CHAPTER 19 PART III JAPAN Japan the rise

CHAPTER 19 PART III: JAPAN • Japan: the rise of a new East Asian Power • The industrialization and transformation of Japan • In 1853 and 1855 Japan was forced to open itself to more “normal” relations with the world by US navy Commodore Perry • From 1853 to 1900 was a radical transformation of Japanese society in almost all aspects • Japan became powerful, modern, united, and industrialized • Japan by 1900 was creating its own East Asian Imperial Empire

BEFORE PERRY: THE SHOGUNATE BACKGROUND • The Tokugawa shoguns had ruled Japan since 1600 • The shoguns prevented civil war between the daimyos (feudal lords) by strictly regulating where they could live and limiting the number of warriors they could control • Under this system Japan enjoyed internal peace for 250 years • Daimyo though regulated still held enormous prestige and some power • Hierarchical society: samurai at top, peasants, artisans, and merchants in that order (all below the daimyo of course)

JAPAN BEFORE 1853 • Japan was not a unified state in a modern sense before late 19 th century. • It didn’t have a single body of law, a single currency good in all areas, or any central authority that reached to the local level • However, even prior to 1853 significant change had already taken place in Japan unlike in China

CHANGES PRIOR TO THE “EUROPEAN INTRUSION” • Samurai who could no longer fight developed into a bureaucratic/administrative class • Great economic growth and commercialization of agriculture and other economic areas. • Urban development was swift. In 1800 Tokyo (Edo) may have been the world’s largest city • By 1750, Japan was the world’s most urban country. (a larger percentage of its population lived in cities than in any other country)

CHANGES PRIOR TO 853 • High literacy rates prevailed in Japan 40% of males and 15% of females were literate by 1800 • These changes made it impossible for the shogunate to “freeze” society. • One must also keep in mind that although the Japanese did not actively seek out information about Europe and the world, they did not disdain it. So if they heard or read about something, they would incorporate it into their growing body of knowledge about the world. This is much different than what the Chinese were doing at the same time

THE AMERICAN INTRUSION AND THE MEIJI RESTORATION • In 1853 the government of the US sent Cmdr. Perry to Japan to demand better treatment of shipwrecked sailors, to demand the right to refuel and provision, and to open trade ports to the US • The shogun’s actions which were confused, led to a rebellion of a group of young samurai who professed to be restoring the emperor to his rightful position as head of government. • This “Meiji” restoration had two aims: first to save Japan from foreigners and second to transform Japanese society internally rather than from the outside.

THE MEIJI RESTORATION AND THE MODERNIZATION OF JAPAN • First they created a national state: attacked the power of the warrior class both daimyo and samurai. • Dismantled the Confucian bureaucracy and replaced it with a European style parliamentary system (though it was modeled on the German rather than French or British systems) • Most Japanese gained legal equality before the law

MODERNIZATION • The first phase of modernization developed as Japan sent hundreds of people west to study western methods ranging from fashion to science • Many students were sent to western universities • Western books, particularly military and scientific were translated into Japanese • In the second phase, more selective borrowings were made more in line with the goals of creating a Japanese modern state

CULTURAL CHANGE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE MEIJI RESTORATION • Christianity was allowed but made few converts • Shinto, the national religion of Japan, was turned into a vehicle for the adoration of the nation and the emperor. It essentially became the state religion • Recognition that the oppression of women impeded modernization led to some changes in Japanese society. Both genders were to receive education but were segregated by sex. Women still were allowed no role in public (governmental or economic) life

MODERNIZATION OF INDUSTRY • Between 1870 and 1910 Japan developed industry and became an industrialized power. • The state guided the development of most industries in Japan • Established factories for the production of most goods, opened mines and developed railroads, created a postal system, telegraph network, and a banking system. • These state systems were then sold to private investors in Japan resulting in modernization without incurring foreign debt or investors • This was important as it allowed Japan NOT to be gathered into the economic web of European powers or the US

SOCIAL CHANGE • Many peasant families were impoverished in the rush to industrialize • Due to poverty, there was a rise in infanticide in rural areas, daughters were sold or made to work for very little in the new factories, and in some cases, starvation and famine wracked the countryside. • Urban migrants to the new factories worked under harsh and many cases inhumane conditions • Efforts to organize workers into labor unions were stopped

JAPAN AND THE WORLD BY 1910 • The Japanese developed European style military. The army was modeled on the German army and the navy on the British. Much of the wealth created by the industrial revolution went to create these aspects of empire • The west, with new respect for the Japanese, renegotiated treaties with Japan on an equal basis, the first time this had ever occurred with an non European power (other than the US) • Japan fought several wars with its new military winning all of them

JAPAN AND THE WORLD • In 1895 Japan invaded China and received the same concessions that the Western powers had plus the island province of Formosa (Taiwan) • In 1905 Japan attacked Russia, sank two Russian battlefleets, defeated Russian in Manchuria, and acquired Korea • Japan had indeed learned well by watching and learning from its western peers. • Its colonial policies were brutal as the European ones and Japan won much admiration from European powers because it acted like one

JAPAN AND THE WORLD • The growing Japanese empire became involved in World War I on the side of the Allies (France, Russian, and Britain) won more territory for its help and became the 4 th power in the world after the war. • Japan’s success fueled a continuing battle in the Japanese government over how to conduct itself seesawing between liberal democratic politics and nationalistic expansionism. • By 1940 Japan was seen as a growing menace to the liberal democracies of the west, in particular to the US and Britain.

REFLECTIONS: • It is hard to assign success or failure in history • A lot depends on what viewpoint or perspective we ourselves have • Did China lose during the 19 th century or did its problems lead to the creation of the present Chinese state? • Are the people of the Middle East better off without the central control of a moderate Islamic state? • Was Japan successful given the outcome of World War II? • These are questions that are hard to answer simply. Like all history complex factors must always be taken into account