Goal• What were the
impacts of Commodore Perry’s visit to Japan?
What Did the U. S. Want?
Coaling stations.
More trading partners.
A haven for ship-wrecked sailors.
The Treaty of Kanagawa - 1854
The Treaty of Kanagawa - 1854
1. Peace and friendship between the United States and Japan.
2. Opening of two ports to American ships
3. Help for any American ships wrecked on the Japanese coast and
protection for shipwrecked persons
4. Permission for American ships to buy supplies, coal, water, and other necessary provisions in Japanese ports.
March 31, 1854
An Unequal Treaty?
• Convention of Kanagawa 1854 –
diplomatic relations
• Five years later – treaties with most
European nations
• Some Samurai deeply resented
(hated) these “unequal” (unfair)
treaties forced on Japan
In 1862, just before the start of the Meiji period, Tokugawa sent officials and scholars to China to study the situation there. A Japanese recorded in his diary from Shanghai…
The Chinese have become servants to the foreigners. Sovereignty may belong to China but in fact it's no more than a colony of Great Britain and France.
Japan Learns a Lesson
1867 - Mutsuhito establishes a new Gov’t
Meiji Restoration1868 -1912
Chronology1573-1600, “Warring States” - Transitional Era1635, Shogunate forbids Japanese to travel overseas1639, Portugese ships forbidden; Japan closed to outside world1641, Dutch Trading Mission is moved to Nagasaki1600-1868, Tokugawa Period - Centralized Feudalism era1853-54, Perry Mission to “open” Japan1854, Japan concludes friendship treaties with U.S., Britain, France & Netherlands; three ports open to foreign trade1868, Meiji Restoration1877, Satsuma Rebellion1881, Sale of government industries to new zaibatsau1889, Meiji Constitution1894-5,Sino-Japanese War, Japan becomes imperialist power1904-5, Russo-Japanese War1910, colonization of Korea1912, emperor Meji dies
What was the Meiji Restoration?
• See Meiji Charter Oath
IWAKURA MISSION
• 1st Meiji investigation of European and American institutions
• Included Meiji government ministers
• Sought info on technology, education, the army
• Were very impressed with Germany and USA – increased pressure for modernisation
1871-1873
Feudalism Abolished• Mass education based
on American system• Samurai privileges
abolished• Samurai cannot wear
swords in public• Jobs open to all
The armed forces• military conscription was introduced• Western experts were imported to create
new railways, armies, fleets, and industries
• Navy based on Britain’s• Army based on Germany’s
Politics: the constitution
• An authoritarian constitution based on German model 1889, establishing the Diet (parliament)
• Only 1% could vote• By 1871 the daimyo domains had been surrendered
to the throne and turned into prefectures with governors
The first diet convenes 1890
Oligarchy: the Genro
• Real power exercised by an informal Choshu and Satsuma oligarchy called the Genro
• They controlled politics and big business
• The Sat-Cho elite = oligarchs• The Emperor “reigned but did not
rule” despite the constitution
Sino-Japanese War1894-1895
Russo-Japanese War1904-1905
Shinto
How does Shintoism reinforce nationalism?
Religion
• Shinto replaces Buddhism as the state religion
• Why?
Economy:The Zaibatsu
• Zaibatsu: family businesses with close links with the government and military
• Diversified conglomerates• Eventually the big 4 dominated over
50% of stock exchange• Japan did not rely on foreign investment
Mitsubishi
NissanMitsui
Kawasaki
MEIJI RESTORATION: CAUSES> MEIJI RESTORATION> EFFECTS:
-SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC UNREST
-FOREIGN PRESSURE
-DAIMYO AND SAMURAI REVOLT
-STRONG CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
-BUSINESSES ADAPTED WESTERN METHODS
-LEADERS ENCOURAGED INDUSTRIALIZATION
-BUILT AND EMPIRE
-EXTENDED INFLUENCE IN KOREA
-CONFLICT WITH CHINA AND DEFEAT OF RUSSIA; EXPANSION OF INFLUENCE-IMPERIALISM OF EUROPEDCOPIED
Write a thesis statement in response to this question:
“The Meiji restoration in Japan was not a true revolution because ordinary people played little part in the process of
change”
You have 10 minutes to reread your notes and write your thesis!