Meiji Restoration Dbq Essay

From 1853 to 1941, Japan changed from being a reclusive, isolated nation that kept to itself to an imperialistic power openly attacking and conquering surrounding territories and peoples.

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

Just Before entering World War II, Japan had a lot of different issues to try and solve. It had started to depend more for materials like oil for new machines being made to make the creation level of merchandise faster, which makes for a more productive economy. They required oil from outside sources in light of the fact that their property did not have all these things enormously, since the nation was an island its regular assets were made up of rice and fish. Even with these troubles, Japan started to manufacture an effective realm with a strong mechanical establishment and a decent armed force and naval force. The military got to be included in the legislature, and this started to cause them harm. The general public started to see indications of control originating from a rough place this put the individuals in a controlled state, their fundamental rights were gradually being taken away. In the mid 1930 's, the Japanese Army had numerous little, detached fights with their neighboring people groups. The Japanese individuals spread their control to make their country bigger. In 1937, the contentions started again with the Chinese in the territory close. These contentions prompted a full-scale war known as the second Sino-Japanese War. This was viewed as a bleeding war, it proceeded until the last annihilation of Japan in 1945. This demonstrates the inward shortcoming of the Japanese individuals, with high

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

The Meiji Restoration marked a time in Japanese history that dealt with “domestic turmoil… national integration and unification” (Part 1 Intro). They went through the process of defending against westernization and actively taking part in international affairs. During this era, prefectures appointed by the emperor replaced the daimyo. The population doubled and quality of life improved. People moved towards a more urban lifestyle and by 1900, Edo was the largest city in world. Nevertheless, in the midst of all the growth, the attitude towards women and their roles in society remained stagnant. Japanese society treated women as subhuman instead of actual citizens due to the belief that they were

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.

After Japan’s contact with Europe and America, they decided they could expand and create their own empire and during the Meiji Restoration they brought huge advances to their country going from a feudal caste system to representation in government through the Diet. Japan wanted to become the powerful empire that dominated East Asia and in a remarkable short time, rose to power defeating the Chinese in the Sino-Japanese war. They sought two places to capture to expand their empire, Manchuria and Korea, where Russia also held interest in expanding. Though Russia believed themselves to be the superior people, took on the Japanese in the beginning of the 20th century. The Russo-Japanese war proved to be a landmark event for East Asia, changing the idea that Asians were inferior people to Europeans as the Russians suffered huge defeats by the Japanese.

The history of japan goes back in time to the early 800s. It went through many eras and periods of time under different rules and situations and continued to evolve in culture, politics, ideologies and all different aspects. A period of time where japan was known for its peace, prosperity, growing economic stability, cultural productivity and had the last feudal Japanese government is the Tokugawa Shogunate, also known as Tokugawa Bakufu and Edo Bakufu. It was founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu the first shogun (general) of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1603 and lasted until the Meiji restoration took over in 1868. As any other nation in history. The Edo period, lasting for more than two centuries, went through many changes through time. The last decade

The biggest change during the Meiji restoration was the schooling of the Japanese children as back in feudal Japan it was only the high class and nobles that got to go school and now after the Meiji restoration it is everyone. (Asia for educators, 2009) (Brian Platt, 2014) Back in feudal japan people had to follow their strict class but after the Meiji restoration the people of japan had the opportunity to change their class, live somewhere else and the people were also allowed

Within the short time frame, a significant transformation in political, industrial, and societal means took hold, seeing Japan as a great power within the world. Emperor Meiji’s death in 1912 saw in end of an era at its own representation (Goto-Jones, 70). More change came as the Japanese social environment felt to be continually bewildered by the western powers. In response, this drove Japan to imperialize and eventually join World War II. After losing the war, Japan was subjected for significant change once again. With the 1947 Constitution it is the people who hold sovereignty, as opposed to The Emperor who did so in the Meiji Constitution (Goto-Jones, 96). A contribution and push to Japan's unique adoption of modernization after World War II can be attributed to pressings such as Article 9, which prohibits Japan from being able to declare war, and from possessing military power other than the minimum necessary to defend the nation. This, along with the Reverse Course. This helped Japan move more towards a modern democracy by having its foreign policy based around its relationship with the US, which set Japan as a beacon of US policy in Asia (Goto-Jones, 97).

Prior to World War Two Japan had been going through an economic crisis and was having issues with its government. The Japanese society was very militaristic and prideful making it a key power in world affairs. Their people have a strong and deep seated loyalty to their country.

Japan emerged from the Tokugawa-Meiji transition as the first Asian industrialized nation. Domestic commercial activities and limited foreign trade had met the demands for material culture in the Tokugawa period, but the modernized Meiji era had radically different requirements. From the beginning, the Meiji rulers embraced the concept of a market economy and adopted British and North American forms of free enterprise capitalism. The private sector — in a nation blessed with an abundance of aggressive entrepreneurs — welcomed such change.

The Meiji Era in Japan is known as a time of rapid industrialization and Westernization where many institutions of society were realigned in one form or another to be consistent with their Western counterparts. Ironically, at the same time, it was a period of growing nationalistic feelings that began to develop in Japanese society. However, besides being a reactionary or nostalgic feeling experienced by the population, this nationalist ideology was also actively promoted by the Meiji leadership. Central to this ideology was the emperor who was effectively and successfully used as a tool for legitimizing the Meiji government.

The Meiji Restoration provided a catapult of overhaul within Japan. During the Tokugawa era, Japan was split amongst hundreds of feudal domains, and the emperor was little more than a symbol compared to the rule of the bafuku government. The advent of Western dominance in the late 19th century demonstrated the regime’s vulnerability to foreign pressure, and incapability to deal with it. The Meiji restoration aimed to modernize, strengthen government control, and achieve unity of ideas across the nation ─ all factors of which the Tokugawa regime could not properly demonstrate.