Rise of Modern JapanMilitarist Japan

 In 1853, American Commodore Matthew Perry arrives in Japan with a fleet of warships  Treaty of Kanagawa  Return of shipwrecked American sailors  Opened ports to Western traders  U.S. consulate opened in Japan  Forced Japan to trade with foreign nation  Unrest in Japan  Samurai warriors objected and resisted but were no match for Western guns  Demanded restoration of the emperors power  1868: Power returned to the emperor

 Emperor Mutsuhito restored to power (age 15)  Capital moved to Tokyo  Daimyo give up power.  Modern political system created based on the Western model  Charter Oath: new legislative assembly within the framework of continued imperial rule  Japanese traveled to Europe and America to study western government, industry, and military  Adopted a government based on Germany’s government  Authority was given to the executive branch

 Land reform program  Peasants given property, but had to pay 3% tax on what the land was worth  40% of peasants ended up selling their land to wealthy and becoming tenant farmers  Industry  Government gave subsidies to industries  Provided training  Foreign advisers  Improved transportation and communications  New educational system  Close relationship between government and business

 Military  Need to modernize to compete with the West  All Japanese men had to serve for three years  Education  Universal education  Adopted American model (elem., sec., and univ.)  Foreign specialists brought in to teach  Students sent abroad  Emphasis on virtues of loyalty to family, community, and emperor still stressed

 Women allowed to seek education  Western fashions adopted  Laborers exploited  Men allowed to vote only  Loyalty still stressed

 Japan wanted to expand  Lacked resources  No natural room to grow in own country  1874: Took control of the Ryukyu islands  1876: Forced Korea to trade with them  1894: War with China  Japan got independence for Korea  Won Taiwan and Port Arthur on the Liaodong Peninsula  : Russo-Japanese War  Japan easily defeats Russia with a new navy (humiliating)  1910: Japan annexes Korea

 Japan had adopted Western culture and modern ways  Japan began to promote traditional Japanese ways during the turn of the century  Japanese culture started to influence the west

 Zaibatsu: large financial and industrial corporations  Controlled major segments of Japanese industrial centers ▪ (Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, Yasuda)  Economic inequalities  World War I leads to inflation and food shortages  1930s: Great Depression worsens conditions  Japan seeks a return to traditional values, denounces the West, and begins to seek strength from within

 By the end of the 1920s, a militant group within the ruling party gained control of the political system  Convinced western ideas had corrupted their parliamentary system  Angered by cuts in military spending  1931: A group of middle-level army officers invaded Manchuria  Opposed by the government, but supported by the people  Government soon dominated by the military  1938: Japan put on wartime status  Economic resources placed under government control  All political parties merged into Imperial Rule  Labor unions disbanded  Expansion abroad prioritized