THE MODERN

JAPAN (1868-1945)
RAJIV RANJAN SENSEI

ANJALI KHARI
22228706041 | MA EAS SEM1
INTRODUCTION
During the period from 1868-1945, Japan underwent a series of rapid
transformations. In 1868, Japan had just undergone an internal
transformation, leading to an overhaul of political, economic, and social
systems. As a result of these transformations, Japan rapidly changed from
among the weakest nations in the world to a legitimate world power by the
end of the 19th century. As was common at this juncture, Japan also began a
campaign of imperial conquest. These conquests had vast, and ultimately
disastrous, consequences for much of East and Southeast Asia, including
Japan.
Over a span of 100 years beginning in the early seventeenth century, the
Tokugawa shogunate transformed Edo from a small village surrounded by
scrubby forests and dank marshes into a great bustling city. This
transformation was followed by another when the leaders of Meiji-period
(1868–1912) Japan employed Western architects and engineers to accelerate
the nation’s modernization. They began by lining the main thoroughfares of
Edo—now renamed Tokyo—with elegant Western-style stone and brick
edifices.
In November 1867, the Tokugawa Yoshinobu Shōgun (1837-1912) abdicated,
restoring all powers to the emperor and ending the bakufu regime and
isolationism. In January 1868, in the palace in Tokyo, it was declared that the
Tokugawa Shogunate was over, and a new government was established
under Emperor, based on the ancient system. Under the reign of Mutsuhito,
Emperor Meiji (1852-1912), Japan experienced an overhaul of political,
economic and social systems leading to an extremely rapid modernization of
the country. This was why this political change was called as the Meiji
Restoration. On February 3, 1867, the 14-year-old Prince Mutsuhito
succeeded his father, Emperor Kōmei, to the Chrysanthemum Throne as the
122nd emperor. The downfall of a government that lasted more than 260
years was a tremendous upheaval, indeed. It also brought an end to the
epoch of rule by “samurai,” “bushi” or Japanese traditional warriors that
began as early as in the 12th century and lasted for about 700 years. In the
Meiji period, the government undertook major political and economic
measures. The four traditional social classes from the feudal system of the
Edo period disappeared in 1871. The daimyo and samurai lost their rights and
privileges, not without regret. This reorganization of Japanese society
provoked revolts in the country until 1877. Promulgated in 1889, Japan's first
imperial constitution invested the emperor with a strong central power. The
creation of the yen in 1871 standardized and facilitated trade. On the societal
level, the regime made education compulsory and created the imperial
universities of Tokyo and Kyoto. The abandonment of the Chinese lunisolar
calendar in favour of the Gregorian calendar is a marker of the gradual
introduction of Western culture within the country. The Meiji era was the
first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from
being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization by Western powers to
the new paradigm of a modern, industrialized nation state and emergent
great power, influenced by Western scientific, technological, philosophical,
political, legal, and aesthetic ideas. As a result of such wholesale adoption of
radically different ideas, the changes to Japan were profound, and affected
its social structure, internal politics, economy, military, and foreign relations.
The period corresponded to the reign of Emperor Meiji. It was preceded by
the Keiō era and was succeeded by the Taishō era, upon the accession of
Emperor Taishō. The rapid modernization during the Meiji era was not
without its opponents, as the rapid changes to society caused many
disaffected traditionalists from the former samurai class to rebel against the
Meiji government during the 1870s, most famously Saigō Takamori who led
the Satsuma Rebellion. However, there were also former samurai who
remained loyal while serving in the Meiji government, such as Itō Hirobumi
and Itagaki Taisuke.
Meiji Restoration

The period that came to be known as the Meiji Restoration has

as its focal point the coronation of the boy emperor Mutsuhito,
who took as his reign name Meiji, or “Enlightened Rule.” With
the ascent of Meiji, the throne replaced the Tokugawa bakufu,
or shogunate, as the central executive power of Japan. The
slogan of “return to antiquity” (fukkō) made it possible to
interpret the sweeping changes as traditional in motivation.
In order to achieve economic and military modernization, Meiji
leaders instigated a wide variety of administrative, economic,
and social changes as soon as possible. The domains were
abolished, and prefectures, which are roughly similar to
American states or British counties, were established with
efficient taxation systems. Japan's Neo-Confucian class system
was abolished although former samurai, because of their
educations, continued to dominate bureaucratic and political
leadership positions for several decades.

Before the Meiji years, common Japanese had no particular

sense of patriotism and nationalism. The Japanese political
leadership realized the importance of inculcating these beliefs
in the general population and used religion and education to
promote these values. The government organized the nation's
Shinto shrines, accentuated the beliefs of one particular cult
that linked the emperor to legendary Japanese gods, and gave
Shintoism special favour relative to Buddhism. A national
public school system with elite and common tracks was created
and compulsory elementary education made mandatory. The
government used the schools to promote nationalistic ideology.
Education Minister Mori Ari nori, who believed in physical as
well as mental training, also linked the army to Japanese
schools by involving non-commissioned officers in physical
training.
Japan's new political leaders managed to make revolutionary
changes yet retain key elements of the political system that
emerged during the Tokugawa era. The samurai bureaucracy
was gradually changed to a systematic national bureaucracy in
which positions were filled based on meritocratic educational
performance. The bureaucratic functions of promoting public
order and stability continued as well as the task of economic
development within the framework of state supervision and
freedom for private companies and entrepreneurs to operate.
The Tokugawa political system had been authoritarian with an
individual, the shogun, having disproportionate but certainly
not exclusive power. Japanese governments during the imperial
period were oligarchies in which a small group of powerful
leaders made decisions. However, by the latter part of the 19th
century, the adoption of the 1889 Constitution and the rise of
party politics meant that even more consultation and
negotiations between key political actors and representatives of
special public and private interests occurred. The short- and
long-term political objectives of the Tokugawa years were
modified but certainly did not disappear.

Meiji political leaders were confronted with both foreign

demands and the physical presence of Americans and
Europeans. The biggest threat to the Japanese was complete
loss of their national sovereignty since Japan's military
capability was much weaker than the more technologically
advanced foreigners. Even before the Meiji years, Japan had
suffered national humiliations at the hands of foreigners. In the
1850s, Japan was forced to open ports for trade and lost the
right to try European or American nationals accused of crimes
while in Japan. In 1866 tariff negotiations, foreigners imposed
a forced uniform tariff ceiling of 5 percent of the declared value
of imported foreign products on Japan. The Japanese even lost
the right to charge foreign ships for entering and leaving
Japanese ports.
The Meiji leaders realized that the only ways to prevent foreign
control in an age of imperialism was to build a strong economy
and a strong military. As discussed in more detail in the history
chapter, the new government in the 1860s and 1870s sent
missions to scour the developed world for practical information
that could speed economic, military, and political
modernization. Between 1868 and 1902, more than 11,000
passports were issued for foreign study. The 1871–1873 Iwakura
mission visited 12 countries and met with high officials. Japan
was opened to foreign teachers, ideas, and visiting leaders. In
the summer of 1879, former U.S. President Grant visited Japan
for several weeks and provided extensive advice to the attentive
political leadership. Japan's ruling oligarchs, armed with the
latest technology but focusing on dominant political values of
the past, used a combination of political leadership and the
power of market incentives to make rapid progress toward a
manufacturing economy. They also relied heavily on British and
German knowledge to build an increasingly strong navy and
army. By 1890, political leaders had forged an ideology that
combined Western modernization with Japanese nationalism.

The 1890 Imperial Rescript on Education, Japan's seminal

educational document until 1945, promoted the pursuit of
learning and loyalty to parents, both Confucian traditions,
while associating these behaviors with Japanese beliefs. The
same document also specifically encouraged absolute loyalty to
the emperor. In the closing decades of the 19th century, Meiji
leaders exhibited impressive political pragmatism in the face of
a broad influx of foreign ideas. Nascent political parties
emerged whose proponents advocated Western-style rights and
political representation for various constituencies. Ito
Hirobumi and others who were responsible for Asia's first
Western-style constitution managed to partially co-opt several
of these movements yet maintain oligarchic control by creating
a plan of government. The 1889 Constitution, while allowing
limited suffrage in the case of the lower house of the bicameral
imperial legislature, or Diet, affirmed the notion of the
monarchy as the apex of the political system. Ito and other
Meiji oligarchs were essentially conservatives and monarchists,
but they were also pragmatic. The Constitution they designed
allowed affluent male taxpayers to vote for the lower House of
Representatives. This provision was included in part to placate
a growing people's rights movement in Japan.
Meiji leaders gained even more international respect in a time
of social Darwinism and colonialism through the
accomplishments of their military forces, first by establishing
Japan as the dominant East Asian power through victory over
China in the 1894–1895 Sino-Japanese War and then
astounding the world by defeating imperial Russia in 1905. By
the emperor's death in 1912 and the end of the Meiji period,
Japan was an imperial power with Taiwan and Korea as
colonies, had achieved success at economic modernization,
successfully reestablished national sovereignty by peacefully
negotiating an end to Western-imposed treaties, and created a
more intellectually diverse society than existed during the
Tokugawa years. In less than 50 years, Japan's political
leadership had shown remarkable adaptability and flexibility in
the face of a changing world.
However, new problems emerged and, coupled with intended
and unintended consequences of the 1889 Constitution, they
eventually caused the political system to break down. These
constitutionally unresolved questions included who was
responsible for executive decision making, the role of the
emperor in actual governance, and the ambiguity about the
separation of military and civil authority. Also, by the beginning
of the 20th century Japanese leaders had a resources problem
that is still a major political and economic issue today; the
nation is not self-sufficient in either food or energy. Although
Western countries respected the Japanese, they were wary of
the emergence of a new Asian power.
The decay of the feudalism.
Among the most remarkable phenomena which marked the
Meiji restoration and the subsequent year was the speed of the
transition from a feudal into modern industrial society. The
relative ease with which Japan broke free from the constraints
of the feudal economy.
In 1869, all “Han” lords returned to Emperor Meiji the
rulership over land and people in their domains. In reality, this
event, called “hanseki-hokan,” did not entail a major structural
change since the former feudal lords were assigned to head
their respective domains as governors. However, in 1871, the
new government abolished all the “Han” domains, including
both Satsuma and Choshu. The Satsuma and Choshu domains
had a history going back more than 700 years. Moreover, these
were the domains where many of the new government’s leaders
were from. Still, the new government announced that it would
appoint officials of its choice as new regional heads. The new
government ordered all the former daimyo lords to move to
Tokyo, which had been renamed from Edo.
The Meiji government kept coming up with more new
measures, including introducing private land ownership and
scrapping the four-tiered class system. This class system put
“samurai” at the top, while farming peasants came in second
position, craftsmen and artisans in third position and
merchants were at the bottom. The distinction between the
classes did not disappear immediately, but faded away in a few
decades.
Fukuzawa Yukichi, who was Japan’s most important
intellectual leader during the last years of Edo and the early
Meiji period. Fukuzawa once served in the Tokugawa bakufu
and thought that the new government would press for the
expulsion of foreigners in line with the original purpose of
Satsuma-Choshu alliance’s open defiance against the Tokugawa
shogunate. So, he kept feeling let down by the installation of the
new government. However, when he learned that the new
government took a bold measure to abolish “han,” feudal
domains and establish prefectures in place of “han,” Fukuzawa
enthusiastically welcomed this change and wrote a book titled,
“Gakumon no Susume” or “Encouragement of Learning” to
emphasize the importance of introduction of Western
civilization in a determined way. Fukuzawa did not uncritically
admire Western civilization. Yet he called for the introduction
of Western civilization as a stopgap measure to facilitate
Japan’s efforts to modernize itself as soon as possible.
Late in his life, Fukuzawa began emphasizing the importance of
upholding the traditional ethos of “samurai” warriors.
PRESSURE FROM THE WEST

During the Meiji Restoration in Japan, there was significant

pressure from the West, particularly from the United States and
European powers, which played a critical role in shaping
Japan's modernization and development. In the mid-19th
century, Japan was largely isolated from the rest of the world,
with limited trade and diplomatic relations with foreign powers.
However, this changed when US Commodore Matthew Perry
arrived in Japan in 1853 with a fleet of warships and demanded
that Japan open its ports to American trade. This event, known
as the "opening of Japan," marked the beginning of Japan's
engagement with the West. Under pressure from the West,
Japan went through a series of reforms and modernization
efforts, including the abolition of feudalism, the establishment
of a centralized government, the development of a modern legal
system, and the building of a modern military. These reforms
were partly aimed at strengthening Japan's position vis-à-vis
the Western powers and avoiding colonization or domination
by foreign powers. The pressure from the West also had a
significant impact on Japan's economic development, with
Japan adopting many Western practices and technologies.
Japan's industrialization efforts were supported by foreign
advisors and investors, and Japanese companies began to
export goods to Western markets. The Shogutai, a group of
2,000 to 3,000 warriors that opposed the Meiji government, is
the most well-known of these rebels. Even after the Bakufu had
formally given up the city, they kept bothering the imperial
soldiers in Edo. Mura Masujir, a skilled warrior who was
familiar with Western military methods, was required to bring
them under control. Enomoto Takeaki, the naval commissioner
of the Bakufu, who escaped to Hokkaido with the Bakufu's
warships and set up a pretended republican government,
spearheaded resistance there as well. By the start of the
summer of 1869, he was also ruled over. The daimyo, who were
still deeply established in the local domains, posed the greatest
threat to the new government, not the overt opponents of the
new ruling powers. The daimyo’s authority over their Han did
not immediately expire with the toppling of the Bakufu.
Overall, the pressure from the West played a crucial role in
shaping Japan's modernization and development during the
Meiji Restoration period. While Japan faced many challenges
and obstacles during this period, the country emerged as a
major power in the region and played an important role in
shaping the global political and economic landscape in the 20th
century.

The first reform was the promulgation of the Five

Charter Oath in 1868, a general statement of the aims
of the Meiji leaders to boost morale and win financial
support for the new government.
Its five provisions consisted of:
• Deliberative assembly shall be widely established and all
matters decided by public discussion
• All classes, high and low, shall unite in vigorously carrying
out the administration of the affairs of state
• The common people, no less than the civil and military of
officials, shall each be allowed to pursue his own calling so
that there may be no discontent.
• Evil customs of the past shall be broken off and everything
based upon the just laws of nature.
• Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to
strengthen the foundations of imperial rule.
Implicit in the Charter Oath was an end to exclusive political
rule by the bakufu (a shogun’s direct administration including
officers), and a move toward more democratic participation in
government. To implement the Charter Oath, a rather short-
lived constitution with eleven articles was drawn up in June
1868. Besides providing for a new Council of State, legislative
bodies, and systems of ranks for nobles and officials, it limited
office tenure to four years, allowed public balloting, provided
for a new taxation system, and ordered new local administrative
rules.
The Five Articles were rewritten by Kido Kin to make the
allusions to the common people and parliamentary government
a little less overt. The Five Articles were initially written by two
persons who supported constitutional, parliamentary
government. The formation of a new order and the
modernization of Japan were the tasks facing the new leaders.
Consolidating their hold on the political system was a challenge
for the Meiji leaders at the same time. They had to remove the
people who had previously been in charge while resisting the
efforts of fresh rivals who wanted to remove them in the name
of "freedom and popular rights." A tiny group of closely
connected oligarchs known as the "genro" emerged as the Meiji
leaders by the middle of the 1880s, setting Japan on the path to
modernisation but also gaining a firmer hold on the reins of
power (elder statesmen). They were Ito Hirobumi, Yamagata
Aritomo, and Inoue Kaoru from Chōshū and Kuroda Kiyo taka
(1840–1900), Matsukata Masayoshi, Saigō Tsugumichi (1843–
1902), and Ōyama Iwao (1842–1916) from Satsuma. These
government leaders were providing official direction in creating
a new order of things. Nongovernment leaders from the
intellectual and cultural realms, by fostering the cultural
movement known as bunmei kaika (civilization and
enlightenment) and the political movement known as jiyū
minken (freedom and popular rights), were also working
toward the modernization of the society.
POLITICAL CHANGES IN MEIJI RESORATION
The Meiji Restoration was a period of rapid political change in
Japan that began in 1868 and lasted until 1912 and, During
this time, Japan underwent significant political, economic,
and social transformations that enabled it to become a modern
industrialized nation.
Here are some of the key political changes that occurred
during the Meiji Restoration:

• End of Feudalism: The Meiji government abolished the

feudal system that had been in place for centuries and
replaced it with a centralized government. The power of
the daimyo (regional lords) was significantly reduced,
and a new administrative structure was established.
• Establishment of a Constitutional Monarchy: In 1889, the
Meiji government adopted a new constitution that
established a constitutional monarchy in Japan. The
emperor was given symbolic power, while the
government was run by elected officials.
• Westernization of Legal System: The Meiji government
modernized Japan's legal system by adopting Western-
style laws and legal codes. This included the creation of a
civil code, criminal code, and commercial code.
• Creation of a Bureaucracy: The Meiji government
established a centralized bureaucracy to run the country.
This bureaucracy was made up of highly educated
officials who were selected through a rigorous
examination system.
• Expansion of Voting Rights: In the early 20th century,
the Meiji government expanded voting rights to include
more Japanese citizens. This included the establishment
of a universal male suffrage system in 1925.
Overall, These political changes helped to transform Japan
from a feudal society into a modern nation-state and set the
stage for Japan's emergence as a major world power in the
20th century.

MODERN ECONOMIC GROWTH IN JAPAN:

INDUSTRIALISATION AND TECHNOLOGICAL
CHANGE.
During the period between 1886 and 1905, the machinery,
factories, corporations, and so on that came to characterize
the modern Japanese economy began to develop significantly.
Nevertheless, the economy was, for the most part, still
dependent upon agriculture for its growth. This period thus
was characterized by the coexistence of the traditional and the
modern forms of the economy, plus a composite sector that
combined aspects of both. This hybrid element took the form of
small shops using modern techniques and nonwage family
labour. There was a considerable growth in the traditional
phase of the economy after 1885. This was necessary for the
eventual realization of a modern economy because it provided
the capital, labour force, food for the workers, and exports
(such as tea and silk) that would be required to offset the
imports needed for industrialization. Furthermore, this
development created a domestic market for the industrial
goods that were produced. The traditional sector’s potential to
expand reached its limit around 1905, after which its growth
rate began to decline, thus bringing an end to the initial phase
of Japan’s modern economic growth. In the next phase the
modern segment was no longer as dependent upon the
traditional component and relied more upon its own strength
and exports to develop rapidly. One explanation is that, until
World War I, Japan enjoyed record breaking economic
prosperity. The Japanese people had more money to spend,
more leisure, and better education, supplemented by the
development of mass media. Increasingly they lived in cities
where they came into contact with influences from abroad and
where the traditional authority of the extended family was less
influential. Industrialization in itself undermined traditional
values, emphasizing instead efficiency, independence,
materialism, and individualism. During these years Japan
saw the emergence of a "mass society" very similar to the
"Roaring 20s" in the United States. During these years also,
the Japanese people began to demand universal manhood
suffrage which they won in 1925. Political parties increased
their influence, becoming powerful enough to appoint their
own prime ministers between 1918 and 1931. At the end of
World War I, however, Japan entered a severe economic
depression. The bright, optimistic atmosphere of the Taisho
period gradually disappeared. Political party government was
marred by corruption. The government and military,
consequently, grew stronger, the parliament weaker. The
advanced industrial sector became increasingly controlled by
a few giant businesses, the zaibatsu. Moreover, Japan's
international relations were disrupted by trade tensions and
by growing international disapproval of Japan's activities in
China. But success in competing with the European powers in
East Asia strengthened the idea that Japan could, and should,
further expand its influence on the Asian mainland by military
force. Japan's need for natural resources and the repeated
rebuffs from the West to Japan's attempts to expand its power
in Asia paved the way for militarists to rise to power.
Insecurity in international relations allowed a right-wing
militaristic faction to control first foreign, then domestic,
policy. With the military greatly influencing the government,
Japan began an aggressive military campaign throughout
Asia, and then, in 1941, bombed Pearl Harbour.

THE ERA OF PARLIAMENTARY ASCENDENDANCY

The Era of Parliamentary Ascendancy in Japan refers to a
period of political history that lasted from the late 19th century
until the early 20th century. During this time, the power of the
Japanese parliament, known as the Imperial Diet, gradually
increased, leading to a more democratic and representative
government. The Imperial Diet was established in 1890 as part
of the Meiji Constitution, and consisted of two houses: the
House of Representatives and the House of Peers. Initially, the
House of Peers was appointed by the emperor, while members
of the House of Representatives were elected by eligible male
voters. However, over time, the power of the elected House of
Representatives increased as they gained more influence over
the budget and legislative process. In the early 20th century,
political parties began to emerge in Japan, and these parties
competed for seats in the Imperial Diet. The first political
parties were largely formed by former samurai and other elites
who had been educated in the West and were influenced by
Western political thought. However, over time, the parties
began to appeal to a wider range of voters, and their platforms
evolved to include issues such as workers' rights, social welfare,
and women's suffrage. During this period, several important
reforms were also introduced, including the Universal
Manhood Suffrage Act of 1925, which granted all adult men the
right to vote. This increased the power of the elected
representatives in the Imperial Diet, further strengthening the
role of the parliament in the Japanese government.
Overall, the Era of Parliamentary Ascendancy represented a
significant shift in the balance of power in Japan, as the elected
representatives in the Imperial Diet gained more influence over
the government and the country became more democratic and
representative. However, this period was also marked by social
and economic challenges, as Japan struggled to navigate the
transition from a feudal society to a modern, industrialized
nation.
The Great Kantō Earthquake
After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Western-style buildings
dominated Tokyo’s central district where government and
corporate offices were concentrated, but the commercial and
residential areas remained much as they had always been, large
swaths of densely packed wooden buildings. When the 7.9
magnitude Great Kantō Earthquake struck on September 1,
1923, fires broke out everywhere, engulfing the city in flames.
The disaster killed more than 100,000 people and left millions
homeless. Numerous Western-style buildings housing offices of
the Ministry of Finance, Home Ministry, Metropolitan Police
Department, and other government and administrative offices,
as well as cultural and commercial structures like the Imperial
Theatre and the Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi Department Store,
were destroyed in the fires. Not even the newly introduced
Western architecture was able to withstand the destruction
caused by the powerful earthquake. Gotō Shinpei (1857–1929),
who was appointed Home Minister the day after the Great
Kantō Earthquake, played a major role in reviving the
devastated city. Gotō lost no time in announcing a basic plan
for Tokyo’s reconstruction, and on September 27, less than four
weeks after the disaster, established an Imperial Capital
Reconstruction Council, which he headed himself. Gotō
requested a reconstruction budget of ¥4 billion, an amount
nearly three times that of the government’s whole operating
budget. When the Diet balked, in the end he was only able to
secure ¥600 million. In launching his reconstruction efforts,
Gotō asked an old friend, the historian and political scientist
Charles Austin Beard (1874–1948), to come to Japan to assist
him. Beard immediately sent a telegram advising Gotō to build
broad avenues, prohibit the construction of buildings that
might block those avenues when toppled, and adopt a
consistent approach to the design of the capital’s train stations.
At that time, Tokyo was already overcrowded with a population
of more than 3 million. Housing was in short supply, streets
were narrow and twisted, and sewage and water infrastructure
was woefully inadequate. Invigorated by Beard’s advice, Gotō
included measures in his reconstruction plan to address the
numerous problems that had plagued the city since well before
the great earthquake. The large-scale reconstruction project led
to the building of major avenues, including Yasukuni-dōri,
cutting east-to-west across the centre of the city, and Harumi-
dōri and Showa-dōri, intersecting in the Ginza district, as well
as lush green zones like the Sumida and Hamachō parks. The
last section between Ueno and Tokyo stations on the JR
Yamanote loop line was finally completed in 1925, after
reluctant landowners who had been blocking the construction
gave way following the earthquake and subsequent fires. The
numerous roads and facilities built after the earthquake and the
large-scale reallocation of urban land that was carried out at the
same time formed the foundations for the Tokyo of today. The
earthquake and fires triggered an exodus of people from the city
center to the suburbs. Many were people of culture and intellect
and it became a status symbol to have a residence in the
suburbs and such nearby cities as Kamakura and Urawa. The
boom in suburban housing projects that ensued also lead to the
building of new rail lines linking the suburbs to the city center.

IMPACT OF WORLD WAR II ON JAPAN

World War II was a major conflict that involved many
countries around the world, including Japan. Japan's
involvement in the war began in 1937 when it invaded
China, and continued until 1945 when it surrendered
to Allied forces.
During the war, Japan formed an alliance with Nazi Germany
and fascist Italy, known as the Axis powers. Japan's expansionist
policies in Asia led to conflicts with the United States, Great
Britain, and other Allied powers. The most significant event of
Japan's involvement in the war was the surprise attack on Pearl
Harbor on December 7, 1941, which drew the United States into
the war. Japan's military successes early in the war, including the
capture of large parts of Southeast Asia, led to a period of
expansion known as the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.
However, by 1944, Japan's military situation had become
increasingly desperate, and the country faced shortages of
resources and personnel. In August 1945, after the United States
dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, Japan surrendered to Allied forces. The war had a
devastating impact on Japan, resulting in the loss of millions of
lives, significant damage to the country's infrastructure, and the
end of Japan's imperial ambitions. In the aftermath of the war,
Japan underwent a period of significant political and social
change, including the adoption of a new constitution that
renounced war and established a democratic government. The
country also experienced a period of rapid economic growth,
known as the "economic miracle," that transformed Japan into
one of the world's most prosperous nations.
• Entry into the war: Japan entered World War II in 1941 with
its surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in
Hawaii. This attack led to the US entry into the war and
marked the beginning of Japan's involvement in a global
conflict.
• Military campaigns: Japan engaged in several military
campaigns during the war, including the conquest of much
of Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands. However, Japan
suffered a number of key military defeats, including the
Battle of Midway and the Battle of Okinawa.
• Atomic bombings: In August 1945, the US dropped atomic
bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
leading to Japan's surrender and the end of the war.
• Occupation and reconstruction: Following Japan's surrender,
the country was occupied by US forces and underwent a
period of reconstruction and transformation. The occupying
forces implemented a range of social, political, and
economic reforms, including the drafting of a new
constitution, the promotion of democracy and human
rights, and the rebuilding of infrastructure and industry.
• War crimes trials: A number of Japanese military and
political leaders were tried for war crimes in the aftermath
of the war, including the infamous Tokyo Trials, which
resulted in several death sentences.
CONCLUSION
Modern Japan is a country that has undergone significant
transformation over the past century, from a feudal society to
a modern industrialized nation with a vibrant democracy and
a thriving economy. Japan's modernization began in earnest
during the Meiji Restoration, when the country opened itself
up to the world and began adopting Western ideas and
practices. The subsequent decades saw Japan become a major
world power, engage in global conflicts, and ultimately
rebuild itself into the prosperous and influential nation it is
today. Japan's modernization was not without its challenges,
including economic and social upheaval, political struggles,
and the traumas of war. However, the country has emerged
from these challenges as a resilient and forward-thinking
society, with a culture that continues to inspire and captivate
people around the world. Today, Japan is known for its
technological innovation, cutting-edge fashion and design,
and unique cultural traditions. Its society is characterized by a
strong work ethic, a deep respect for tradition and
community, and a commitment to excellence in all endeavours.
Japan's economy is one of the largest in the world, and its
political system is characterized by a vibrant democracy and a
commitment to human rights and social justice.
In conclusion, modern Japan is a complex and dynamic
society that has undergone significant transformation over the
past century. Despite its challenges, Japan has emerged as a
model of modernity, innovation, and prosperity, and
continues to be a source of fascination and inspiration for
people around the world.
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2. Mikoso Hane and Louis G. Perez (2013), Modern Japan
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3. Kozo Yamamura (1997), The economic emergence of
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4. Marius B. Jansen (2000), the making of modern Japan.
5. E. Herbert Norman (2000), Japan’s emergence as the
modern state: political and economic problems of the meiji
restoration.
6. Nobutaka Ike (JUNE1949), THE DEVELOPMENT OF
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7.BRET L. WALKER (APRIL2004), MEIJI MODERNISATION.
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9. https://www.japan-experience.com/fr/preparer-
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10. https://www.jica.go.jp/dsp-
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