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Rise Of Imperial Japan Essay

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Before the rise of Imperial Japan, there had to be a change of government once again. The shogun ‘replaced’ the emperor in the Tokugawa period based on the family of the military rulers from 1600s to the 1880s. Japan became restricted by harsh laws that isolated them locally and internationally. Soon, the Tokugawa government began to face a crisis. Countries such as Russia, Britain, and United States showed up on their doorstep demanding trade. The Tokugawa turned them down, however in 1853, Matthew Perry from the United States arrived with a message “Agree to trade in peace or suffer the consequences in war.” In 1854, Perry and his fleet returned back for an answer. The Treaty of Kanagawa allowed the United States to stop at the ports in Shimoda and Hakodate, and to have a consul in Shimoda, then the terms was extended to the European powers. With more unequal treaties signed, eight ports were opened for trade and the Japanese government had no power over the tariffs on exported and imported goods. The Samurai’s began to have less trust in the government and the insurgencies. With the support of Meiji, the Samurai’s overthrew the government and restored Meiji as Emperor. After the power went back into the hands of the Emperor during the Meiji restoration, nationalism grew and justified the expansion of Imperial Japan. …show more content…

The samurai, who were “the members of the elite of the old regime”, attacked “the old order.” Unlike other Asian countries, “Japan’s leaders embraced the new age frontally, driving their land toward modernity and world power status in a half a century.” The Meiji leaders adopted two slogans: “kuni no tame, “for the good of the country,” and fukoku kyohei, “rich country, strong

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Throughout the history of Japan from the twelfth century until the nineteenth century, the military was comprised of samurai. The samurai were equivalent to European knights; both warrior classes fought for honor, wealth, and self-interest. The samurai gained status and were well respected in the Japanese society where leaders rose to power through military superiority. Japan had relied on the samurai as their military force for seven centuries, and yet the Meiji leaders, facing the challenge of foreign military threat, decided to abolish the samurai class. That was because the Meiji leaders took over the Tokugawa during a time when Japan was combatting superior foreign military forces, and the Meiji perceived that their current military force

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But the class that was most affected was the elite warrior class also known as the SHOGUNS. They lost all of their power and were replaced by emperor. The reason for this was that Japan, after letting America use their trade ports, realized that they were behind in military technology alongside other things like social structure, vehicles etc... so they began to become modernized. They started industrializing and becoming more modern in all aspects. This resulted in the immediate fall of the shoguns and the rise of the emperor and a more democratic government.

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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

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The effects of the treaties proved beneficial, as Japan skyrocketed its power in Asia. Japan utilized its new opportunities to rise the ranks and create powerful alliances. Following the Treaty of Kanagawa, the country underwent constant changes, as its waves of influence began to grow. The Treaty of Kanagawa, while initially addressing immediate concerns, ultimately paved the way for profound and lasting transformations in international relations, trade dynamics, and Japan's trajectory as a global power. Continuing on the track of change, the treaty caused one of the greatest changes in Japanese as evident by this quote, “This treaty put in motion a series of events which led to a civil war (the Boshin War) and the overthrow of Japan's military rulers, the Tokugawa shogunate” (“Japan”).

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