that after the WWII was the beginning of the Cold War and Russian presence was in the region. That’s why US made their contribution in order to revive Japan.
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 ...
Confucianism has had the largest influence on the Chinese way of living for over two millenniums. The moral philosopher Confucius, developed this way of thinking in order to try and change the way society was structured. The country used his ideas as a philosophy and a guide to morality and strong government. The ideals of a true gentleman are what Confucians try to attain while incorporating the five virtues of Jen, Li, Hsiao Ti, Chung-Su and I (Smith 1973, p 66). China has been hugely impacted by Confucianism and will most likely continue to be in the future because of the promising principles. Confucianism created cultural unification and social harmony in China as a philosophy, rather than a religion, and acted as a moral guide to a way of living in Chinese society.