Japan's change from being an isolationist state
"Japan was a bright comet suddenly tracing a path across the sky, exploding into the vision of an outside world that for centuries had hardly taken notice of it" (Duus 3). While most nations to the west of the land of the rising sun took time to reach their position as a superpower, Japan accomplished the task in a period of a generation. As a result of Commodore Perry's arrival on the island nation along with other European nations forcing Japan into commerce with the West, Japan had completely altered its entire structure of government, culture, and military. Japan had seen the power and strength of the western nations and reorganized itself to mirror these superpowers. The Meiji Restoration period brought about many changes to the traditionalist way of existence on the island, and the incorporation of these new and western ideas was quicker than anyone could have expected. Before the West knew what had occurred, Japan had built itself up a military and government that vied with any European nation. It was, in fact, the influence of the West that changed Japan from an isolationist state into the militaristic superpower it had become in the first half of the twentieth century. Before the arrival of Commodore Perry and his
In the same year, the reigning lord of Choshu ordered the firing upon of any foreign vessel crossing the straights of Shimonoseki. Rather than take this humiliation of running out of oil, Japan quickly tried negotiations, yet all ended in failing to change the mind of the United States. A class of noble warriors was unnecessary in a time of tranquility and concord. The attack was sudden, and no official declaration of war was presented. The Meiji era was the point in Japanese history in which it transformed from a traditionalist state, ignorant of foreign culture, to a nation that mirrored the great nations of the time, and the construct of those nations' culture, government, and military. Japan received permission from France's Vichy government to move Japanese forces into what are now Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. "Japan assumed responsibility for Korea's diplomatic relations and dispatched advisors to supervise its internal political, administrative, and military affairs" (Duus 190). The conditions of the Treaty of Shimonoseki were that,[. From 1871 to 1873, leaders of the Meiji went on an expedition to the west, in order to fully understand the customs and technology of Europe and America, and bring the acquired information back to Japan, so that the nation might advance itself. Without America's oil, Japan would soon run out of their reserves. It was this desire for increased knowledge that would initialize the first changes in the Japanese socio-political structure. Perry maintained that the letter be received in Nagasaki within three days, or he would deliver it himself using the force of his fleet (25). Therefore, in 1876, Japan had used gunboat tactics to open trade with Korea, much like Commodore Perry had done to Japan itself not twenty years earlier. Japan was insulted that this same section of land in which Russia had told Japan not to take was the land that was now being moved in upon by the Russian armies (Duus 130). In the last treaty with Russia, the island of Sakhalin was split in two, with Japan getting the southern half and Russia getting the northern.
Common topics in this essay:
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Choshu Satsuma,
Liaotung Peninsula,
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Korea Japanese,
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Russian British,
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western nations,
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natural resources,
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administration single source,
policy administration single,
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Acceptance Essays
