The Meiji Restoration was a revolutionary period during which Japan was transformed from a feudal state into a modern state. The opening of Japan's ports to Western colonial fleets showed the weakness of Tokugawa and triggered nationalist movements. In 1867 pro-imperial daimyo suggested that Tokuga...

The Tokugawa period of Japanese history was a time of rigid class stratification. The Weak Body of a Useless Woman: Matsuo Taseko and the Meiji Restoration by Anne Walthall deals with the transformation from the age of the samurai to the modern; from the Shogunate to Empirical rule and the...

"From Feudalism to Military dominance to Constitutional Democracy", Japan's history is an insightful roadmap of how she developed into the Japanese modern state that is apparent today. Examining Japan's past experiences as a nation, five of the most crucial events of history are...

INTRODUCTION Japan is geographically described as having 47 prefectures, with 4 distinct main islands, Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. The distance separating Korea and Kyushu is only 200 km while the distance separating Hokkaido and Sakhalin is only 40 km. The formation of the Japanese civi...

In Japan And Its World, by Marius B. Jansen, Jansen describes the changing ideas the Japanese have had of themselves and the Western world as well as the ideas the Americans has had of the Japanese. The Japanese have had to adapt to a different world and yet go from a weak country to a major power i...

Japan's influence on the west has been nothing short of miraculous, in less than a century and a half they have risen from a small isolated culture to one of the preeminent superpowers of the world. Although most people know a little about modern Japan most people do not know anything about t...

The ordinary peasant in the Tokugawa period (1609-1868) observed many years of gradual change in their feudalistic society. When we consider the political, economic and social roles they have held within their society, we can see how vital the peasants were to the Tokugawa Shogunate. Peasants were ...

Samurai The term Shogun means general. Later, it refered to the leader of the Shogunate (Samurai's government). From 1192-1867, the Shogun ruled Japan. The Emperor reigned but did not rule. The Shoguns were a type of warlords that governed providences and states as a type of Japanese check and bala...