The Meiji Restoration

Many Japanese leaders and citizens believed that the way the world was functioning was quickly crumbling. In an excerpt from The Way of the Subjects by the Japanese Ministry of Education they refer to this as ‘An old order’ and believed that Japan could rebuild this as the ‘New order’ with the world under Japan’s rule (Doc A). What this is talking about is how major world powers such as England, the U.S., and France seemed to control the world’s trading and how

Japan at the turn of the century was clearly trying to westernize and change is isolated society into one more intellectually and scientifically involved with the rest of the world. When the Japanese open their ports to the western civilization food and merchandise were not the only things being traded. When ports were open the western way of living was integrated with the Japanese culture which gradually changed the way the

Before an American naval commander “opened” Japan, the country was extremely isolated. Interaction with other nations was limited. Trade was discouraged in society due to Neo-Confucian

From 1450 to 1750, both Russia and Tokugawa Japan faced incoming influence from western Europe. They handled this in both similar and different ways in the aspects of culture, government, and global interaction.

One of Japan’s major goals was total imperialism. The Japanese felt they were being treated as inferior in comparison to the United States and Europe and sought out to change just that. In a recount of comments made by Prime Minister and War Minister of Japan, Hideki Tojo, during a closed meeting of Japan’s top government and military leaders; he states “I fear that we would become a third-class nation after two or three years if we just sat tight.” They knew that

Japan was ultimately beneficial over its time span of its existence because of its many advances and benefits to the people who were a part of the empire. Though there were negative and harmful aspects of its rule, the good of the empire outweighed the bad. The Japanese were among the last to develop a complex society and completely isolated itself from outside influence. An era occurred where they began to borrow many things from China. They adopted their writing and imitated their literature. By the late 1800s, however, an imperial restoration occurred with Commander Perry in charge . In order to stop westernization in Japan, the country adopted western culture. The Empire of Japan emerged and was more reformed than ever. By rapidly expanding under the slogan Fukoku Kyōhei (“Enrich the Country, Strengthen the Army”), Japan began its journey to beginning a world power. Japan began to seek profits overseas increasing their exposure to the outside world and their cultures. With all of these advancements, the overall success and benefit to its people of the empire of Imperial Japan came from its militarization.

The ideology that a larger country’s influence should be spread to a smaller nation was adopted quickly by Europe and the United States. Held together by nationalism, countries were introduced to the different cultures of the west. However, Japan’s adaptation of a different culture originates from their beginning, when they took in new technology from Southeast China and Korea, such as iron and rice farming. When western forces come in for trade, the Western and European Imperialism will push Japan for its industrialisation and militarisation, eventually leading them to become an imperial force, beginning with the introduction of guns from Europe, and leading to the Meiji restoration, the temporary positive effect of European Imperialism allowed

The Meiji Restoration allowed Japan to modernise and adopt the ideas, technologies, and social, political

The people of Japan knew that the time for change had come, and in 1868 a group of samurai overthrew the Shogunate. This eventually led to the rise of the Meiji Restoration in 1889. The western countries were much more advanced compared to Japan during the industrial revolution and if they were to become a global power, Japan would need to advance as well. The Meiji Restoration was brought up upon western ideology, which led to new advanced technology along with rapid social and economic growth and the formation of a national military. The Meiji restoration had occurred in the 19th century because Japan needed a change in order to advance during the industrial revolution. The restoration was the change, that eventually led Japan to become an international force. For decades the high tariffs of the unequal treaties affected my pay and my life. Though this new restoration has brought more jobs and better pay for us

Japan’s technology changed over time as they were able to transform from a largely-agrarian society into an industrialized powerhouse in a century. The reason for this change was the imperialization of Japan which served as a wake up call to Japan as they realized they were far behind the westerners in terms of technology. This drove the Japanese to work hard to compete with westerners and their national slogan at the time was fukoku kyohei (Rich country, strong nation).

There were other nations besides European ones that were also experiencing economic gains, cultural influence, and societal growth. This nation was Japan, and from 1603 to 1867, this nation was specifically called Tokugawa Japan. Before Tokugawa Japan, there was civil disorder within the lives of the people living there. For example, daimyos, who were feudal state rulers who had owned a vast amount of land and had a major influence on the economy and state affairs of Japan, had to hire private armies to defend their entities (Tignor et al, 505). These private trained armies were known as samurais, and were a distinctive aspect of Tokugawa Japan. This wasn’t the only set of problems that Japan

Japan was struggling to form their empire. They wanted to feel a sense of equality amongst the powerful Western nations. However, the West did not taking Japan seriously. Numerous misunderstandings between Japan and the West came from Japan believing that the Western nations had a different approach when dealing with the European nations than they did when it came to dealing with an Asian power.

Japan became the very first country outside of the Western world to become industrialized despite being considered an isolated country for hundreds of years leading up to the modernity of Japan. The Tokugawa period in Japan lasted for hundreds of years under relative peace compared to the war torn centuries that had dominated Japanese history when territories were dominated by shoguns. How did Japan go from a so called backwards isolated country to being a world economic power in such a short amount of time? Were the Japanese really as backwards as history has portrayed them to be? To further understand why Japan was able to industrialize and become modern so quickly one must consider what it means to be modern.

The Far East reacted both positively and negatively to the West encroaching onto their lands. Japan was one of the countries that, in the beginning, reacted positively. The Japanese leaders either sent people, or went themselves to study Western cultures and technology, ending the country’s isolation. This helped make Japan a more modernized and industrial country compared to other countries in the Far East.

Between 1968 and 1912, Japan was going through a reformation called Meiji Restoration in order make the country strong as western countries. It had caused changes in many parts of Japan such as society, government, military, etc. Some of these changes still can be seen in the Japanese society today such as emperors are honored by Japanese citizens and seen as a special figure. Since this reformation had a great impact on development of Japan, it can be consider as a very important part of Japanese history.This study will seek to answer the question: To what extent did the Meiji Restoration succeeded to reform and strengthen Japan? In order to answer the question, the investigation will analyze military reform and economic reform caused by