Japan Trade

While differing ecomically and politically in their responses to western penetration, Japan and China had similarities in the way of geography. China only allowed Europeans to trade with it in a limited number of ports and cities, which limited the amount of goods Europeans were allowed to transfer overseas. Japan isolated itself as a whole from trade for an entire decade, and when it did open it was cautious towards westerners. Additionally, both were bordered by the ocean at least to a certain extent – Japan was surrounded entirely, being an island, by water, and a large percentage of China’s borders was water. It is because of this that the third similarity arose – both did trade by ocean. China with Britain, simply because it was the easiest, cheapest, and most efficient form of travel between the two, and Japan because there was obviously no choice considering Japan is an island. These geographical similarities arose purely from the coincidence that both were bordered by the ocean, which created the necessity for boats and by the time the opportunity for trade

In general, this situation is a doubled-edged sword. Although the opening of the ports did help with trade and industrialization, it also made it easier for stronger countries to take advantage of the weaker country. Japan was able to industrialize quicker with the new availability of materials and ideas.

On the 31st of December in the year 1600, ‘The Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies’ received a Royal Charter to be England’s trading representative in India. By they early part of the 17th Century, Britain had already eclipsed Portuguese interests in India. The company bought in cotton, silk, indigo, opium, saltpeter and tea mainly in exchange for silver bullion. These were valuable commodities in Britain at that time. By 1720, 15% of British imports were from India.

The industrial revolution during the 19th Century led to the rapid expanse of cotton production in America. Several new inventions began to be used which could more efficiently use cotton and other similar materials to aid in the production of textiles. During that time, the textile industry was big and the demand for cotton continued to grow however the price of cotton never increased to match the demand. Slaves were taken advantage of and because their labor was so cheap it was beneficial to slave owners to collect cotton using slave labor and trade the cotton for a profit. Great Britain was the worlds most powerful country and a large part of that countries industrial life was cotton textiles. America became Britain’s biggest trade partner for cotton and the increase in trade allowed America to build on its own and gain a bigger variety of goods through trade. The cotton industry was one of the biggest influences of America’s growth in the 19th Century and slave labor was used to ensure its expansion could continue throughout the years.

Great Britain and Japan are both island nations and had limited resources.Great created ties with Japan in many ways including trade and trading ports.This is how the two nations are similar and how are they are different.

The imports had a lot to do with the causes of the American Revolution like when they passed the Intolerable acts that closed down boston harbor. The King of England went and passed the sugar act that put a tax on everything with sugar in it. The imports went down when King George went and passed the Intolerable that closed down boston harbor document 2. Then the King of England went and took away the sugar acts and then king George went placed the Townshend acts that put a tax on everything except for on tea document 2. The imports basically fell from the year 1764 to 1775 document 2.

The government than also led in the way of building railways and shipping lines, telegraphs and telephone systems, three shipyards, ten mines, fifty-three consumer industries. The Meiji Government opened their borders, allowing japan to improve their basic infrastructure, improving communication and to be able to travel from city to city easier. The markets were often based on main roads/path ways, rivers and special temples so that the local sellers are able to easily bring their items to the markets, according to (The Program for Teaching East Asia 2008). In doing this Japan was able to become more richer and Emperor Meiji was able to turn Japan into a modern world power as we see it

Japan and Great Britain were similar in many ways. Such as they were both islands. They also had many good ports all around the ocean coastline. They were also very small areas, which led to them starting to practice imperialism and industrialization. Japan is a small island located in the Pacific Ocean.

Great Britain and Japan both have limited resources because of their geographic location. Their industry growth is affected by their location and they were forced to adapt to it. Since they are both island nations, ports and good access to the ocean and trade are necessary. Even though they are small countries they have strong navies and are also commercially strong.

The Feudal Period in Japan ended in a decline of central power, which led to the centralized feudal system of government in the Tokugawa Period in late 1500. There were three main leaders who helped reunite Japan including Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Oda Nobunaga was successful to an extent, but was not successful in uniting the entire country. After the country once again became reunited from Tokugawa Ieyasu, a second wave of cultural diffusion occurred from the Europeans. They introduced guns and Christianity in early 1600.

The United States began to reach outward for trade, showing interest in Japan. Almost forcing the country to begin to trade with the U.S.

The British Empire was able to aid Japan by providing Japan with the following: changing the layout of cities, building railroads, joining the Industrial Revolution, providing a stronger education, and making Tokyo the capital of Japan. These advances in the Japanese culture led to Japan becoming an imperialistic nation by invading the Ryukyu Islands and later Korea and Taiwan. Japan was driven by nationalism in the early 1940s and this led them to commit many war crimes that would lead to the demilitarization of the Japanese. This affects the political aspects of Japan because a flashpoint near Japan is North Korea that could theoretically spring an attack at any moment causing tremendous devastation in Japan. Japan’s government is very bureaucratic because of the many organization that have high influences on the government.

Financially, both China and Japan were stable. China, being a bit of an economic powerhouse was capable of building great infrastructure such as the Great Wall of China.

However, the Japanese would not budge. As several years passed the Japanese decided it would be better to willingly open up trade with the Western world than to be forced. In 1858, the United States and Japan signed their first commercial treaty, sometimes referred to as the Harris Treaty. European countries soon followed after and Japan made its first visit to the United States to discuss the treaty in 1860. Although they were reluctant to begin trading with the Western world, once it started Japan became fully invested into modernization and technological reform. The modernization lead to the weakening of the shogun, which restored the power to an emperor and thus began the Meiji

Before the war with America, the Japanese economy was going in the opposite of the American. This meaning that during this time the Japanese economy was becoming so powerful that it needed to expand onto the mainland of Asia just to meet