In your journals please! “List some ways that Edo Japan isolated itself from the rest of the world.” In your journals please!

Answers Economic isolation: Japan produced almost all of its food and materials within the country - almost no outside trade! Only the Dutch were able to trade with Japan Political isolation: no international cooperation; feudal system isolated the different classes of society - pyramid! Social isolation: only Japanese art and culture was permitted - no outside ideas! Religion was limited to the traditional Japanese beliefs; no Christianity or other religious ideas were allowed

“How did isolation affect Japan?” Solutions “How did isolation affect Japan?”

Image: HouseDenaliwikicommons Economics! Great Tenmei famine. Rice is money. Answer: page 321 It is 1781 and terrible weather combined with a volcanic eruption has devastated rice crops. Rice is used as currency. If people are paying taxes with rice but the crops are all dying, a famine happens. No trade with other nations means if all the crops fail, there is no outside source of food. What solutions can you think of?  Image: HouseDenaliwikicommons Accessed Oct. 29, 2015

Buildings are made of wood. Fire of 1657. Resources Buildings are made of wood. Fire of 1657. p. 316 Forest had covered most of Japan. Wood was used for heat and for buildings. So much was being cut down to make room for farming, to make buildings, and to heat houses that there were not many forests left. In addition, a lack of wind protection and rain protection from the trees being cut made soil erosion a farming problem. Crops began to struggle. In 1657 a great fire occurred in the capital city and wood was needed to rebuild. What solution can you think of to this problem?  

Solve it! Social issues. Class system problems - feudalism p. 321 Samurai were bored and out of work, daimyo had really high taxes, merchants were growing wealthy because they were loaning people money, peasants were moving to the cities to find work - things are spinning out of control. How should this problem be solved?

Keep the door shut or open it? Foreigners are here! Keep the door shut or open it? The USA wants to trade with Japan. So does Britain. The effects of foreign influences on Japan art and culture could be devastating. What should you do? How do you protect Japanese traditions? 

How did isolation affect Japan Politically, socially, economically?