Japan

Japan becomes an imperialist power
* Japan Changes Direction during the Meiji Era: 1868 – 1912
* 1853 – Commodore Matthew Perry
“Opens Up” Japan to Western Trade!

What Did the U. S.Want??
* Coaling stations.
* More trading
partners.
* A haven for
ship-wrecked
sailors.

Perry’s “Black Ships”
The Treaty of Kanagawa – 1854
Japan Learns a Lesson!
In1862, just before the start of the Meiji period, Tokugawa sent officials and scholars to China to study the situation there. A Japanese recorded in his diary from Shanghai…
The Chinese have becomeservants to the foreigners. Sovereignty may belong to China but in fact it's no more than a colony of Great Britain and France.
China’s “Unequal Treaties”
After the Opium War of 1839-1842, Japan wasconvinced that it had to Open Up
to the West.
The Shi-shi (“Men of High Purpose”)
Highly idealistic samurai who felt that the arrival of Westerners was an attack on the traditional values ofJapan.
They believed that:
* Japan was sacred ground.
* The emperor, now a figurehead in
Kyoto, was a God.
* Were furious at the Shogun for signing treaties
with the West without theEmperor’s consent.
* Their slogan  Revere the Emperor, Expel
the Barbarians!
The Meiji Revolt – 1868
A powerful group of samurai overthrow the Shogun.
Sakamoto Ryoma,the hero.
He helped Japan emerge from feudalism into a unified modern state.
The Shogunate Is Overthrown!
* The last Shogun.
* Tokugawa Yoshinobu.
The emperor is restored to power
MEIJI:“Enlightened Rule”
Modernization by “Selective Borrowing”
* Popular board game.
* Start by leaving
Japan & studying in
various Western
capitals.
* End by returning toJapan and becoming a
prominent government
official.
European Goods
* Europe began to
“loom large” in
the thinking of
many Japanese.
* New slogan:
Japanese Spirit;...