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How Did The Meiji Restoration Become A Reinvention In Japan?

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The definition of the word “reinvention” is when something is recreated in an entirely new fashion. At this point in time, the nation of Japan is in need of a reinvention. By looking at Japan’s two previous major transformations, the Meiji Restoration and the all of the changes that happened post-World War Two, it is easy to see how Japan could reinvent itself once more. The cause of the Meiji restoration was the growing gap between the elite and the lower classes, and it was catalyzed by samurai taking over the central government. After this shift in power, leaders had the intention of shutting out the West, they realized that they should not completely shut out all things Western. The new leaders of the government found out that the best …show more content…

With the national army instead of samurai clans, one of the biggest effects of the Meiji restoration was the mounting militarization in Japan. With all of the growth taking place, general perspective was that Japan was strong enough to become an empire. This is exactly what Japan did; Japan took control over Taiwan, Korea, and forced their own access into Manchuria (“The Era of Modernization: The Meiji Restoration”). The cause of the post-World War Two reinvention was because Japan needed to rebuild after being devastated and improve the economy. After the war, people were starving because of the black market for rice, women were very low on the social and political pyramids, and most jobs were controlled by gigantic businesses (“Under U.S. Rule: the Occupation of Japan”). To feed the Japanese people, the United States sent money as aid for six years (“Under U.S. Rule: the Occupation of …show more content…

These challenges include deflation, or how the prices of goods and services are continually dropping, the low birth rate that will not be able to sustain one of the highest life expectancies in the world, and that people do not want the nuclear power that is necessary to preserve their economy that is built on innovative, new technology. With the issue for deflation, the lowering prices are only the start of the problem. As prices go down, companies go through layoffs and hire less, as well as lower salaries. Because good job opportunities are scarce, the Japanese habit of saving money has now become a reason for the economy to decline even more (“What Ever Happened to Japan?”). Although overpopulation could be a biological problem for Earth as a whole, Japan needs to increase its birth rate. In the country, women have about 1.4 children each and Japanese people have an average life expectancy of 83 years (“What Ever Happened to Japan?”). In contrast to Japan, the population of the United States has the ability to withstand a lower birth rate because the country allows immigrants from everywhere to enter (“What Ever Happened to Japan?”). Finally, nuclear power in Japan, which is actually one of the biggest users on nuclear power in the world (“Disaster in Japan”), has raised many concerns from citizens about its continued use. After the 9.0 magnitude earthquake of 2011, many

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