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Transformation of Japan. During the time period between the 1850s and 1950s, Japan
underwent massive changes politically, economically, and socially. ...
... Transformation is also seen by his conversion into Japanese. ... The story takes place
in a time where Japan is transforming from a land with many influences and ...
... “Cultural Transformation in Modern Japan”, NEH Institute on Japanese Culture
and Civilization, 1995. Yamazaki, Shifumi and Maiko Arichi. ...
... This resulted in the transformation of the agricultural economy to an industrial
economy. Japan began to rise with large prospering businesses and industries ...
... Japan’s history dictates that conflict follows fast cultural changes. The
transformation from the Nara Era into the Tokogawa Era, and later from the Tokogawa ...
Submitted by gbabyyy on March 26, 2005
Category: History Other
Words: 1216 | Pages: 5
Views: 292
Popularity Rank: 33,320
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During the time period between the 1850s and 1950s, Japan underwent massive changes politically, economically, and socially. Acknowledging the failure of isolation, Japan imitated the West in an attempt to modernize, however, still retaining its own identity. A reorganized and more centralized government allowed Japan to industrialize in half the time it took the nations of Western Europe. Industrialization provided Japan with the tools needed to transform itself from a half civilized and “backwards” society during isolation, to a dominating superpower during WWII.
In 1853 during the Tokugawa shogunate, Matthew Perry, an American commodore, arrived with an army at Edo Bay to coerce the Japanese government to allow the Americans to trade. In 1856, Japan signed a treaty opening two ports to the United States trade. Soon, other nations such as Britain, Russia, and Holland won similar rights. The opening of Japan to the West created opposition among its people and in the 1860s political crisis came into the open. In 1866, civil war broke out. The samurai armed with the surplus of weapons from the American Civil War defeated the shogunate force. The civil war ended, when the victorious reform group proclaimed Mutsuhito, often called the “Meiji” meaning enlightened one, emperor.
The new Meiji government promptly went about making reforms to the political structure. Feudalism was abolished and replaced with a system, similar to that of the French, of nationally appointing prefects, or district administrators. In the 1870s, the samurai class was abolished and a draft was created to produce a new army.
Meiji leaders traveled abroad to study economic organization, political institutions, and technological advances. The bureaucracy was reorganized and opened to men of talent through the civil service exams. In 1889, a new constitution was issued based on German prototype. It recognized the supremacy of the emperor, but limited the powers for...
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