Japanese emperors had courts and capital cities like the ancient imperial centers of China. The rulers wanted to build a peasant army and use legal codes and a landholding system which was similar to what was used in
In the 19th century china and japan were under pressure when the west opened up foreign trade and relations. The industrial revolution created a wide gap between them and the west and left them behind in technology and the military. They both signed unequal treaties that forced them to open their ports and cities to foreign merchants. Both country's reacted very differently and this will be the topic of this essay.
Japan’s economic development had been shaped in various ways, including Japanese internal forces, and external forces from other countries. Although during the Tokugawa era, the Japanese were very closed off from the world for 250 years, once Commodore Perry and the rest of America threatened Japan with war Japan was forced to open ports for trade. Due to the Japanese lack of weapons the trading environment was very biased on the side of America with unequal trade. The shogun was once a Samurai and is now almost in control of Japan.
One reason was the fact that the United States began an embargo on Japan, ending the trade of Japanese weapons. This limited Japan from obtaining more resources in their expansion. Another reason was that Japan needed oil to help keep expanding and raise their economy. The U.S. Navy was in their way, by controlling the Philippines, which is why they thought they needed to get rid of them. Lastly, both Japan and the U.S. did not agree on each other’s ways of running government.
In 1938, Japan announced its plan to constitute a new order in East Asia (Doc C). In this new order, the rule of the Japanese emperor would be drawn-out over Earth. This was a driving force for Japan’s invasion because of their ambitious desires. By damaging an American naval base, it gave Japan the ability to also occupy China and Manchuria leading to a rise in their military power (Doc C). Japan’s presence in more of East Asia brought them one step closer to expanding their authority.
Japan’s rich history of power, wealth, and influence had many remarkable eras. One of the more notable periods in Japanese history was that of the Tokugawa Period (1600-1868). The Tokugawa Period was talked about in Musui’s Story, an autobiographical book, written by Kokichi Katsu. (Katsu ix) Katsu wrote Musui’s Story for three main reasons: to share how he had transformed from a low-ranking samurai to a well-known hero, to show his sense of self, and to serve as a cautionary tale for his descendants.
(Doc C) Because of the U.S military presence building in the Pacific, Japan was worried that the U.S could possibly use their forces to attack Japan in order to try to stop them. So, the Japanese believed it needed to cripple the U.S navy early on so they could continue to gain
The way Japan responded was by sending their delegates to certain locations in the West like the United States and Europe to learn more about Western technology, industry, and ideas. Contrary to China, Japan knew that modernization was necessary for their nation and doing so they abandoned their archaic past to adopt the Western ways. As they adopted these ways, Japan began building up its industry, setting up a modern banking system, and investing in the latest communication and transportation. Seeing the defeat of China by Britain, the Meiji decided to modernize and build up their army and navy based off modern principles and Great Britain's navy. With Japan being modernized they barely had any problems when it came to foreign affairs unlike China.
The military has a hard time in war. If Japan were to invade the U.S. the military would have a hard time recovering the land that they had just lost. Many of the Japanese were not loyal and would join Japan in the invasion. The military deals with a lot in wars, if they were to be attacked from the inside, it would leave them very vulnerable. “Military forces feared an invasion of our West Coast and… because they decided that the military urgency of the situation demanded that all citizens of Japanese ancestry be segregated from the West Coast temporarily”(Korematsu 4).
And since they had just attacked Pearl Harbour and taken away multiple vessels from the USA, they knew that America would have cared more about Pearl Harbour. They also knew that the land was good land to own, as it can work in many different strategic ways. And in order to be able to collect this piece of land, the Japanese needed a large amount of soldiers. In the category of manpower, they delivered, as they sent 50,000 men, whereas the defence,
The importance of the reason is they could cease economic crisis and to be powerful. Japan’s army and navy themselves depended on American raw materials and technology—by going to war with the United States, the Japanese military not only would take on a far stronger country, but also would cut itself off from the economic benefits of resources Japan needed. ([4] Japan, the United States, and the Road to World War II in the Pacific.) Economic collapse associated with the Great Depression provoked spiraling prices, unemployment, falling exports and social unrest. ([5] Imperial Japan.)
During the time of the war, Japanese soldiers were highly trained for combat, unlike other forces who were untrained and could crack or surrender at any given moment. That along with several other reasons brought lots of success to Japan and superiority over the others. Japan also had another advantage, one in which was a result of Pearl Harbor. “Japan believed it necessary to destroy or neutralize American striking power in the Pacific” (Coakley, 1989). The United States military experienced extreme pain and suffering due to Pearl Harbor.
Spending about a million dollars per day, Japan quickly faced a financial crisis (Sanborn 1837). However, while Japanese leaders knew that its victories were not purely beneficial, the people’s perspectives of the war differed from the leaders’. The genro consistently manipulated the public’s views, distorting people’s perception of victories, as they heard more of the successes and less of the losses in military resources. They aimed to paint Japan as stronger than it really was to project an image of an eternally powerful nation not only to the West and other Asian countries, but also domestically to its own people. To further national pride and patriotism, a sentiment especially heightened in times of conflict due to the “us versus them” mentality, for promoting Japanese willingness to serve the country, the Meiji leaders amplified Japan’s victories and downplayed its losses in the Russo-Japanese War.
Japan was in fact a nation that had it Empire. In the early stages of the Meiji period Japan wished to improve national relations with China, Korea and other Asian countries. However Korea rejected the trade proposal (1830-1870). In 1876 the Japanese navy used the exact same strategy as the Americans to open trade.
But also change within the military occurred with the replacement of Samurai authority. Trying to be equal competitors in world power as their Western neighbors. Japan had gotten imperialist ideas from 1853 when the U.S. black ships steamed
