Rise ofModern Japan

Preview of Events

Guide to Reading

Section PreviewWestern intervention opened Japan totrade, and the interaction between Japanand Western nations led to a modernindustrial Japanese society.

• Under military pressure from the UnitedStates, Japan signed the Treaty of Kana-gawa, which opened two ports to West-ern trade. (p. 397)

• Relations with the Western powersbrought on the collapse of the shogu-nate in Japan. (p. 398)

• The Meiji government attempted tomodernize Japan’s political, economic,and social structures. (p. 398)

• By the early 1900s, Japan strengthenedits military and started building anempire. (p. 401)

• Japanese traditional culture was greatlyinfluenced by the culture of Westernnations. (p. 402)

Content Vocabularyconcession, prefecture

Academic Vocabulary compensate, equip, succession

People to Identify Matthew Perry, Millard Fillmore, Mutsuhito, Ito Hirobumi

Places to LocateEdo Bay, Kyoto, Edo, Port Arthur

Reading Objectives1. Describe the effect of the Meiji

Restoration on Japan.2. Identify the steps Japan took to

become an imperialist nation.

Reading StrategyCategorizing Information Create a tablelike the one below listing the promisescontained in the Charter Oath of 1868and the provisions of the Meiji constitu-tion of 1890.

California Standards in This SectionReading this section will help you master these California History–Social Science standards.

10.4: Students analyze the patterns of global changein the era of New Imperialism in at least two ofthe following regions or countries: Africa, South-east Asia, China, India, Latin America, and thePhilippines.

10.4.1: Describe the rise of industrial economies andtheir link to imperialism and colonialism (e.g.,the role played by national security and strategicadvantage; moral issues raised by the search fornational hegemony, Social Darwinism, and the

missionary impulse; material issues such as land,resources, and technology).

10.4.3: Explain imperialism from the perspective of thecolonizers and the colonized and the variedimmediate and long-term responses by the peo-ple under colonial rule.

10.4.4: Describe the independence struggles of the colo-nized regions of the world, including the roles ofleaders, such as Sun Yat-sen in China, and theroles of ideology and religion.

CHAPTER 7 East Asia Under Challenge396

Charter Oath Constitution

1853Commodore Perryarrives in Japan

1905Japan defeatsRussia

1874Japan pursuesimperialist policy

1871Government seizes daimyo’s landsto strengthen executive power

1889Adoption of Meijiconstitution

✦1850 ✦1860 ✦1870 ✦1880 ✦1890 ✦1900 ✦1910

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An End to Isolation

Under military pressure from the UnitedStates, Japan signed the Treaty of Kanagawa, whichopened two ports to Western trade.

Reading Connection How would your life be affected ifthe United States stopped importing goods from other coun-tries? Read to find out why Japan decided to open its ports totrade with other countries.

By the end of the nineteenth century, Japan wasemerging as a modern imperialist power. The Japa-nese accomplished this goal by following the exampleof Western nations. At the same time, they wanted tobe certain that Japanese values were preserved.

By 1800, the Tokugawa shogunate had ruled theJapanese islands for two hundred years. It haddriven out foreign traders and missionaries and iso-lated the country from virtually all contact with theoutside world. The Tokugawa maintained formalrelations only with Korea. Informal trading linkswith Dutch and Chinese merchants continued atNagasaki. Foreign ships, which were beginning toprowl along the Japanese coast in increasing num-bers, were driven away.

To the Western powers, the continued isolation ofJapanese society was a challenge. Western nationswere convinced that the expansion of trade on aglobal basis would benefit all nations. They nowbegan to approach Japan in the hope of opening it upto foreign economic interests.

In 1890, Japanese leaders issued a decree to beread to every schoolchild:

“You, our subjects, be filial to your parents,affectionate to your brothers and sisters, as hus-bands and wives be harmonious, as friends true;bear yourselves in modesty and moderation;extend your goodness to all; pursue learning andcultivate arts, and thereby develop intellectual fac-ulties and perfect moral powers; furthermore,advance public good and promote common inter-ests; always respect the Constitution and observethe laws; should emergency arise, offer your-selves to the State; and thus guard and maintainthe prosperity of our imperial throne.”

The first foreign power to succeed with Japan wasthe United States. In the summer of 1853, an Ameri-can fleet of four warships under CommodoreMatthew Perry arrived in Edo Bay (now Tokyo Bay).They sought, as Perry said, “to bring a singular andisolated people into the family of civilized nations.”

Perry brought with him a letter from PresidentMillard Fillmore. The U.S. president asked for bettertreatment of sailors shipwrecked on the Japaneseislands. (Foreign sailors shipwrecked in Japan weretreated as criminals and exhibited in public cages.)He also requested the opening of foreign relationsbetween the United States and Japan.

A few months later, Perry, accompanied by aneven larger fleet, returned to Japan for an answer.Shogunate officials had been discussing the issue.Some argued that contacts with the West would hurtJapan. Others pointed to the military superiority ofthe United States and recommended concessions, orpolitical compromises. The question was ultimatelydecided by the guns of Commodore Perry’s ships.

Under military pressure, Japan agreed to theTreaty of Kanagawa. It provided for the return ofshipwrecked American sailors, the opening of twoports to Western traders, and the establishment of aU.S. consulate in Japan.

In 1858, U.S. consul Townsend Harris signed amore detailed treaty. It called for the opening of sev-eral new ports to U.S. trade and residence, as well asan exchange of ministers. Similar treaties were soonsigned by Japan and several European nations.

Identifying What benefits did theTreaty of Kanagawa grant the United States?Reading Check

Commodore Perry meeting Japanese in 1853

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Resistance to the New Order

Relations with the Western powers brought onthe collapse of the shogunate in Japan.

Reading Connection Remember how China’s govern-ment faced opposition because it failed to deal with foreigners?Read to find out why the Japanese shogunate was replaced.

The decision to open relations with the West wasvery controversial with some Japanese. Resistancewas especially strong among the samurai warriors intwo territories in the south, Satsuma and Choshu.Both had strong military traditions, and neither hadbeen exposed to Western military pressure. In 1863,the Sat-Cho alliance (from Satsuma-Choshu) madethe shogun promise to end relations with the West.

The rebellious groups soon showed their ownweakness, however. When Choshu troops firedon Western ships in the Strait of Shimono-seki, which leads into the Sea of Japan, theWesterners fired back and destroyed theChoshu fortifications.

The incident convinced the rebelliousforces that they needed to strengthen theirmilitary. They also became more determinednot to give in to the West. As a result, Sat-Choleaders urged the shogun to take a strongerposition against the foreigners.

The Sat-Cho leaders demanded that the shogunresign and the emperor be restored. In January 1868,their armies attacked the shogun’s palace in Kyotoand proclaimed that the authority of the emperor hadbeen restored. After a few weeks, the shogun’s forcescollapsed, ending the shogunate system.

Identifying What events led to thecollapse of the shogunate system in Japan?

The Meiji Restoration

The Meiji government attempted to modernizeJapan’s political, economic, and social structures.

Reading Connection How would you describe the dif-ferences in American parties? Read to find out how politicalparties began in Japan in the late 1800s.

The Sat-Cho leaders had genuinely mistrusted theWest, but they soon realized that Japan must changeto survive. The new leaders embarked on a policy of

Reading Check

reform that transformed Japan into a modern indus-trialized nation.

The symbol of the new era was the young emperorMutsuhito. He called his reign the Meiji (MAY•jee),or “Enlightened Rule.” This period has thus becomeknown as the Meiji Restoration.

The Meiji ruler was controlled by the Sat-Choleaders, just as earlier emperors had been controlledby the shogunate. In recognition of the real source ofpolitical power, the capital was moved from Kyoto toEdo (now named Tokyo), the location of the newleaders. The imperial court was moved to theshogun’s palace in the center of the city.

Transformation of Japanese Politics Once inpower, the new leaders moved first to abolish the oldorder and to strengthen power in their hands. To

undercut the power of the daimyo—the localnobles—the new leaders stripped these great

lords of the titles to their lands in 1871. Ascompensation, the lords were given gov-ernment bonds and were named gover-nors of the territories formerly under theircontrol. The territories were now calledprefectures.

The Meiji reformers wanted a modernpolitical system based on the Western model.

In 1868, the new leaders signed a Charter Oath,in which they promised to create a new legisla-

ture within the framework of continued imperial rule.Although senior positions in the new governmentwere given to the daimyo, the key posts were held bymodernizing leaders from the Sat-Cho group. Thecountry was divided into 75 prefectures. (The numberwas reduced to 45 in 1889 and remains at that numbertoday.)

During the next 20 years, the Meiji governmentundertook a careful study of Western political sys-tems. A commission under Ito Hirobumi traveled toGreat Britain, France, Germany, and the UnitedStates to study their governments.

As the process evolved, two main factionsappeared: the Liberals and the Progressives. The Lib-erals wanted political reform based on the Westernliberal democratic model, with supreme authorityvested in the parliament as the representative of thepeople. The Progressives wanted power to be sharedbetween the legislative and executive branches, withthe executive branch having more control.

During the 1870s and 1880s, these factions foughtfor control. In the end, the Progressives won. TheMeiji constitution, adopted in 1889, was modeled

398 CHAPTER 7 East Asia Under Challenge

Mutsuhito

CORBIS

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399CHAPTER 7 East Asia Under Challenge

Meiji Restoration: Birth of Modern Japan

Politics

Economics

Social Structure

Changes and Events

• Imperial rule reestablished

• Capital moved to Edo

• Most power in executive branch (emperor, prime minister, cabinet)

• Daimyo’s lands given to peasants

• Many farmers, unable to pay new landtax, forced into tenancy

• Industrialization encouraged

• New imperial army created

• Universal system of education developed

• Western practices adopted

The Meiji government beganreforms that transformed Japan’spolitical, economic, and social structures.

1. Cause and Effect Whatchanges noted on the chartmost reflect the influence ofWestern ideas upon Japan?

2. Making Generalizations Howare the changes in the threeareas of politics, economics, andsocial structure interrelated?

after that of Imperial Germany. Most authority wasgiven to the executive branch. In theory, the emperorexercised all executive authority. In practice, he was afigurehead. Executive authority rested in the hands ofa prime minister and his cabinet of ministers. Theseministers were handpicked by the Meiji leaders.

Under the new constitution, the upper houseincluded royal appointments and elected nobles,while the lower house was elected. The two houseswere to have equal legislative powers.

The final result was a political system that wasdemocratic in form but authoritarian in practice.Although modern in external appearance, it was stilltraditional, because power remained in the hands ofa ruling oligarchy (the Sat-Cho leaders). Although anew set of institutions and values had emerged, thesystem allowed the traditional ruling class to keep itsinfluence and economic power.

Meiji Economics The Meiji leaders also set up a newsystem of land ownership. A land reform programmade the traditional lands of the daimyo into the pri-vate property of the peasants. The daimyo, as men-tioned, were compensated with government bonds.

The Meiji leaders levied a new land tax, which wasset at an annual rate of 3 percent of the estimatedvalue of the land. The new tax was an excellentsource of revenue for the government. However, itwas quite burdensome for the farmers.

Under the old system, farmers had paid a fixedpercentage of their harvest to the landowners. In badharvest years, they had owed little or nothing. Under

the new system, the farmers had to pay the land taxevery year, regardless of the quality of the harvest.

As a result, in bad years, many peasants wereunable to pay their taxes. This forced them to selltheir lands to wealthy neighbors and become tenantfarmers who paid rent to the new owners. By the endof the nineteenth century, about 40 percent of allfarmers were tenants.

With its budget needs met by the land tax, the gov-ernment turned to the promotion of industry. Thechief goal of the reformers was to create a “rich coun-try and a strong state” to guarantee Japan’s survivalagainst the challenge of Western nations.

The Meiji government gave subsidies to needyindustries, provided training and foreign advisers,improved transportation and communications, andstarted a new educational system that stressedapplied science. In contrast to China, Japan was ableto achieve results with little reliance on foreignmoney. By 1900, Japan’s industrial sector was begin-ning to grow. Besides tea and silk, other key indus-tries were weapons, shipbuilding, and sake(SAH•kee), or Japanese rice wine.

From the start, a unique feature of the Meiji modelof industrial development was the close relationshipbetween government and private business. The gov-ernment encouraged the development of new indus-tries by providing businesspeople with money andprivileges. Once an individual enterprise or industrywas on its feet, it was turned over entirely to privateownership. Even then, however, the government con-tinued to play some role in the industry’s activities.

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For a recital at a music school in 1889, Japanesemusicians played Western music and wore West-ern clothing. In what other ways did Japaneseculture change under the Meiji government?

History

Building a Modern Social Structure The Meijireformers also transformed other institutions. A keyfocus of their attention was the military. The reform-ers were well aware that Japan would need a modernmilitary force to compete with the Western powers.“Strengthen the Army”—that was their motto.

A new imperial army based on compulsory mili-tary service was formed in 1871. All Japanese mennow served for three years. The new army was wellequipped with modern weapons.

Education also changed. The Meiji leaders realizedthe need for universal education, including instruc-tion in modern technology. A new ministry of educa-tion, established in 1871, guided the changes.

After a few years of experimentation, the edu-cation ministry adopted the American model of elementary schools, secondary schools, and univer-sities. It brought foreign specialists to Japan to teachin the new schools. In the meantime, it sent brightstudents to study abroad.

Much of the content of the new educational sys-tem was Western in inspiration. However, a greatdeal of emphasis was still placed on the virtues ofloyalty to the family and community. Loyalty to theemperor was especially valued. Both teachers andstudents were required to bow before a portrait of theemperor each day.

Daily Life and Women’s Rights Japanese societyin the late Tokugawa Era, before the Meiji reforms,could be described by two words: community andhierarchy. The lives of all Japanese people were deter-mined by their membership in a family, village, andsocial class. At the same time, Japanese society washighly hierarchical. Belonging to a particular socialclass determined a person’s occupation and socialrelationships with others. Women were especially

limited by the “three obediences”: child to father,wife to husband, and widow to son. Whereas hus-bands could easily obtain a divorce, wives could not.Marriages were arranged, and the average maritalage of females was sixteen years. Females did notshare inheritance rights with males. Few receivedany education outside the family.

The Meiji Restoration had a marked effect on thetraditional social system in Japan. Special privilegesfor the aristocracy were abolished. For the first time,women were allowed to seek an education. As theeconomy shifted from an agricultural to an industrialbase, thousands of Japanese began to get new jobsand establish new social relationships.

Western fashions became the rage in elite circles.The ministers of the first Meiji government wereknown as the “dancing cabinet” because of their lovefor Western-style ballroom dancing. The game ofbaseball was imported from the United States.

Young people were increasingly influenced byWestern culture and values. A new generation ofmodern boys and girls began to imitate the clothingstyles, eating habits, hairstyles, and social practices ofEuropean and American young people.

The social changes of the Meiji Restoration alsohad an unattractive side. In the effort to industrialize,many commoners were ruthlessly exploited in coalmines and textile mills. Workers labored up to 20hours a day, often under conditions of incrediblehardship. Coal miners employed on a small island inthe harbor of Nagasaki worked in temperatures up to130 degrees Fahrenheit (54 degrees C). When theytried to escape, they were shot.

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Sometimes people resisted such conditions. A fewwere beginning to demand attention to humanrights. A popular rights movement of the 1870s laidthe groundwork for one of Japan’s first political par-ties. It campaigned for a government that wouldreflect the will of the people.

The transformation of Japan did not detach thecountry entirely from its old values. Loyalty to fam-ily and community was still taught. They also had afirm legal basis in the 1889 constitution, which lim-ited the right to vote to men. The Civil Code of 1898played down individual rights and placed womenwithin the context of their family role.

Explaining How was Japan’s govern-ment structured under the Meiji constitution?

Joining the Imperialist Nations

By the early 1900s, Japan strengthened its mil-itary and started building an empire.

Reading Connection Why did the British set up coloniesin America? Read to find out why Japan wanted colonies.

We have seen that the Japanese modeled some oftheir domestic policies on Western practices. They alsocopied the imperialist Western approach to foreignaffairs. Japan, after all, is small, lacking in resources,and densely populated. There is no natural room forexpansion. To some Japanese, the lessons of historywere clear. Western nations had amassed wealth andpower not only because of their political and economicsystems, but also because of their colonies. Coloniesprovided them with sources of raw materials, inex-pensive labor, and markets. To compete, Japan wouldalso have to expand.

Beginnings of Expansion The Japanese began theirexpansion close to home. In 1874, Japan claimed con-trol of the Ryukyu (ree•YOO•KYOO) Islands, whichhad long been subject to the Chinese Empire. Twoyears later, Japan’s navy forced the Koreans to opentheir ports to Japanese trade.

The Chinese had long controlled Korea and wereconcerned by Japan’s growing influence there. Dur-ing the 1880s, Chinese-Japanese rivalry over Koreaintensified. In 1894, the two nations went to war.Japanese ships destroyed the Chinese fleet andseized the Manchurian city of Port Arthur.

In the treaty that ended the war, the Manchu rulersof China recognized the independence of Korea.

Reading Check

600 kilometers0Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection

600 miles0

N

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30°N

20°N

50°N

140°E

150°E

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Shikoku

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Liaodong Peninsula

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MONGOLIA

JAPAN

KOREA

CHINA

TAIWAN

MANCHURIA

RUSSIA

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Tokyo (Edo)

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Japanese Expansion,1870–1918

Japanese Empire, 1870

Japanese acquisitionsto 1910Japanese spheres ofinfluence, 1918

They also ceded Taiwan and the Liaodong Peninsula,with its strategic naval base at Port Arthur, to Japan.Shortly thereafter, the Japanese gave the LiaodongPeninsula back to China. In the early twentieth cen-tury, however, the Japanese returned to the offensive.

Rivalry with Russia over influence in Korea hadled to increasingly strained relations between Japanand Russia. The Russians thought little of the Japa-nese and even welcomed the possibility of war. Oneadviser to Nicholas II said, “We will only have tothrow our caps at them and they will run away.”

401CHAPTER 7 East Asia Under Challenge

In the late nineteenth century, Japan transformed itself intoan imperialist nation.

1. Interpreting Maps Between 1870 and 1910, approxi-mately how much land did Japan acquire throughexpansion?

2. Applying Geography Skills What geographic factorsmight have influenced Japan’s expansion?

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War with Russia In 1904, Japan launched a surpriseattack on the Russian naval base at Port Arthur,which Russia had taken from China in 1898. WhenJapanese forces moved into Manchuria and theLiaodong Peninsula, Russian troops proved to be nomatch for them. The Russian commander in chiefsaid, “It is impossible not to admire the bravery andactivity of the Japanese. The attack of the Japanese isa continuous succession of waves, and they neverrelax their efforts by day or by night.”

In the meantime, Russia had sent its Baltic fleethalfway around the world to East Asia, only to bedefeated by the new Japanese navy off the coast ofJapan. After their defeat, the Russians agreed to ahumiliating peace in 1905. They gave the LiaodongPeninsula back to Japan, as well as the southern partof Sakhalin (SA•kuh•LEEN), an island north of Japan.The Japanese victory stunned the world. Japan hadbecome a leading world power.

U.S. Relations During the next few years, Japanconsolidated its position in northeastern Asia. Itestablished a sphere of influence in Korea. In 1905,the United States recognized Japan’s role in Korea inreturn for Japanese recognition of American author-ity in the Philippines. In 1910, Japan annexed Korea

402 CHAPTER 7 East Asia Under Challenge

The Japanese surprise attack on Port Arthur in 1904reflected the growing power of Japan and its navy.What impact did the Japanese victory have onRussia? How did it affect relations between Japanand the United States?

History

outright. Mutual suspicion between the two coun-tries was growing, however. The Japanese resentedU.S. efforts to restrict immigration. Moreover, someAmericans began to fear Japanese power in EastAsia. In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt made a“gentlemen’s agreement” with Japan that essentiallystopped Japanese immigration to the United States.

Explaining Why did Japan turn itselfinto an imperialist power?

Culture in an Era of Transition

Japanese traditional culture was greatly influ-enced by the culture of Western nations.

Reading Connection Do you own anything made inJapan? Read to learn about early cultural contact between theUnited States and Japan.

The wave of Western technology and ideas thatentered Japan in the last half of the nineteenth cen-tury greatly altered the shape of traditional Japaneseculture. Literature was especially affected. Dazzledby European literature, Japanese authors begantranslating and imitating the imported models.

Reading Check

Culver Pictures, Inc.

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403CHAPTER 7 East Asia Under Challenge

Checking for Understanding1. Vocabulary Define: concession, pre-

fecture, compensate, equip, succession.

2. People Identify: Matthew Perry, Mil-lard Fillmore, Mutsuhito, Ito Hirobumi.

3. Places Locate: Edo Bay, Kyoto, Edo,Port Arthur.

Reviewing Big Ideas4. List the professionals that the Japanese

invited from abroad to teach “modern”skills.

Critical Thinking5. Examining

Trends How did the Japanese landreform program create internal problems?

6. Cause and Effect Create a diagramlisting the results of Western influenceon Japanese culture.

Analyzing Visuals7. Study the image on page 400. Is the

woman playing the piano looking atWestern musical notation? Is there any-thing in the image showing the musictranslated into Japanese? Why?

CA HI 1

8. Persuasive Writing Pretend thatyou wish to study in China or Japan.Write a letter of application statingwhat you hope to learn, and howyou would overcome any culturalbarriers. CA 10WA2.5

Western Influenceon Japanese Culture

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Study CentralHISTORY

This 1853 print, by famous artists Hiroshige and Toyokuni, shows the Japanese love of their past and traditions. It illustrates a scene from a beloved medieval tale written by a Japanese princess.

The novel showed the greatest degree of change.People began to write novels that were patternedafter the French tradition of realism. Naturalist Japa-nese authors tried to present existing social conditionsand the realities of war as objectively as possible.

Other aspects of Japanese culture were alsochanged. The Japanese invited technicians, engi-neers, architects, and artists from Europe and theUnited States to teach their “modern” skills to eagerJapanese students. The Japanese copied Westernartistic techniques and styles. Huge buildings of steeland reinforced concrete, adorned with Greekcolumns, appeared in many Japanese cities.

A national reaction had begun by the end of thenineteenth century, however. Many Japanese artistsbegan to return to older techniques. In 1889, theTokyo School of Fine Arts was established to promote

traditional Japanese art. Japanese artists searched fora new but truly Japanese means of expression. Someartists tried to bring together native and foreign tech-niques. Others returned to past artistic traditions.

Cultural exchange also went the other way. Japa-nese arts and crafts, porcelains, textiles, fans, andwoodblock prints became fashionable in the West.Japanese art influenced Western painters. Japanesegardens, with their use of rocks and falling water,became popular in the United States.

Describing What effect did Japaneseculture have on other nations?

Reading Check

Private Collection/Bridgeman Art Library/SuperStock

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