The visual Images of Commodore Perry’s visits to Japan and document of Fukuzawa Yukichi on Sino-Japanese War 1894 show Japanese’ attitudes on national consciousness significantly changed from eagerly seeking the civilisation in order to preserve the nation’s sovereignty against the direct threats of civilised western powers after a series of events like the Opium War in China, arrival of Commodore Perry, and the Harris treaty in 1858, to be tool by the Japanese empire to convince its imperialist ambition for the internal stability and prosperity of Japan.
When Perry Commodore arrived in Japan with the mission to open its ports, japan was far behind the technological and scientific development due to the long-lasting seclusion policy except
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government, changing its seclusion policy to the open policy, and later signing another unequal treaty, Harris treaty, later in 1858. So, the Influx of the foreign powers to the Japanese port then became direct threats to the ‘not civilised’ Japanese society which entailed the changed attitude on their ethnic consciousness for the national sovereignty which had long been protected by seclusion policy and its self-sufficient economy, but which now needed to be protected. Hence, the threats allowed Japanese to execute the national reforms of not only the political reform of Meiji restoration vanishing the samurai society under the feudal regime and resurrecting the emperor system to build one strong united empire empowering all authority …show more content…
However, what attributed more in this change was the Sino Japanese War which ended with the Japanese victory because it provided a chance not only to promulgate the power of successfully civilised Japan and to attest Qing’s weakness in the world, but also to reorganise the sino-centric East Asia relationship which Japan was considered as a frontier country and China stayed in the center. So, by looking at the document of Fukuzawa Yukichi’s “Sino-Japanese War is a Cultural War” published in July 29th 1894 by Current Events, it seems like Japan now rationalises the attack of its infringement of other not civilised country’s sovereignty by showing how the end of not civilised world be, like the case of China. Also, the most interesting part is that it seems like Fukuzawa Yukichi is dividing the world into two; the civilised world which the Western, American countries belong and not civilised world like China, Chosun, and Taiwan. However, referring from how the “reform” determined the victory over the war as Japan who made “reform” gained the victory while China “having made no reform” lost despite of its large territory and