Japan and England

Japan was a country that was completely closed to contact with European countries up until 1853. At this time Japan did not have manufacturing industries, steam engines, railways, or telegraphic communication, and the traditional weapons of war of its samurai military were the sword, the bow, and muzzle-loading cannon. It was not up until 1854 that Japan began to modernize as compared to England which was far more modernized than Japan. There were many factors that contributed to such modernization to occur in Japan including the arrival of Commodre Perry, increase in trade and population, change in power and beliefs, and the change of the social structure.

It was not until Commodore Perry arrived to Japan with a fleet of steam powered ships in 1853, that initiated the isolated country Japan to modernize. Perry had witnessed that Japan at his point, was rigidly conformist, technologically backward, and

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At the top of the order was the Emperor, then the samurai whose leader was the Shogun, then below the samurai were the common people, in order of status, rice farmers, craftsmen, artisans, fishermen, and finally, merchants who were all though of lowly by the samurai.

In conclusion, it is evident that there a vital factors for a country to become modernized as Japan had. As Japans population grew, their main source of rice became scarce as it was Japans food crop and due to very limited foreign trade the food became scarce, and so the tax levies rose. On the other, England like other European countires had a completely different social structure to Japan, they had individual freedom, which ensured equal opportunity. No one could climb the social ladder. The Shogun wanted social stability by keeping Japanese people based on a social order.

Another factor for modernization, was the need for a non-rigid social structure. England had a form of unified national government and Japan did not follow in these footsteps until they were forced upon Western ideas and Culture by Commodore Perry, Japan was in need of improvement for their countires economy, military and social form, and didn’t want any feuds witch America, thus they accepted to change when Commodore Perry had arrived the second time. Unlike Japan, England had trade agreements with other countries, thus new ideas and technology were created as the power and the economy of the country increased. At his point, England had already developed an urban culture, as their population also increased and the cities began to grow larger, factories were built, transport and trade increased. military-feudal country that had a large agricultural society and had been almost totally closed to the outside world since 1638. Overall, if a country has trade occurring with other countries, has population increase, a non-rigid social structure, then a country can expand into a urban society as Japan had by using European ideas and technology to improve the economy and power of the country. Thus the growth of the population was vital for a country to develop from a rural to an urban culture and hence to modernize a society.

The increase in population also took a step towards modernization. Because people had freedom, they could trade better, and accept new ideas and technology.

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Approximate Word count = 653
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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