Japanese Culture Vs Western Culture Essay
In the past, many countries around the world suffered from similar problems. The rich were getting away with basically anything, and the poor were being taxed to death. This was especially big in France as well as other countries such as Japan. The taxation was mostly prominent in the era of Tokugawa. With all the Daimyos and Samurai, if you were a peasant, life would be incredibly hard to live. This was all changed by the Revolutionary Meiji Restoration.
During the Tokugawa period, Japan had decided to close off any communication to anything western. They wouldn’t allow any Western Countries in, they wouldn’t trade with their people , and they would not associate with them. This all changed however, when China looses the Opium Wars in 1842. Europe begins to open up ports in Japan and everything begins to change. The Daimyo and Samurai tried to revolt against …show more content…
the westernization, but alas, their attempts were futile. Now we have Japan with their new Emperor Mutsuhito. When he began his reign he was only 15. Mutsuhito took on the name Meiji during his reign which means “enlightened rule”. From there the Capital was moved over to Edo which was then renamed “Tokyo”. The capital of Japan is still there and its still known as Tokyo.
From this point, Japan begins what is sort of their industrial “kick-off”.
We see a technological upgrade in Japan’s military as well as a brand new Constitution. This constitution states that “ all people are equal under the eyes of the law”. Many countries have started a constitution similar to this, and it was a great step into the future. The Japanese take a full turn in the opposite direction they were a hundred years ago, and went from being 100% anti Western, to being totally influenced by the Western Society. Japan becomes an industrial power due to there being many new factories and the production of silk rocketing. There are now new schools, higher education, yet women were still seen as unequal.
While Japan may still have some problems at the time, they moved forward in such a huge way. The Meiji restoration boomed throughout and modernized Japan by the end of the 1890’s. The Meiji restoration may not have effected other many countries with it’s own internal revolution, but it did revolutionize the entirety of Japan in less than a hundred years. If you ask me, thats incredibly
impressive.
During the Tokugawa period, Japan had decided to close off any communication to anything western. They wouldn’t allow any Western Countries in, they wouldn’t trade with their people , and they would not associate with them. This all changed however, when China looses the Opium Wars in 1842. Europe begins to open up ports in Japan and everything begins to change. The Daimyo and Samurai tried to revolt against …show more content…
the westernization, but alas, their attempts were futile. Now we have Japan with their new Emperor Mutsuhito. When he began his reign he was only 15. Mutsuhito took on the name Meiji during his reign which means “enlightened rule”. From there the Capital was moved over to Edo which was then renamed “Tokyo”. The capital of Japan is still there and its still known as Tokyo.
From this point, Japan begins what is sort of their industrial “kick-off”.
We see a technological upgrade in Japan’s military as well as a brand new Constitution. This constitution states that “ all people are equal under the eyes of the law”. Many countries have started a constitution similar to this, and it was a great step into the future. The Japanese take a full turn in the opposite direction they were a hundred years ago, and went from being 100% anti Western, to being totally influenced by the Western Society. Japan becomes an industrial power due to there being many new factories and the production of silk rocketing. There are now new schools, higher education, yet women were still seen as unequal.
While Japan may still have some problems at the time, they moved forward in such a huge way. The Meiji restoration boomed throughout and modernized Japan by the end of the 1890’s. The Meiji restoration may not have effected other many countries with it’s own internal revolution, but it did revolutionize the entirety of Japan in less than a hundred years. If you ask me, thats incredibly
impressive.