Japan during the Long 19th century

Industrialization & the Rise of Japan

-Story of Two Cultures

on Opposite Paths-

1800 1840 1868 1900

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China

Japan

Tokugawa Era

1600-mid 1800s-Period of peace

• Emphasis on order & conformity rigid class structure, discipline,

loyalty, isolation from outsiders

• Weak emperor strong shogun

Tokugawa Era

Isolation – not stagnation

Economic growth & peace• Dutch Studies• Daimyo's “Alternate Attendance

System”

Samurai lose importance/wealth in comparison to merchants

Late Tokugawa Era

Increased pressure… West sought to trade w/ Japan

• Finally U.S. naval officer, Matthew Perry succeeded in 1853

Flood of Western pressure & influence generally led to factionalism & tension

• Re-establish isolation? turn to tradition? doubts about Tokugawa handling? modernize?

“Revere the emperor, expel the barbarians”Russian meeting 1779British frigate in 1808U.S. Morrison 1837U.S. Commodore Perry 1853

Familiar Conditions?

1. Crumbling social structure2. Foreign pressure

? “Revolutions are about economics.” ?

• In comparison to China, what can Japan do differently to be more successful?

Late Tokugawa Era

Spark… Earthquakes Recession

Political maneuvering & brief civil war in 1868

Result?

1868: “Meiji Restoration”• Shogun overthrown• Emperor restored to power

Meiji Restoration

1. Selective borrowing from West2. Effort at modernization & reform

• Industrialization• Constitutional monarchy• Compulsory education & medical

advances

Meiji Foreign Policy

World Power?

Imperialism1. Sino-Japanese War -2. Russo-Japanese War –

Japan acquired Korea, Taiwan, & other islands

Timeline

1600-1868 = Tokugawa Shogunate• Shogun rule, era of peace & relative

isolation• 1800-1850: growth of “Dutch Studies” &

Western efforts to open trade• 1853: Commodore Perry opens Japan

1868-1912 = Meiji Era• Imperial rule, reform, industrialization• 1905: Russo-Japanese War

Compare and contrast Japan and Russia during the process of industrialization.

RUSSIA Tsar in total control part of wider process of

change• Emancipation of serfs• urban working class grows

state initiated industrialization• no middle class or capital

factories huge but not technically advanced• railroads – 1870s• export of grain to West• high tariffs to protect industry• expansion of iron & coal industry• By 1900, 4th in world steel

production

Western investors build factories• ½ of industry foreign owned

JAPAN Emperor gains power part of broader Meiji reforms

state initiated industrialization• send samurai overseas to learn

technology & science• government banks fund trade &

provide capital• state built railroads, mines,

metallurgical industries• guilds abolished

depended on imports of raw materials• very dependent on world economic

situation• Zaibatsu-government cooperation

limited foreign intervention