Us Vs Japanese Economic Power Essay

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During the economic power play, the Us played direct offense to the Japanese subtle defense. While the Us was interested in Japan as a source of coal to have better access to China a global economy the Japanese wanted to maintain their Tokugawa Government and self-independence while profiting from Western technologies. Japan’s foreign policies also affected their domestic affairs. In contrast, the US sought to assert its own economic power on the global scale. Both nations saw the power in new technologies in particular militaristic weaponry, valued modesty, and had a strong sense of pride and nationality. Both nations considered using militaristic power in their negotiations. They each saw the worth in new technologies in particular …show more content…

Japan knew about US History US constitution to the Mexican wars and other world affairs through the Dutch and contacts with the Chinese. When the US gave gifts like a telegraph and trainset the Japanese recognized the technology. However, the US sent the letter and gifts to the Emperor not realizing who held the true power was the Tokugawa Shogunate. The Japanese were also offended as President Fillmore in his letter addressed the Emperor familiarly instead of giving him respect. For the Japanese, nationalism centered around ancestor worship of the emperor who to them was divine and even given the title Meiji meaning “Divine one”. The Japanese took pride in their emperor as their source of nationalism because he was whom all Japanese were related too (30) By taking pride in the emperor they were also connected by their identity as Japanese people. The US, unlike Japan, did not have a feudal system and so sought to break it down as it restricted their own cultural values of individuality and freedom. The US had the vision of manifest destiny given by God to spread out over the north American continent and beyond. This is most aptly seen in Whit Whitman poem that describes the US as a budding “empire” due to the arrival of the Japanese delegation in the US (24). The Us took pride in their breakthrough as the first western