...“MEIJI ERA’s (1868-1912) IMPORTANCE IN JAPANESE MODERNIZATION.” Japan is a country that has never been colonised and was never colonised during the colonial period. It was governed by the Emperors, Shoguns, Daimyos and the Samurais through the feudal structure of governance with the Emperor as the head of the hierarchy. It maintained its isolationist policy and never opened-up to the outside world for centuries and was in a stagnant stage in terms of development. However, in the 19th Century it dumped its feudal past and subsequently emerged stronger and economically superior after the rubbles left behind by the Pacific War in the 20th Century. Japan showed her strength in the two World Wars. Japan is now ranked one of the world’s largest power/economy behind The United States and China. It is regarded as a distinct civilization of its own, with very unique history. To fully understand present day Japan and its economic miracle, critical investigation needs to be done on its past history to see where its foundation of modernity and industrialization has been laid. When investigation was done, it showed that the Meiji Era (1868-1912) is considered to be the upward trajectory that fired-up Japanese industrialization and helped establish its modernization path. This started when Japan’s pre-modern political system and its feudal society (1603-1865): the Edo Period, led by the Tokugawa Shogunate, with its band of radical samurais was ended in 1868. The Tokugawa Shogunate/central...
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...Meiji Japan. In 1867/68, the Tokugawa era found an end in the Meiji Restoration. The emperor Meiji was moved from Kyototo Tokyo which became the new capital; his imperial power was restored. The actual political power was transferred from the Tokugawa Bakufu into the hands of a small group of nobles and former samurai. Like other subjugated Asian nations, the Japanese were forced to sign unequal treaties with Western powers. These treaties granted the Westerners one-sided economical and legal advantages in Japan. In order to regain independence from the Europeans and Americans and establish herself as a respected nation in the world, Meiji Japan was determined to close the gap to the Western powers economically and militarily. Drastic reforms were carried out in practically all areas. The new government aimed to make Japan a democratic state with equality among all its people. The boundaries between the social classes of Tokugawa Japan were gradually broken down. Consequently, the samurai were the big losers of those social reforms since they lost all their privileges. The reforms also included the establishment of human rights such as religious freedom in 1873. In order to stabilize the new government, the former feudal lords (daimyo) had to return all their lands to the emperor. This was achieved already in 1870 and followed by the restructuring of the country in prefectures. The education system was reformed after the French and later after the German system. Among those...
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...historians refer to Japan’s social, economic, and political advancements during the late 19th century and early 20th century as the “Meiji Miracle.” During the 1860’s the Tokugawa shogunate was at its weakest point and it would soon fall after the shotgun abdicated his power. In 1868, the Meiji regime was established under Mutsuhito in Edo, or modern Tokyo. Previously during the Edo rule; the weak Tokugawa rulers were forced into signing unequal treaties with various Western powers. The Meiji emperor and his advisors soon realized that Japan must change and initiate reforms in order to prevent the Western powers from dominating Japan. The Meiji rulers would soon embrace western technologies, industries, and lifestyles to initiate modernization policies that would forever alter Japanese politics, society, and economics. The Meiji would begin their political reform by stripping the daimyo of titles to the land in 1871. To maintain peace among the daimyo the Meiji rulers made the former daimyo regional governors over their prefectures. By doing this, the Meiji rulers were able to successfully remove the daimyo from holding full possession of the land without major resistance. The Meiji government would continue to modernize Japanese politics by establishing a parliament and constitution based on the Western government. The use of a constitution sparked a debate on among the officers and intellectuals of which form of parliament was more beneficial. The politicians favored the...
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...The Meiji period (1868 to 1912) saw a major shift in childrearing practices. The Meiji Restoration in 1868 caused a surge of industrialization and modernization, directing the Meiji government to construct a nation-state, which cultivated nationalism and brought on the deification of the emperor. These changes led to the formation of a family model--the ie system. Within this system, since men were expected to “carry out orders” and die for the nation-state, motherhood began to be emphasized and respected as having the primary role of childcare, overshadowing fathers in the sphere of childrearing. Part of Japan’s transition to a modern society was the enactment of its first School Law in 1872 which established state-sponsored compulsory education, thereby replacing the role of fathers in giving their children a preliminary...
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...later short stories of Rudyard Kipling (the ‘Bard’ of Empire), and examine the (contradictory?) lure of the primitive, even as British modernity is taken for granted. Second, the module will proceed to examine some major Chinese and Japanese writers and intellectuals (and an Indian poet and critics, the Nobel Prize-winning Rabindranath Tagore) and see how northeast Asian culture was broadly affected by their sense of Western modern superiority in technology, political organisation and literary (and other forms of creative) culture. Both China and Japan, the major countries in East-Southeast Asia, were never colonised, but they were intimidated by the presence of the Great Western Powers (and their colonies) in the region. Japan after the Meiji Restoration (1868) became the first modern Asian nation-state, and their attempts at intensive (and disruptive) modernisation of their culture had a profound impact on the whole region – and this desire to be modern also meant that Japan itself became a colonising state, following the British, French and German states. This module attempts, therefore, a comparative examination of the ambiguities and contradictions in the process of becoming modern both in the colonial centre (Great Britain) and in northeast Asia, and an understanding of the new forms of literature that resulted in that...
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...governments sought to intercede in and influence the political and economic fortunes of Asian countries through the use of new methodologies such as "protectorate", "sphere of influence", and concession which minimized the need for direct military conflict between competing European powers. The newly modernized Meiji government of Japan sought to join these colonizing efforts and initiated discussions (Seikanron|(lit. "subdue Korea")) in Japan in 1873. This effort was allegedly fueled by Saigō Takamori and his supporters who insisted that Japan confront Korea's refusal to recognize the legitimacy of Emperor Meiji as ruler of the Empire of Japan, as well as for supposed insulting treatment meted out to Japanese envoys attempting to establish trade and diplomatic relations. In fact the debate concerned Korea, then in the sphere of influence of China's Qing Dynasty which elements in the Japanese government sought to separate from Chinese influence and establish as a Japanese satellite.[8] Those in favor also saw the issue as an opportunity to find meaningful employment for the thousands of out-of-work samurai, who had lost most of their income and social standing in the new Meiji socioeconomic order. Further, the acquisition of Korea would provide both a foothold on the Asian continent for Japanese expansion as well as a rich source of raw materials for Japanese industry. The arguments against such designs were outlined in Okubo Toshimichi's "7 Point Document", dated October 1873, in...
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...Catherine Rios 3-2-14 Asian Civilizations In the film, The Twilight Samurai, Yoji Yamada reconstructs an ancient Japanese village by the characters demonstration of the same values and customs of the samurai, two other factors that help pull off the illusion of the time period are the architecture and economy. Seibei is nicknamed ‘The Twilight Samurai’ because he is a samurai and every night he returns home from work at twilight he isn’t like the other people he works with who go out after work. The Twilight Samurai is the love story of a low ranked samurai, Seibei, who rises to defeat not only a traitor, but the person who Seibei may later become. Of the many themes in The Twilight Samurai is light. When Seibei is sent to a fight to the death with Tanaka you see Seibei in the light and Tanaka in the dark. Seibei is a good person he always puts his daughters needs before his own and is an honest man. Once Seibei’s wife dies he does all he can to make sure he is always there for his daughters by returning every night at twilight and this is how he acquires the name of ‘The Twilight Samurai.’ Tanaka is a man who has been running his whole life and this has literally driven him to insanity. After Seibei has entered the house Tanaka is hiding in they both sit down and drink tea and Tanaka tells Seibei about his life. He tells Seibei how he used to be just like Seibei and he tries to scare Seibei into letting him go by seeing what the people who give them their orders have made...
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...those of the years following 1911 in China as 'revolutions'? Introduction The Meiji Restoration of 1868 in Japan and the Chinese Revolution of 1911 were responsible for producing an enormous amount of upheaval in both countries. Both nations were immersed in social, political and economic backwardness. In this context, both political episodes should be construed as an attempt to reverse decline and set the course for modernization. The main thesis of this essay is based on the notion that whilst there are some similarities between both political events, the main difference resides in the fact that the Meiji Restoration began the centralization of the mechanisms of governance and induced the social and economic modernization of the country. At the same time, the Chinese Revolution of 1911 did not succeed in engendering a sound system of government capable of reversing the country’s decline. The first part of the essay will deal with the main characteristics of the Meiji restoration of 1868. The second section of the essay will outline the main features pertaining to the Chinese Revolution of 1911. The third part of the essay will examine the similarities and differences between these two events, with the ultimate purpose of determining the qualitative differentiation to be made between the concepts of “restoration” and “revolutions”. The main characteristics of the Meiji restoration of 1868 The Meiji Restoration of 1868 can be interpreted as a concatenation of events that led...
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...Individualism was the core of Natsume Soseki’s writing. In his renowned novel, “Kokoro”, Natsume explored the constant struggle between personal morality and the selfish aspects of human nature through the life experiences of Sensei, who suffered from sense of guilt and loneliness. “The spirit of Meiji Era” was probably the best footnote for “Kokoro”, as it suggested a free, open and independent mental state that people could pursue happiness at their own will. However, this kind of spirit, Natsume argued in his speech of “My Individualism”, would undermine people’s mental wellness if they did not form the concept of egotism and the conscience for their behaviors. Three negative effects brought by the spirit of Meiji era were: loss of one’s ego, breakdown of personal moral system, and feeling of isolation and loneliness. These backgrounds gave us a better understanding for the tragic fate of the protagonists in “Kokoro”, as well as the formation of Natsume’s ”Individualism”. First, the loss of one’s “self” was a common problem existed in Meiji period. Complete westernization and parochial nationalism let people doubt their traditions and abandon the old learning. Sensei and K both had to face the conflicts between their aspirations and the judgments of society. Though they both had affection for Ojosan, they resort to different actions. K, carrying the traditional merits in mind, had suppressed himself because of his friendship with Sensei. Nevertheless, Sensei chose to follow...
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...Business Groups and the Big Push: Meiji Japan’s Mass Privatization and Subsequent Growth Assignment: Summarize the main points. How convincing do you find the paper? This paper discusses how and by whom a so-called “Big Push” should be operated. A big push is a flood of state-controlled investment across all sectors, sparking off industry (micro level) and economic (macro level) growth. It argues that a state-run big push is likely to fail and instead, pyramidal business groups can coordinate such a big push overall and more efficient. Japan is chosen as the example of such a business-coordinated big push success. The authors argue that nowadays we know that intensive state intervention leads to political rent-seeking, whereas investments go into productive projects which can accelerate economic growth and progress, opposite to rent-seeking. It is therefore likely that an elite will try to take advantage of, or influence governmental decisions and investments. The main argument for a state-run big push is the issue of hold-up problems: In order to develop complementary industries, investors need to be certain of the demand from complementary industries when they’ve built their industry. Sometimes even subsidizing one with the help of the other is needed. Since that seems normally not to be the case, state-run intervention is called for. That explanation was the state-of-the-art-model to coordinate a big push. Japan undertook the following and ended up – as already mentioned...
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...curtailed the Japanese sovereignty for the first time in history, and alerted Japanese politicians to the dangers of further foreign encroachment. After the fierce debates among Japanese intellectuals, they realized ‘Gunboat diplomacy’ is the essence of the international political game. Thus, some of enlightened leaders such as Sakamoto Ryōma (1867) emphasized the necessity of modernize Japan as Western states by strengthening the military and economic power in his writing Eight-Point Program in order to survive in the arena of power politics. This idea was adopted as a center pillar of Meiji Restoration and enabled Japan to build up military power comparable to Western states within a short period of time. However, Japan needed to show its advanced military strength to be recognized as a growing power and to join ranks of powers in international politics (Ebrey, 2009, p.371). Therefore, the Meiji government planned the way to be a ‘regional hegemon’ through military expansion in Asia. It first defeated Qing Dynasty in Sino-Japanese War in 1895 and representatives of both states signed at the Treaty of Simonoseki that included the Article to cede full sovereignty of Taiwan to Empire of Japan in perpetuity. In other words, Taiwan officially became the first oversea colony of Japan. Nearly a decade later, Japan attained a surprising victory over the Russian forces and successfully received acknowledgement of Russia concerning its takeover of Korean peninsula with the Treaty of Portsmouth...
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...The book Kokoro is a novel written by Natsume Soseki. This novel was written in 1914, which is when the drastic change in Japanese culture was taking effect. The book is set into three different parts. The book is explained throughout the book by a narrator who the reader does not know the identity of Sensei. The book deals with the transition from the Japanese “Meiji Era” to the “Modern Era.” Throughout the book it is exploring the friendship between an adolescent man and an older man he calls 'Sensei' who are accustomed to different eras they live in. Throughout the novel we see the changing roles and relationships of women in society, various values that are changing, and the entire identity of older Japanese values. The first section begins with the narrator who is a college student, approaching the independence of an adult life but with weak emotions. The narrator begins a friendship and fascination with Sensei. Sensei lives a lives a life of solidarity and tries to avoid other people and will only socialize with friends during special occasions. Sensei has a wife, but he treats her very poorly throughout the book. The student notices that Sensei is secretive and wants to find out more about him. The second section of the book shows the narrator mostly with his family and away from Sensei. The narrator’s father is sick and he stays bedside with him. The parents think that the narrator is their family's future to carry the family into further generations because of his...
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...Urban Outfitters Continuing Case Study Part 2:-The Business Environment. Pr. Joseph B. Pettiford Introduction to Business 9 Nov 2009 1. Identify at least three challenges when setting up a business. Explain why they are challenges. The challenges will vary depending on the business; therefore, there are three important challenges to consider when setting a business one of them is the capital, location, and service. Acquiring adequate capital is fundamental to setting up a business this could be challenging. You need money to stat up and have something to live on until the business is successful. However, it is important to manage the capital wisely in the business needs, in order to earn profit to avoid a loss, and be successful. Depending of the type of business the right location is essential. Making a decision of picking up a right place for starting a business could be challenging. For instance if you have coffee shop food traffic is a great place, and if you have, a gas station near the intersections of the highway is perfect. However, if you pick a wrong location you may go out of business. Offering the best service and good value product is essential for a costumer. It is important to listen, stay positive and stay involved when offering a good product value. Costumers are going to be satisfied and come back to your store. However, if do not provide them value along with a costumer...
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...However, even though introducing many new concepts, Meiji government still managed to remind itself and its government that traditional values of Japanese would never be lost. In the Imperial Rescript, the emperor greatly emphasized that traditional values of Japan were primary in this revolution of education. Values such as respect to elders, obligation to achieve one’s fullest potential, and duty in a group are greatly demanded and upheld by...
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...region experienced such changes, it remained characterized by strong central governments battling internal rebellions and external threats and maintained its strong roots of the early religion/ideology of Confucianism. ! From 1400-1900, East Asia experienced an increase in imports from Western nations while undergoing the process of industrialization. In Japan, the annual average of silk production increased by approximately 6000 tons between 1868-1899. Coal, used for industrial steamships and railroads, production increased from .6 million metric tons in 1875 to 5 metric tons by 1895(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_Restoration). We see such increases in industrialization because the Japanese elite initiated economic reforms under the Meiji Restoration in order to industrialize Japan in hopes of catching up to more dominant Western countries that were dominating the world politically and economically. During this period we also see an increase in East Asian trade with Western nations. In China, we see an increase in opium imports from Britain. This change occurs because China was forced to open trade to European countries after losing the 1st Opium War against Britain after its population had become dependent on an opium addiction. In Japan, we an increase in foreign imports from 1860 to 1865 of 13.34 million Mexican dollars(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opening_of_Japan). This was due to forced opening of Japanʼs trading “doors” by a US naval fleet...
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