Japan was ruled by Tokugawa shoguns for 250 years, maintaining peace among feudal lords called daimyo.
Daimyo had substantial autonomy, leading almost as independent states with separate military forces, laws, taxes, managed lands, and currencies.
- A bit like the kings and lords of many European societies.
Tokugawa Japan was peaceful but lacked true unity due to decentralized authority.

Social Structure and Economics:

Samurai, initially warriors, evolved into a bureaucratic class during peace.
- Economic growth and urbanization flourished due to agricultural innovations, rural manufacturing, and commerce.
Japan became highly urbanized by 1750, with Edo among the world's largest cities.
- Education thrived, with a significant portion of the population literate due to Confucian influence.
- This interconnectedness between the rural and the cities; the peasants and the aristocracy, along with the thriving market-based economy, would promote industrial growth.

Challenges to Tokugawa Authority:

Urbanization challenged the Tokugawa efforts to maintain the strict social hierarchy and justify its military authority over the nation.
- Some samurai embraced commerce, while merchants gained wealth but lacked status.
- They couldn’t maintain their authority because it wasn’t centralized at the local level.
Peasants and some samurai moved to cities, becoming artisans or merchants, defying traditional social roles and hierarchy.

Main idea: Foreign intervention proved the decline of the Shogunate, leading to the Meiji Restoration.

Japan restricted contact with the West, allowing only the Dutch to trade at a single port after expelling European missionaries.
By the 19th century, various Western nations, including the United States, sought to engage with Japan, but were rebuffed.
In 1853, Commodore Perry arrived, demanding humane treatment for castaways, refueling rights, and port openings for trade.
- Japan, fearing the fate of China, complied with Western demands, signing unequal treaties.
  - This humiliation eroded support for the shogunate, leading to the Meiji Restoration of 1868.

The Meiji Restoration (1868)

Political Break and Meiji Restoration:

In 1868, young samurai leaders seized power in the Meiji Restoration, claiming to restore centralized authority under Emperor Meiji.
The restoration aimed at transforming Japan into a modern nation capable of resisting foreign domination.

End of Feudalism and Social Changes:

The new government abolished the semi-independently owned lands of daimyo, establishing a fully centralized state even at the local level.
Samurai relinquished their warrior roles, and the Confucian-based social hierarchy dissolved, granting legal equality to everyone.
- Nationwide economy emerged, with centralized taxation and conscription-based national army replacing the Samurai.

Westernization and Cultural Shift:

Japan eagerly embraced Western knowledge, sending missions abroad and translating Western texts.
- Nearly universally influential writer Fukuzawa Yukichi advocated learning from the West, acknowledging Japan's backwardness compared to the West.
Selective borrowing ensued, combining foreign and Japanese elements.

Meiji Government's Approach:

Through selective borrowing and political reforms, Japan transformed into a modern nation while preserving elements of its traditional culture and governance.

Western (but also traditional!) Government: The Constitution of 1889, influenced by German models, introduced parliamentary democracy while emphasizing the emperor's divine status.
- Modern education system blended with Confucian moral teachings and loyalty to the emperor.
Shinto, Japan's ancient religion, became an official state cult, while Christianity made little progress.

Gender reform and social changes

Reformers' Perspectives on Women:

A small amount of reformers like Fukuzawa Yukichi advocated for women's rights, including an end to concubinage and prostitution, increased education, and gender equality in marriage and property rights.
- Most male reformers, however, viewed women within the context of family life.
Emergence of Feminist Movement:
- By the 1880s, a small feminist movement arose, demanding a more public role for women and even the right to vote.
- However, state authorities continued to suppressed any attempts of women to engage in political activities.

Educational and Legal Restrictions:

Despite including girls in universal education, the government implemented gender-specific curriculums and segregated schools by sex.
Women were excluded from political life and denied legal status, facing severe restrictions on their rights and freedoms.

A State-guided Industrialization

Industrialization Program:

Japan's modernization was centered around state-guided industrialization.
- The government established enterprises and infrastructure, including railroads, postal services, and banking systems.
Labor-intensive industrialization
- relied heavily on the workforce, different from the capital-intensive approach in Europe and North America.

Effect: Heavy Economic Growth:

By the early 20th century, Japan became a major exporter of textiles, munitions, and industrial goods.
Importance of Zaibatsu:
- These corporations played a crucial role in driving economic growth by controlling key industries such as banking, mining, manufacturing, and trade.
- The economic surplus generated by zaibatsu companies allowed for Japan to pay for foreign imports needed to grow the nation.

Social Impacts:

Peasant families suffered from heavy taxation, leading to poverty and protests.
- Women became a crucial labor force in the textile industry, recruited from rural areas and subjected to poor working conditions and low wages.
  - Some women organized strikes and joined socialist movements, facing harsh repression from authorities.

Japan, a new world power:

Japan's economic growth and openness to trade led Western powers to revise unequal treaties, acknowledging Japan as an equal player among Great Powers.
- Japan started doing empire-building, following the example of the industrializing Great Powers.

Imperial Expansion in Southeast Asia:

Successful wars against China and Russia established Japan as a formidable military power in East Asia. (Russo-Japanese, First Sino-Japanese War)
- Japan gained colonial control over Taiwan, Korea, and territorial foothold in Manchuria.
- Russia’s loss in the Russo-Japanese war would fuel internal discontent that would boil into its many revolutions until the October Revolution of 1917.
By the aftermath of World War I, Japan acquired growing influence in China and control over Micronesian islands.

This was copied elsewhere from the 12.2 Interwar Period Notes, which covers a different time period; however, it is the same geographical region so I thought I’d include it here as well.

Statism in Japan

Before 1920s: Japan supported its economy sufficiently through the Meiji Restoration and the nation’s lack of participation in WWI:
1. Industrialization: Japan implemented policies to modernize its industries, such as building factories, improving infrastructure, and adopting Western technology.
2. Agricultural reforms: The government introduced land reforms, promoting efficient farming techniques and increasing agricultural productivity.
3. Trade and foreign investment: Japan pursued international trade agreements and attracted foreign investment to boost its economy.
4. Education and human capital development: The government invested in education, creating a skilled workforce to support industrialization and economic growth.
Japan moved towards democratic and western values during Meiji restoration:
- Japan however experienced tension through rice riots:
  - The rice riots in Japan in the 1920s were a response to high inflation, which led to food shortages and increased prices of rice.
    - The riots were internal, driven by local populations' dissatisfaction with rising rice prices and perceived government mismanagement.

Response to the Depression:

Above all, Japan responded to the Great Depression by implementing Statism.
- Showa Statism was a political and economic ideology that dominated Japan under Hirohito.
  - It was characterized by authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and state intervention in the economy to promote industrialization, as well as militarization and imperial expansion.
  - The need for a strong military to secure Japan’s new overseas empire and the to earn the West’s respect, and thus, the revision of unequal treaties were the reasons for militarism in the period of Showa Statism.
    - Prior, commodore Matthew Perry of the United States forced open Japan’s gates for trade and ended bakufu rule.
  - With Statism, the politicians complied with the zaibatsu industry monopolies to promote key industries. The state tended to directly control the industry rather than free-market capitalism.
    - Economically, Statism also sought to implement tariffs and trade barriers to protect domestic industry.
- Revolutionary Right: The economic crisis also gave rise to radical right-wing groups, such as the Black Dragon Society and the Cherry Blossom Society, who advocated for militarism and expansionism.
- Elite Leader Emperorship: The emperor, considered a divine figure, gained increased prominence during this time. The government used the emperor's symbolic power to rally support for its policies and maintain social order.
Statism in effect: leadup to the beginning of World War II in Asia
- This was shown when Japan started a breach and occupation of Manchuria and launched military offenses in China to gain resources and expand the empire in 1930s
  - Manchukuo (puppet colony)
  - Rape of Nanjing: Atrocity in which Japanese soldiers killed hundreds of thousands of Chinese, often mutilating their corpses and raping their women.
    - This stuff is the lead-in to WWII