Meiji Restoration: How Japan Became a World Super Power and History of Japan
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:34 Japanese Seclusion
02:35 The Opening up of Japan and The End of the Shogun era
04:17 The Meiji Restoration to modernize Japan
06:21 The Emergence of Imperial Japan
08:11 Japan after WWII and till today
In 1543, a group of Portuguese traders on a Chinese boat drifted to the island of Tanegashima, becoming the first Europeans to set foot on Japan, and also initiating direct commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West. This period of trading was called the Nanban trade period, during which matchlock firearms, galleon-style shipbuilding, and Christianity were introduced to Japan. When the Warring States period ended, fear of the extensive influence of Christianity in Japan and a threat to his power from the Western countries, Tokugawa issued the Sakoku policy (“closed country”) that isolated Japan from the outside world.
In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry of the United States Navy arrived south of Yokohama, putting an end to Japan’s 220 years of isolation. Under threat of force, in 1854, Japan had to sign the Treaty of Kanagawa bringing a plethora of unfavorable agreements to Japan itself. After Emperor Komei died, and his son was crowned Emperor Meiji, civil unrest continued, making it hard for the new ruler Tokugawa Yoshinobu to maintain his power, leading to his resignation in November 1867. In 1868, the Boshin War and the subsequent fall of Edo finally overthrew the Shogunate, marking the end of this Tokugawa military dictatorship and the beginning of the Meiji era.
After taking the throne in January 1868, Emperor Meiji had implemented a comprehensive reform called “Meiji Restoration”, which was followed by an era of major political, economic, and social change in Japan, leading to its modernization and westernization. By 1871, the administrative reorganization successfully dismantled the old feudal system, abolished feudal class privileges and replaced feudal domains with a system of prefectures. During the Meiji period, Japan underwent a rapid transition towards an industrial economy. Besides significant changes in politics, education and economics, the modernization and enlargement of the Imperial Japanese Army played a key role in Japan's expansion abroad.
The Japanese invasion of Taiwan under Qing rule in 1874 in response to the Mudan Incident of 1871 marked the first overseas deployment of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy. By the 1890s, the Imperial Japanese Army had grown to become the most modern army in Asia, bringing Japan dozens of glorious victories.
After consolidating its control over Hokkaidō and annexing the Ryukyu islands, Japan began its territorial expansion. After the First Sino-Japanese War, Taiwan was ceded to Japan. The Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) was another victory for Japan, giving the country control over the southern half of Sakhalin. Korea, following the Japanese invasion of Korea, was also annexed to Japan in 1910.
In the early 20th century, the Taishō era marked Japan’s increasing expansionism. In 1940, Japan joined the Axis powers formed in response to its ally with Germany and Italy through the signing of the Tripartite Pact in Berlin.
As part of Japan's ambition to dominate the Pacific, in 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on a U.S. naval base on Pearl Harbor, followed by other campaigns targeting British armies in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong triggered the outbreak of World War II.
Although World War II which culminated in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 ended with Japan being occupied, giving all its colonies to Allied powers and losing millions of lives, Japan has revived phenomenally from the ashes of this bloody war.
During the post-war recovery period, Japan recorded a period of high growth which transformed the Japanese economy and society significantly. From an isolated nation, Japan had emerged as the most developed and modernized nation in Asia and as an industrialized world power.
Do you think what is the decisive factor for the development of Japan?
And how did Japan recover so quickly after World War II?
Tell us in the comment section below.
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