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The Tokugawa bakufu (Military government, shogunate, whatever you want to call it) came to a certain end in 1868 with the defeat of the Shogun's forces and drafting of the Charter Oath The year 1867 is often given as the start of the period because that is when the 14 year old emperor Mutsuhito succeded his father as emperor, taking the title Meiji (明治) meaning "enlightened rule." The Meiji Restoration, as the revolution came to be known, was ostensibly brought about to restore the emperor's powers from the previous regime. This is not in fact true. The power simply changed hands from the Tokugawa Shogun to a new oligarchy of the daimyo? who defeated him. These oligarchs were mostly from the Satsuma province ([Okubo Toshimichi]? and [Saigo Takamori]?), and the Choshu province ([Ito Hirobumi]?, [Yamagata Aritomo]?, and [Kido Koin]?.) |
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The Tokugawa bakufu (Military government, shogunate, whatever you want to call it) came to a certain end in 1868 with the defeat of the Shogun's forces and drafting of the Charter Oath The year 1867 is often given as the start of the period because that is when the 14-year-old emperor Mutsuhito succeded his father as emperor, taking the title Meiji (明治) meaning "enlightened rule." The Meiji Restoration, as the revolution came to be known, was ostensibly brought about to restore the emperor's powers from the previous regime. This is not in fact true. The power simply changed hands from the Tokugawa Shogun to a new oligarchy of the daimyo? who defeated him. These oligarchs were mostly from the Satsuma province ([Okubo Toshimichi]? and [Saigo Takamori]?), and the Choshu province ([Ito Hirobumi]?, [Yamagata Aritomo]?, and [Kido Koin]?.) |
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1. "Deliberative assemblies shall be widely establinshed and all matters decided by public discussion." This in fact never really happened. A parliament with no real power was established, and the oligarchy remained in real political controlled. On the bright side, they did allow more in the way of public assemblies and political discourse. |
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1. "Deliberative assemblies shall be widely established and all matters decided by public discussion." This in fact never really happened. A parliament with no real power was established, and the oligarchy remained in real political control. On the bright side, they did allow more in the way of public assemblies and political discourse. |
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The Meiji Restoration is most renowned as being the period of Japanese modernization, making it a world superpower by the end of World War I. Considering that the economic structure and production of the country as of 1868 was roughly equivalent to [Elizabethan England]? (In my view, anyway), this is widely regarded as remarkable progress. This process was closely monitored and heftily subsidized by the Meiji government, bringing to power the great zaibatsu? firms, such as Mitsubishi?. Hand in hand, the zaibatsu and government guided the nation, always borrowing technology from the west. Japan gradually took control of much of Asia's markets for finished products, beginning with textiles. The economic structure became very mercantilistic, importing raw materials and exporting finished products. This isn't much of a surprise considering Japan has never had much in the way of raw materials on its home islands to begin with. |
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The Meiji Restoration is most renowned as being the period of Japanese modernization, making Japan a world superpower by the end of World War I. Considering that the economic structure and production of the country as of 1868 were roughly equivalent to those of [Elizabethan England]? (in my view, anyway), this is widely regarded as remarkable progress. This process was closely monitored and heftily subsidized by the Meiji government, bringing to power the great zaibatsu? firms, such as Mitsubishi?. Hand in hand, the zaibatsu and government guided the nation, always borrowing technology from the West. Japan gradually took control of much of Asia's markets for finished products, beginning with textiles. The economic structure became very mercantilistic, importing raw materials and exporting finished products. This isn't much of a surprise considering Japan has never had much in the way of raw materials on its home islands to begin with. |
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Japan's breakthrough into international stardom came about with World War I. While allied with the British, and lending some token support in Pacific region, (gaining some German territory in China in the process) Japan remained largely out of the conflict. After the dust cleared on the war, European powers undertook a massive rebuilding effort, leaving international markets to the U.S. and Japan, which emerged in relatively (stressing relatively) good shape. The European powers could no longer fill the needs of their colonies in Asia, yet alone China and Thailand, leaving those two lucrative markets, along with India, Indonesia, and others, to Japanese manufacturers. |
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Japan's breakthrough into international stardom came about with World War I. While allied with the British, and lending some token support in the Pacific region, (gaining some German territory in China in the process) Japan remained largely out of the conflict. After the dust cleared on the war, European powers undertook a massive rebuilding effort, leaving international markets to the U.S. and Japan, which emerged in relatively (stressing relatively) good shape. The European powers could no longer fill the needs of their colonies in Asia, let alone China and Thailand, leaving those two lucrative markets, along with India, Indonesia, and others, to Japanese manufacturers. |
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