Japanese ImperialismAnd the Encounter with

KoreaFebruary 6, 2014

ReviewWhat was the Meiji Restoration?

How did the Meiji government create nationalism in Japan?

Was the Meiji government democratic? (pp. 353-55)

Could most Japanese adults vote?

Did the Parliament have much real power?

Creating a new JapanA new leadership was able to move Japan in new directions faster than Japan would have moved if it had not had a change in the ruling elite. They were able to

Create a new sense of being Japanese (promoting a national identity)

Create a modern economy (a capitalist and industrializing economy)—industrialization.

Create an empire, putting Japan at the same level as the imperial Western powers.

Japan’s Industrialization

How was Japan able to begin industrializing so quickly, the first in Asia to do so? (pp. 355-57)

Used agricultural surplus, which it tapped into through the land tax, to build textile factories as well as the technology needed to build ships and railroads. (p. 352)

Sold government-owned industries to private businessmen in the 1880s. (p. 356)

Kept labour costs low by hiring young women from poor villages to work in urban factories.

Earned foreign exchange through textile exports.

creating nationalismSeparated Shinto from Buddhism, and linked Shinto shrines in a national hierarchy., with standardized rites

Compulsory education taught young Japanese that they were Japanese (taught a national history, a national language, etc.) Even Ainu and Okinawans were told that they were actually Japanese.

By eliminating hereditary classes, they fostered a sense of national community.

universal male conscription also fostered a new national identity.

cultural change (p. 358)

• samurai hair-cut is eliminated. Men started wearing their hair long in front, and short in the back.

• the Meiji Empress stops blackening her teeth

• Mixed-bathing in public is discouraged

• Japanese start eating meat. (p. 348)

• Western martial music, and the songs of Stephen Foster, become popular.

• Religious freedom is allowed (Shinto is defined as not a religion, and therefore eligible for state support)

Religious ChangeShinto is separated from Buddhism (p. 351)

State Shinto (defined as non-religious) is separated from sect Shinto (defined as religious denominations)

Yasukuni Shrine was built in 1879 as a state Shinto shrine. National Shinto rituals are promoted.

Christianity is legalized again (in 1873) --after almost three centuries. Limited freedom of religion recognized.

More emphasis is placed on Confucian values than during the Tokugawa period.

How did Japanmodernize so quickly?

New leadership: young, flexible, dedicated to national security, and to utilizing whatever means from whatever source, to achieve that goal of national security.

Agricultural productivity increases during Tokugawa period gave Meiji Japan the surplus it needed to take people off the land and put them into industry

samurai had already left the land behind and had grow accustomed to operating as bureaucrats

Rivalry between han (feudal domains) prepared Japanese to cope with the competitive international environment they encountered in the 19th century.

Japan in 1900 vrs China in 1900

was run by modernizing elite

had a modern military, and the beginnings of a modern economy

had established a modern educational system

had adopted nationalism and strengthened national unity

Even looked different----Western dress, etc. became popular

no foreign “ concessions” . Not a semi-colonyInstead Japan itself was gaining an empire

Japan Becomes an Imperial Power

Began incorporating Hokkaidō into Japan proper.

1879--deposed the king of the Ryūkyūs. What happened to the Ryūkyūs? (p. 359-60)

1894-95 1st Sino-Japanese War ends with Taiwan in Japanese hands, and Japan replacing China as the dominant power in Korea. What else did Japan gain from that victory? (pp. 361)

When did Taiwan become a Japanese colony? (What role did Nitobe play?)

1904-05 Russo-Japanese War allows Japan to replace Russia as the dominant foreign power in Manchuria.

Forced modernizationand Japanese women

formal public education is made available for women.

young women provided much of the labour power for Japan’ s textile factories.

Japanese women were told they should strive to become “ a good wife and a wise mother.”

They were denied any role in politics and didn’ t get the right to vote until after 1945.

Japan’ s empire

Map available in an article by Mark Selden on East Asian regionalism from the 16th through the 21st centuries, which can be found at

http://www.japanfocus.org/-Mark-Selden/3061

the First Sino-Japanese War

http://sinojapanesewar.com/pyongyang.htm

You can find more woodblock print depictions of the First Sino-Japanese War from a Japanese point of view at

http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/throwing_off_asia_02/

Traditional Korean Society

(Ebrey, p. 364) An hereditary social order, with the Confucian scholar elite (yangban) at the top, follow by

military officials

Jungin [technical experts]

sons of secondary wives

local clerks

commoners

the lowest class, including slaves (p. 380)

Korea: 19th-century

problemschild kings and in-law government (Ebrey, p. 363-64)

corruption in the tax system (especially the “ ever-normal granary” ) (Ebrey, p. 369)

population growth up to the limits of pre-modern agricultural technology. (p. 364—Increased population density also led to more frequent epidemics, and land shortages.)

religious challenges to Confucianism:

Catholicism (even before there were missionaries in Korea) and Donghak (Eastern Learning) (Ebrey, pp. 364, 369)

Donghak: a new religion

Korea’ s first indigenous organized religion, founded by Choe Jeu. (p. 369)

Preached monotheism and social equality.

Choe was executed because he promoted his own rituals, which were not approved by the government.

However, his religion survived him and went underground for a few decades.

The Daewŏn’gunand foreign visitors

Who was the Daewon’gun? (p. 364). He controlled the government from 1864 to 1873.

He tried to strengthen royal authority, upsetting the balance between the court and the yangban (the aristocrats who controlled the bureaucracy). (p. 369-70)

He persecuted Catholics, including having French priests killed. That brought Western naval forces to Korean shores. (p. 370)

He refused to negotiate with foreigners.

“ Resist the Westerners”

http://cfile236.uf.daum.net/image/1411B7344C54C66A385E56

Korea loses its autonomy

King Gojong was forced to open Korea to the Japanese and then to Westerners, starting with the Ganghwa Treaty of 1876, an unequal treaty. (Ebrey, pp.373)

Attempts at radical reform, such as the 1884 failed coup, failed for lack of popular support and lack of support among the ruling elite (the yangban). (pp.374-5)

China sent Yuan Shikai to try to both make sure Korea stayed in China’s camp and help Korea resist the Japanese and the West. (Ebrey, p. 375)

The Donghak Rebellion (1894-95) led to a Sino-Japanese War, and Japan replacing China as the dominant power on the Korean peninsula. (p.376-77)

Why was Korea unprepared?

Korea lacked the financial resources needed to modernize the military and the economy

Korea had a government that was remarkably stable (that’ s how it lasted five centuries) but did not allow much room for innovation. (The king and the yangban checked each other’ s actions) [p. 378]

Having a Chinese resident in Seoul in the 1880s (Yuan Shikai) limited Korean freedom of action.

Koreans were more committed to their culture than to their nation. (Nationalism didn’ t exist yet.)