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11. Empires in collision: Europe, Middle East, East Asia

Japanese difference: new Asian power

confronted aggressive power of West during 19th

U.S. commodore Matthew Perry’s “black ships” entered Tokyo Bay in 1853

forcefully demanded that Japan open up to more “normal” relations

in second half of 19th: Japan undertook radical transformation of society

“revolution from above”

turned Japan into powerful, modern, united, industrialized nation

Japan joined club of imperialist countries

created own East Asian empire at expense of China and Korea

built society that was modern and distinctly Japanese; demonstrated that modernity was not uniquely European

“Japanese miracle”

Tokugawa background

for 250 years before Perry, Japan governed by shogun (military ruler) from Tokugawa family

acted in name of revered but powerless ruler who lived in Kyoto (300 miles away from seat of power in Edo)

chief task: prevent return of civil war among ~260 rival daimyo (feudal lords) who each had samurai warriors

Lack of unity

successive shogun gave Japan more than two centuries of internal peace (1600-1850)

required daimyo to create second homes in Edo (capital; in Tokyo) where they had to live during alternate years

when daimyo left, families stayed behind

daimyo still retained substantial autonomy; behaved in some ways like independent states

military forces

law codes

tax systems

currencies

Tokugawa Japan was “pacified...but not really unified”

Tokugawa regime issued highly detailed rules to try to stabilize country

occupation, residence, dress, hairstyles, behavior

hierarchically ranked status groups of Japanese society

samurai (top)

peasants

artisans

merchants (bottom)

Changes due to peace

samurai evolved into salaried bureaucratic or administrative class

5-6% of total population

remained fiercely devoted to daimyo and warrior code (loyalty, honor, self-sacrifice)

burst of economic growth, commercialization, urban development

entrepreneurial peasants

used fertilizers and other agricultural innovations

grew more rice than ever before

engaged in variety of rural manufacturing enterprises

by 1750: Japan perhaps world’s most urbanized country

10% lived in sizable towns or cities

Edo among world’s largest cities (1 million residents)

well-functioning networks of exchange linked urban and rural areas and caused emerging market economy

influence of Confucianism encouraged education; generated remarkably literate population (40% of men, 15% of women)

changes provided solid foundation for Japan’s remarkable industrial growth in late 19th

Undermining shogunate

Social

merchants and samurai resented their positions

merchants had money but little status

prospered in new commercial environment

supported vibrant urban culture

samurai had high status but often indebted to inferior merchants

some samurai went after the lowly but profitable path of commerce

some daimyo found it necessary but humiliating to seek loans from social inferiors

many peasants moved to the cities despite prohibitions

became artisans or merchants

imitated ways of social betters

1788: decree that “luxuries should be avoided by the peasants”; they should “live simply and devote themselves to farming”

peasants “have become accustomed to luxury and forgetful of their status”

wore inappropriate clothing

used umbrellas instead of straw hats in rain

left villages for city

largely ignored

Political

widespread corruption

shogunate failed to deal successfully with severe famine in 1830s; people lost confidenec

mounting wave of local peasant uprisings, urban riots

most striking: left city of Osaka in flames in 1837

“We must first punish the officials who torment the people so cruelly; then we must execute the haughty and rich Osaka merchants. Then we must distribute the gold, silver, and copper stored in their cellars, and bands of rice hidden in their storehouses” - leader Oshio Heihachiro

American intrusion and Meiji Restoration

⁠

Japan deliberately limited contact with West⁠

⁠

expelled European missionaries

suppressed Christianity

by early 19th: various European countries and United States wanted in

all turned away

even shipwrecked sailors or whalers expelled, jailed, or executed

Commodore Perry

United States; sent in 1853

numerous demands

humane treatment for castaways

right of American vessels to refuel and buy provisions

opening of ports for trade

authorized to use force if necessary

presented hosts with gifts, including white flag for surrender

Unequal treaties

Japan avoided war

capitulation to demands of “foreign devils” had multiple impacts

further eroded support for shogunate

triggered brief civil war

1868: political takeover by group of young samurai from southern Japan

Meiji restoration

new rulers claimed they were restoring to power the young emperor (15-year-old boy) whose throne name was Meiji (Enlightened Rule)

regarded as most recent link in chain of descent that traced origins of imperial family to sun goddess Amaterasu

goal: save Japan from foreign domination by thorough transformation of Japanese society, drawing of modern West

Differences to others

government committed to decisive break with past without having to go through massive violence or destruction

China: Taiping Uprising meant no such opportunity but did have enormous devastation and death)

Japan less interesting to Western powers

China: huge potential market and reputation for riches

Ottoman Empire: strategically located between Asia, Africa, Europe

American Civil War and aftermath deflected U.S. ambitions to Pacific briefly, reducing Western pressure on Japan

Modernization, Japanese-style

defensive modernization based on fears that their independence was in danger

revolutionary in their cumulative effect

transformed Japan far more than the efforts of Ottomans or Chinese

Changes

Genuine national unity

required attack on power and privileges of daimyo and samurai

regime ended semi-independent domains of daimyo; replaced with governors appointed by and responsible for national government

central state (not local authorities) collected taxes

national army based on conscription from all social classes

Social and economic

samurai relinquished role as warrior class

Confucian-based social order dismantled; almost all Japanese became legally equal

commoners

subjects of emperor

nationwide economy; limitations on travel and trade fell

segment of old ruling class abolished own privileges

many displaced elites found soft landing

army

bureaucracy

business

eased painful transition

Fascination with West

Initial enthusiasm

knowledge was initially enthusiastically sought out

wanted:

science and technology

various political and constitutional arrangements

legal and educational systems

dances, clothing, hairstyles

gained information through:

official missions to Europe and United States

hundreds of students sent to study abroad

ordinary Japanese at home

Western writers translated into Japanese

slogan: “Civilization and Enlightenment”

Fukuzawa Yukichi: Japan was backward and needed to learn from the West

Later selective adoption

borrowed more selectively

combined foreign and Japanese elements

Constitution of 1889

drew heavily on German experience

introduced elected parliament, political power, democratic ideals

presented as gift from sacred emperor descended from sun goddess

ultimate power theoretically with emperor; actually with oligarchy of prominent reformers

modern education system achieved universal primary schooling by early 20th

Confucian-based moral instruction

exhortations of loyalty to emperor

Shinto elevated to status of official state cult

ancient religious tradition featuring ancestors and nature spirits

helped by Japan’s earlier experience in borrowing massively but selectively from Chinese culture

Gender

some argued that oppression of women was obstacle to modernization; family reform essential to gain respect of West

Fukuzawa Yukichi

urged end to concubinage and prostitution

advocated more education for girls

called for gender equality

marriage

divorce

property rights

most males saw women largely in context of family life: “good wife, wise mother”

1880s: small feminist movement

demanded more public role for women

some sought right to vote at time when only small fraaction of men could

Kishido Toshiko: undertook two-month speaking tour (1882)

only “equality and equal rights” would allow Japan “to build a new society”

Japan must rid itself of the ancient habit of “respecting men and despising women”

any thought of women playing public role was suppressed

new government included girls in plan for universal education but was gender-specific and sex-segregated

Peace Preservation Law of 1887 (until 1922): women forbidden from joining political parties and attending meetings discussing political matters

Civil Code of 1898: absolute authority went to male head of family; wives grouped with “cripples and disabled persons” as those who “cannot undertake any legal action”

Meiji authorities saw serious transformation of gender roles as threat, not opportunity

State-guided industrialization

Government actions

government established a number of enterprises; later sold many to private investors

created modern infrastructure

built railroads

created postal service

established national currency and banking system

1880s: government developed “labor-intensive industrialization”

relied more heavily on abundant workforce

less focused on replacement of labor by machinery and capital

zaibatsu: large firms

Impacts

became major exporter of textiles

partly way to pay for needed imports due to limited natural resources (e.g. cotton)

soon able to produce own munitions, industrial goods

major cities

mass-circulation newspapers

movie theaters

electric lights

accomplished through own resources; no massive foreign threat

Social impacts

many peasant families slid into poverty

due to heavy taxation to pay for Japan’s modernization program

sometimes-violent protests; peaked in 1883-1884 as Japanese countryside witnessed infanticide, sale of daughters, starvation

state authorities badly needed female labor in country’s textile industry (central to growth)

majority of Japan’s textile workers were young women from poor families in countryside

recruiters contracted with rural parents for daughter’s labor

in return: payment that the daughters had to repay through wages

low pay, terrible working conditions

factory-provided dormitories; worked 12 or more hours per day

some committed suicide or ran away; many left after earning enough to pay off contracts

some organized strikes and joined anarchist or socialist movements

Kanno Sugako: hanged in 1911 for participating in plot to assassinate emperor

efforts to create unions and organize strikes (both illegal) were harshly repressed

yet corporate and state authorities sought to depict company as family unit

workers should give loyalty

beneficent gaze of divine emperor

Japan and the world

Escape from treaties

Japan’s transformation soon registered internationally

Western powers persuaded to revise unequal treaties in Japan’s favor

economic growth

openness to trade

embrace of “civilization and enlightenment”

Anglo-Japanese treaty of 1902 acknowledged Japan as equal player among Great Powers

Empire-building

even as European powers and United States were distributing much of Asia, Africa, Pacific Oceania into colonies or spheres of influence

followed the other industrializing Great Powers, partly to compensate for relative poverty of natural resources

war against China (1894-1895): successful; established Japan as formidable military competitor in East Asia, replacing China

Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905): fought over rival imperial ambitions in Korea and Manchuria; Japan became first Asian state to defeat major European power

gained colonial control of Taiwan and Korea; territorial foothold in Manchuria

after World War I: gained growing influence in China’s Shandong Peninsula; control over number of Micronesian islands under League of Nations

Impacts

Other countries

China: yet another imperialist power burdening it

Russia: defeat triggered 1905 revolution

Europe, America: Japan now economic, military, political competitor in Asia

Admiration

saw Japan as model for own modern development, ally in struggle against Imperialism

some Poles, Finns, jews viewed 1905 Russian defeat as opening for liberation from Russian Empire

many Chinese reformers and nationalists found valuable lessons in Japanese experienced; thousands flocked to Japan to study

newspapers throughout Islamic world celebrated Japan’s victory over Russia as “awakening of the East” that may predict Muslim liberation

some Turkish women gave children Japanese names

Indonesian women from Aceh wrote to Meiji emperor to ask for help in struggle against Dutch

Muslim poets wrote odes in emperor’s honor

“We are amazed by Japan because it is the first Eastern government to utilize Western civilization to resist the shield of European imperialism in Asia” - Mustafa Kamil, Egyptian nationalist

Suffering

those who directly experienced Japanese nationalism: Taiwan, Korea

colonial practices matched or exceeded brutality of Europeans

in 20th: China and much of Southeast Asia suffered bitterly under Japanese imperial aggression

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