Japan

1. Japan The Opening of Japan To The Contemporary

2. Open Up! • Japans centuries of seclusion towards the west ends in 1853 when Matthew Perry sails his fleet into Japan and demands they open up to US trade • Japan had never seen anything like the US fleet (Perry had 2 steam engine ships) • Astonished at all of the inventions on the American ships and conclude they were no match to resist US demands • Agrees to open up trade but is not conquered • Becomes one of the very few (maybe the only) non-Western country to escape Western colonization

3. The time they are a changin’ • Perry’s visit demonstrated that the west had comparatively become stronger than Japan • Needed to reconsider its current policies and practices under the Tokogawa Shogunate

4. Meji Restoration • 1867-1868 • Backlash against the isolation of the Tokogawa • Restores emperor to power in Tokyo and begins the age of “enlightened rule” • Beginning of a crash-course of modernization • Chief among these goals was national centralization or to consolidate under a single administration • For Meji, disunion under the Tokogawa was a sign of weakness and so to become a great nation, its government had to become strong • Japanese government grows in power and influence and begins to unify Japan • All men must serve in the military

5. Late State Theory • Applies to Japan (as well as Germany, Prussia and Italy who were unifying at the same time in the world) • Because these countries had to catch-up so quickly, their governments exercised excessive influence in the modernization process • All 4 became authoritarian regimes and each constituted an Axis power • Japan decides to emulate Western styles and practices, however they co-opt them • No interested in becoming the West, instead they co-opted Western customs and reforms to DEFY THE West • The idea behind this was to become strong enough to resist the West

6. Reforms • 1. Political • Japan studied Europe and decided Great Britain had the best form of government so it becomes a unitary state, parliamentary form of government, and has a prime minister

7. 2. Legal • Everyone has a constitution, so Japan adopts one

8. 3. Social • Tokogawa had a very strict caste system but under the Meji, they got rid of most of the social rigidity because they wanted to unify the Japanese people as a single nation

9. 4. Military • Copy the Prussian form of military training and technique since they were the best in the world at the time

10. 5. Economic • Accelerated program of capitalist industrialization BUT the government plays a key role—no private industry

11. All of these reforms are VERY successful, but will the Japanese also adopt Western imperialist tendencies?

12. Yes • Saw imperialism and colonies as a trademark of a great nation • Did not like Western powers expanding into China for three main reasons • 1. Japan believed that it should be the dominant power in Asia, not Europe who had their own continent • 2. Europeans were bringing an alien culture into Asia that Japan believed did not belong there • 3. Japan came to believe that if it did not modernize quickly, it would be next

13. War . . .what is it good for? (land!) • 1894: Sino-Japanese War • War over control over Korean peninsula • Japan wins, taking control of Korean peninsula and Taiwan • 1904-1905: Russo-Japanese War • Fought over Korea and Manchuria • Important because Japan’s win marked the 1st time in modern history that an Asian power military defeated a European power • Shatters the myth of Western invincibility

14. More War! • Not really a participant in WWI, but makes a clever decision siding with the Allies and fights agains Germany principally because it wants Germany’s Asian colonies

15. Sneaky sneaky • After the war, Japan’s military becomes the dominant political force in Asia • Becomes a proto-fascist state (doesn’t formally adopt fascism like Germany or Italy but operates like one) • 1931-invades Manchuria • The League of Nations condemns Japan and in response, Japan withdraws from the League • 1937-War with China (and that same year joins the Axis powers with Germany and Italy) • 1940-1941-Japan expands into southeast Asia (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia) • US responds by imposing petroleum and fuel sanctions on Japan and then pressures Europe to follow suit

16. Pearl Harbor • Japan will not give in and decides to seize the oil fields in the Dutch East Indies while simultaneously destroying the American Pacific Fleet • Attack on December 7th, 1941 • US declares war on Japan on December 8th, 1941 and Germany declares war on the US • Theory war by the time the US could rebuilt its Pacific Navy, Japan would be too strongly fortified to be defeated however they severely under-estimated American resolve and industrialization capacity

17. Bombs • August 6th, 1945: US delivers the atomic bomb on Hiroshima • August 9th, 1945: 2nd atomic bomb on Nagasaki The FIRST and ONLY time atomic weapons were ever used in history!!!

18. Occupation • The US occupies Japan in 1952 • Eliminates militarism, rewrites their constitution (democratizes), and legalizes unions

19. Economic Giant • Japan rebuilds their economy • Newest factories, capital invested in markets instead of military, steady growth from 1960-1990 (recession in the early 1990’s • Textiles, heavy industry, shipbuilding, steel production, alternative energies • Shift to high tech • World’s leading producer of television, radios, VCR’s, CD’s, and stereos, and famous for fuel-efficient cars

20. Reasons for Japan’s Success • Borrowed and improved western technology • Encouraged invention and innovation • Traditional values, loyalty, hard work, education, high savings, and little spent on defense

21. Earthquake & Tsunami • March 11th, 2011 • 9.0 magnitude earthquake, followed by devastating tsunami (30-40 foot waves moved the island 8 FEET!!!) • Nuclear power plant crisis • Death toll: 11, 417 and still climbing

22. Today, Japan emphasizes pacifism, better relations with Asian neighbors, and trade with other countries