Responses to Imperialism

Japan Modernizes

• 1. For almost two centuries, Japan isolated itself from the rest of the world. They felt that ______________________ and ____________________ ideas were corrupting society. Only one port, _______________________, remained open for trade, and then only with the Dutch.

ChristianEuropean

Nagasaki

• 2. However, the _______________________ leaders of Japan were not immune to the changing world. ___________________ hardship and ________________ corruption considerably weakened their ability to govern Japan. Then, in April 1853, a large American naval fleet, led by Commodore __________________________ entered Tokyo Bay. With him, Perry had a letter from the American President demanding that Japan end her isolationist policies and begin trading with the US.

Tokugawa

Economicpolitical

Matthew Perry

• 3. While having isolationist policies, Japan was not completely cut off from the rest of the world. They were shocked by the results of the _________________, which showed them what would happen to a strictly isolationist nation. Therefore, they agreed to trade with the Americans. But, it had a high cost. Americans were granted two important rights: first, all Americans in Japan received extraterritorial rights, and second, the US was granted “________________________” status in Japan. That meant that any trade agreement Japan made with another nation would also be with the US.

Opium Wars

most-favored nation

• 4. As foreigners poured into Japan, the mood in the country became unsettled. More and more Japanese lost faith in the Tokugawa’s militaristic government. Finally, in 1867, the shogun stepped down, and the people turned to _________________ the emperor of the time, to help lead the nation. Once in power, he began to swiftly modernize Japan.

Mutsohito

• a. Scholars and other men traveled across the globe searching for the right style of _________________ to use. They finally decided on the ______________ model, which called for a strong central government and large bureaucracy. They established a legislative body, known as the ______________.

• b. These scholars also asked scholars of other nations to go to Japan and help to teach the Japanese about modern _______________________. This led to massive industrial growth in Japan. The government would build factories and then sell them to powerful families. These families became an increasingly important factor in society, and earned the name of __________________________.

governmentGerman

Diet

industry

Zaibatsu

• c. The government also forced the people to accept the concept of _______________, hoping to instill loyalty, honor, and absolute obedience in the people. With this concept, they began to alter their military to model European beliefs.

bushido

• d. Following the ways of the ancient Emperors of Japan, Mutsuhito called his reign the ____________________, meaning “enlightened rule.” Historians refer to this period as the Meiji Restoration of Japan, and it was the quickest a nation went from being a strictly agrarian nation to a highly industrialized one, taking close to _____________ years.

Meiji Era

50

• 5. As she industrialized, Japan began to need more __________________ for their factories. Therefore, like Europe, they turned to ___________________ in order to gain colonies for their use. Most of their colonies were small islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. However, Japan flexed her military muscles and fought two wars of conquest to gain much needed land.

resources

imperialism

•a. The first war they fought was against _______________. This war was known as the Sino-Japanese War. Japan successfully defeated the Chinese, quite convincingly. As a result, Japan gained control of ___________, which it held as a colony until the end of the World War 2. It also gained control of the island of Taiwan.

China

Korea

• b. The second war it fought was what brought world attention to the Japanese. In the Russo-Japanese War, Japan defeated ________________ in 1905. This was the first time that an Asian nation defeated a supposedly stronger European power. As a result, Japan gained partial control of the island of Sakhalin, an important trading port in the northern Pacific Ocean.

Russia

• 6. The Meiji Restoration ended around _______________. By then, Japan was a competing power in the world, and gained more strength as the years of the First World War came and went.

1910