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Reinvention In Japan

Decent Essays

Reinvention means to be completely undone and remade in a different way. Japan has been reinvented two times, for two different reasons. The cause for the first reinvention, also known as the Meiji restoration, was foreign influence let into the country by the shoguns. As a result, the shoguns lost credit, and the Meiji leaders came to power. They enforced a lot of new rules for government, education, society, military, and economy. One of the most influential was the newly constructed government. The Meiji leaders sent out scholars to observe western ways. These scholars looked at legislature, America’s voting system, policies about taxation and agriculture, and religious freedom. As a result, these observations led to big changes. In an …show more content…

Their government was redone, and everyday society norms were altered significantly. Not to mention, the military was changed as well to become a national army instead of a clan based army. The reforms made led to a modernized, stronger Japan. But the reforms made in the second reinvention were also very influential. This reinvention occurred after WWII, when Japan was trying to come together again after the catastrophic atomic bombings and loss during the war. The US aided greatly in this reinvention, loaning money, reforming social standards, writing a new constitution and more. For example, in an article by Sean Price from the New York Times, Sean spoke of the constitution, “It outlawed war, abolished secret police, liberalized education, and gave women the right to vote. Japan’s voters approved the constitution in 1947 and it is still in use today” (NYT 2). Not only did the US greatly influence the everyday lives of the Japanese, the Japanese worked with the US to agree on these terms, and they approved …show more content…

In both reinventions, the new changes resulted in a better, modernized Japan. Today in Japan, a reinvention is necessary. There are many struggles with the young generation, the old generation, and catastrophic events which should be addressed. Specifically, the Japanese economy has been experiencing deflation for the past twenty years. In an article, the results of the deflation were described. The authors said, “Because of fewer available jobs and lower

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