Ben Howson
World History 2 per. 2
02/17/15
The
Modernization of Japan
If Japan didn’t go
through the Meiji Restoration in the mid to late 19th century, it
wouldn’t have gone through the radical changes in which made Japan the modern
nation it is today. The Tokugawa Era was the rule of Japan before the mid to
late 19th century, and was later overthrown by the Meiji Period, in
which created the modernization of Japan. The end of the Tokugawa was also due
to Japan falling behind the West, and Europe. Due to the Meiji Restoration and
contact with the Europeans and Westerners, Japan changed in many ways. They
became a extreme imperialist and military country, along with a huge apatite
for industry and all things European and Western. But in order for Japan to
modernize, it would have to go through a lot of change and conflict with its
self and its people.
Before the Meiji
Restoration there was the Tokugawa Era. This era was peaceful and orderly,
locked away from the outside world, partly due to being an island. Japan is a
literal island because it is surrounded by water, but it was also a
metaphorical island during the Tokugawa era, because it kept to its self. The
people of Japan were isolated from all other places in the world, they were
centric, traditional, and weren’t really open to other cultures. Japan was
extremely orderly, and a part of this was because of their simple 4 rank
system. At the top there were the samurai and at the bottom there were the
merchants. The Tokugawa era was so peaceful, that they had no wars of any sort
for 200 years, which lead to the economic downfall of the samurai. It isn’t
till much later that the Meiji Restoration comes into play. After the 200 years
of peace, the Americans came to Japans front door, and tried to force them to
open up.
The
leader of the American ships was captain Mathew Perry. Perry brought along some
inventions and other interesting trinkets in which the Japanese had never seen.
They became fascinated with all of the technology, and it really opened up
their eyes. Seeing all of these things, created a lot of conflict between some
people wanting to bring in western ideas, and others wanting to stick to their
traditional values. After the contact with Perry and the outside world,
conflict ensued. One conflict was the Satsuma Rebellion, which was the samurai
wanting to keep their traditional ways, and keep the country’s value for
isolation. The Satsuma Rebellion was later extinguished by the power of the
Shogunate Tokugawa. Even though the Rebellion had been ended, there was still
much conflict amongst the people of Japan. The original slogan in which the
haters of the west said, “Revere the emperor and expel the Barbarians.” After
some time had passed, the western idea started to grow on people, and they
later created a new slogan saying, “Japanese spirit – Western technology.”
People later started to question who should be in power, the Westerners or the
Shogun. At this point in time, the Meiji Period over took the Shogunate period.
The Meiji Restoration was the political revolution in which brought the fall of
the Shogunate Tokugawa, and returned the rule of Japan to Emperor Meiji, and
creating a new era, the Meiji period. This new era came up with the new slogan,
saying, “Civilization and enlightenment.” They now gained a love for all things
western, in which started the modernization of Japan.
Europe and the
West truly impacted Japan, turning this very cultural, peaceful country into a
place of modernization. After contact with the West and Europe, Japan became a
very open country, wanting to gather information, technology, and ideas. So
they decided to change, to be more like the Europeans and the Westerners. With
Japan being desperate to change, they sent out some of their people to go out
and explore the world, take notes or draw pictures on everything that they saw,
so that when they came back to Japan, they would be able to integrate these new
technologies into their every day life. Although this sounds Japan took a long
time to modernize, they actually didn’t. Japan was the fastest country in the
world to modernize; they went from having nothing, to having even more
technology than the Westerners and the Europeans in about 40 years. One of the
biggest changes that japan went through was that they went from a very peaceful
country to a to a high military, with lots of imperialism country.
Due to the
Westerners and Europeans coming to Japan, with their huge military, inflicting
imperialism on Japan, Japan decided that they needed to modernize their
military, making it bigger and better. So Japan really put a lot of time into
their military, wanting it to become as powerful as Westerners, and Europeans
military. After some time, Japan gained that military power in which they were
looking for, and put it right to work. They gained control of new modern
technology and ideas such as new weapons, new fighting technics, better armor,
and other things from the European and Western militaries. They really became
just like the European and Western militaries, they had the similar strategies,
weapons, and fighting technics. Like the Europeans and Westerners, Japan really
got into the whole imperialist thing, starting wars with other countries,
conquering land, and every other bad thing that goes along with that. The
Japanese were really doing what the Europeans and Westerners did to them, but
were a lot more violent and a lot less forgiving. Japan all of a sudden became
the opposite of what it once was. Instead of being a highly peaceful country
with no wars, they became blood and power thirsty monsters going around taking
over countries. While Japans military was out in wars gaining land and power,
Japan was hard at work, modernizing their industry.
After seeing all
of the new technology that the Europeans and Westerns had, the Japanese became
obsessed with all of it, and got to work right away. Due to Japan being very
late into the whole modern county stuff at the time, they had a lot of stuff to
catch up on. They started off by understanding the basics technologies, and all
the little things that the Europeans and Westerners brought to them. Things
such as model trains, small engines, and other inventions. After getting the
basics down Japan moved on from little models, to start building life size
ones. But there were some technologies in which the Europeans didn’t bring to
Japan, so instead Japan sent tons of people to go out into the world to take
notes on everything that they saw, so that when they would get back to Japan
they would be able to build these new technologies. So while some of Japan’s
people were out in the world, Japan got to work, building tons factories and
power plants to get ready for their industrial age. When the Japanese voyagers
returned home, they explained every thing that they saw and had taken notes on.
The Japanese would then build these things and put them in to their every day
life. At this point in time, Japan industry had become huge, they had done what
the Europeans and Westerners had done, but in a fraction of the time. Japan had
even improved some of the Europeans designs to make them better faster, and
more efficient. They became the masters of industry and production, making
everything from food to electricity.
Due to Japan doing
through the Meiji Restoration in the mid to late 19th century, they
went through many changes in which have made it the modern nation it is today. Japan
before 1853 was in the Tokugawa Era, in which was a very peaceful and orderly
time in Japan with no wars. But this later changed in the mid to late 19th
century, when the Europeans and Westerners came knocking on Japans front door,
threatening to take them down. To avoid this Japan signed a treaty with them,
becoming allies. At this point in time, Japan went through a lot of conflicts
with its people, and what they wanted. Some were for the Europeans and
Westerners and others were not. But this later changed as they started to get
closer with the Europeans and Westerners, and eventually were all for them.
This is the very beginning for Japans modernization, because this is when the
Europeans and Westerners showed the Japanese all of their new technology,
things that the Japanese had never seen before. They became obsessed with all
of it, and started sending Japanese people around the world to find out more.
While this was going on, Japan became a very strong imperialist and military
county. They became the opposite of what they once were, and were now in tons
of wars all over the place, taking over other country. But back in Japan, they
were just at the start of their huge industry period, creating tons of new
technology in which some had overtaken that of the Europeans and Westerners. Japan
later became the most powerful county in Asia. In the end, all of this wouldn’t have been
possible with out all of the changes in which Japan went through in the Meiji
Restoration, and if it hadn’t, Japan might not have been the incredible modern country
that it is today.
Bibliography
"The Meiji Restoration." The
Meiji Restoration. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.
Notes on in class videos
