Japanese Imperialism

Nationalism has socio-politically, internationally, and economically impacted Japan between 1750 and 1980 to controversial benefits and disadvantages. Nationalism can be defined as the shared patriotism to the nation amongst the people and that the interests and needs of the nation-state surpasses those of other countries. This can serve as a unifying force and, in this case, it had a major socio-political impact and contributed to the development of a new national identity through establishing national icons. The international impact stemmed from the wars raged by Japan against other nation-states to assert superiority and hold off potential invasions and conquests from strong Western powers. The Industrial Revolution, powered by the hard

Kon'nichiwa! I’m Japan! You probably know me for my aesthetic cherry blossoms and splendid anime, but let me tell you, things weren’t always as kawaii as they seemed. For a loooong time, I was isolated from other countries by my own shoguns and daimyos, my militaristic dictators and their warrior landlords respectively. We got along fine at first, but my common people were becoming increasingly unhappy with their little political power and heavy taxes. Then, on a fateful day in July of 1853, I met… the West.

In 1850-1935, Japan has become an industrial power and replaced its traditional, feudal government with a regime in which ministers appointed by the emperor combined with parliament. The interwar years were not a time of crisis for Japan, however. During the 1920s, new cultural developments, an expanding economy and a brief commitment to liberal democracy produced important currents as well. In the 1930s, Japan turned to a more adventurous foreign policy in response to economic challenge and political change. Japan participated in the global economy by changing its government to benefit the economy, the emergence of open trade and still continuing to depend heavily on imports of raw materials.

For much of its history Japan was a “closed country” and only opened up to very few people, those being the Dutch and on occasion their Chinese neighbors (Hayes 2012a). It was not until 1853 that Japan would have its first visitors, the United States (Hayes 2012b). Commodore Matthew Perry would force open Japan’s ports and have them agree to “unfair treaties” (Hayes 2012c). This led to the overthrow of the last shogunate’s rule in 1868 and the eventual emergence of Japan’s imperial empire. In 1868, the Meiji Restoration was well under way. During this time period the Japanese were looking to western powers for industrializing and reorganizing the way their government and even society operates (Hayes 2012d). Japan took it upon itself to emulate the western powers in order to discover its role in the international sphere (Hayes 2012e). As the country expanded and western influence grew Japan looked to expand their empire and saw Korea. Until the 1880s Japan began to assert policy against Korea, this led to conflict with China until 1895 in the Sino Japanese War (Hayes 2012f). The defeat of the Chinese resulted in the annexation of Korea to the Japanese as well as Taiwan and Liaodong Peninsula (Hayes 2012g). This also left a target on the Chinese’s back for many years. Japan now had control over a vast majority of East Asia by the time World War I came around. In order to compete

Japanese Imperialism first began in 1868 after the appointment of the 16-year old boy Emperor, Meiji and the beginning of Japan’s famous period of modernisation, the Meiji Restoration. This period saw the first half of the reign of the Empire of Japan, and significant changes to the structure, politics, economy, foreign relations and military of the country. Additionally, The Meiji Period witnessed the end of Japanese feudalism and the beginning of their modernisation. After the period concluded, the Japanese Empire remained prominent and did so till 1947.

Even though Japan was forced to open their borders by the American forces this was a benefit to the Japanese society, government, military and economy. Imperialism means lengthening the rule of an empire over foreign countries or getting and holding societies. (Random House, 2017). After the forced opening of Japan’s borders by the United States(US) Forces, they became one of the most powerful country’s in the Pacific and the Emperor began to rule Japan again. It took multiple visits by a number of countries including Portuguese, Spanish & Dutch traders in the 16th and 17th centuries (historian, 2017) to gain agreement and establish signed treaties to allow Japan to realise the benefits to not only their society but government, military and the economy.

Japan, on the other hand, saw that to save themselves they must start “drawing on all the modern West had to offer”. To be successful they knew they would have to strengthen their rule with the imperialist views. They built their foundation off of the views that were brought during the Western Imperialization showing them to be successful. Also, “Japan was of less interest to Western powers

Imperialism is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the power and dominion of a nation especially by direct territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas.” By comparing and contrasting imperialism in Europe and imperialism in Japan post the Industrial Revolution, we can observe how the two interpret the definition of imperialism and how imperialism contributed to the development of Japan and European nations by influencing them socially, economically, and

Between the years 1867 and 1912 in Japan, the Emperor Meiji was in command of the Japanese empire. Meiji was a revolutionary emperor that succeeded on the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate (the last Japanese feudal military government). Meiji’s command dramatically transformed Japan from being a feudal country into one of the greatest powers of the modern world. He changed Japan by popularizing modernization, westernization and improving the education system of the country. Nationalism provided the new young innovative and contemporary conservative generation of japan motivation to grow in the areas concerned; and implemented ideals that encouraged the notions of the west (westernization), that being industrialism and a new educational system, bringing them into the modern day. This new outlook

When the Meiji Restoration flourished Japan from an agronomic nation to rapid modernization, they were using Western countries as models to industrialize and develop their economy and society. They were not only to better themselves; learning from the West came the goal of wanting to be their equal. Japan tried to shape into countries like France and Britain to prove that they deserve to be a world power, thus starting Japanese imperialism. After the Sino-Japanese war, both Korea and Taiwan were annexed to Japan, where the Japanese used militant colonial rule and assimilation to what seemed like a benefit to them was exploitation to the respective cultures.

Instantaneously after the opening of Japan’s ports to the rest of the world, the national precedence was security oriented, and defence of its borders became a number one priority, mainly to elude colonization and to protect their independence (Jürgen). Conversely, as time went on the threat of being dominated by other countries lessened, the national goals shifted and took on the more head on approach to rank equal with the Western countries. This is captured by the phrase ‘fukoku kyohei’ meaning enriching the country, strengthening the military. Though to achieve this they had to find industrialization solutions (shokusan

In the early twentieth century Japan had reached its industrial revolution therefore, leading to an increase in Japanese nationalism and imperialism. Consequently, this led to Japanese military aggression against China. The Chinese suffered high mortality rates from the advanced Japanese troops that would simply raze and beleaguer Chinese cities. Japan managed to gain an advantage against the less industrialized Chinese who fell as if a deck of cards to the militarized Japanese and died as if infected with a pathogen. This would lead to an inevitable contact with the powerful U.S who proposed inhibiting sanctions against the U.S.A’s new nemesis, the Japanese.

The reason for this difference stems from the tradition of innovation and creativity in Western Europe compared with the traditional society in Japan, which did not foster innovation nearly as much. In Western Europe, causes of industrialization included mass production through the division of labor, new machines and mechanization, a great increase in the manufacture of iron, and new technologies such as the steam engine and electric telegraph. All of these new technologies and systems were created by individuals and were not set in place by governments. For example, Richard Arkwright invented the water frame, which helped mechanize the cotton industry. On the other hand, a main cause of Japan’s modernization was that government desired modernization.

Which also led to the defeating of the samurai castle disagreement. The shogun was also forced to resign, and the Emperor Mutsuhito regained his traditional powers and assuming the name “enlightened rule” or “Meiji Restoration”. Through the growing popular rights movement was a pressure on the constitutional government, which later led to the cabinet system, finally they started the workings of the Meiji Constitution. The samurais no longer received their upheld privileges, and the four-class legal system was abolished, leading the people of Japan to be considered equal. The first railroad was built, and the first banking system was put into place.

Japan’s goal of achieving fukoku kyohei, “rich country; strong military”, fuelled major political, economic and social changes during the Meiji Restoration. By the 20th century, Japan had a modern constitution and national parliament, though it was not truly democratic. The modernization of the nation also made Japan richer and more economically stable, with a structured education system. Japan, an impotent, closed feudal state, was transformed into a formidable nation focused on nationalism.