Meiji Restoration Influence On Japan

Japan's Growth and Influence

The Meiji Restoration:

After seeing the growth and development of western nations as well as China's defeat at the hands of the British in the First Opium War, Japanese political elites decided that Japan needed to separate itself from foreign trade. However, some saw further than this and thought more about modernization of the nation, which ultimately led to Japan being the superpower it is today. Therefore, in 1866, the daimyo of the two southern provinces formed an alliance to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate which was then in power. So the Satsuma and Choshu domains fought to overthrow the Shogun and instead put Emperor Komei in a position of real power as they felt that through him they would have a
In 1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu gave up his post as the fifteenth Tokugawa shogun which transferred the power to the young Mutsuhito, however the whole of Japan was not to give up so easily. On January 27, 1868, both sides clashed for a four day battle that was to be known as the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, which marked the beginning of the Boshin War. On April 11 1869, Yoshinobu surrendered and handed over Edo Castle. Some samurai and daimyo fought on in northern strongholds, however it was clear that the Meiji Restoration was already in full swing. Once his throne was secure, the Meiji emperor, with the help of his advisors, set about transforming Japan into a powerful modernized nation. Among many thins, the four-tiered class structure was abolished, the army was modernized and new westernized military uniforms, weapons, and tactics were implemented instead of classic samurai ones. Furthermore, an elementary educational system for all genders was adopted; as well as improving manufacturing in Japan and shifting from textiles and other such goods to manufacturing weapons and heavy machinery. Moreover, in 1889, the Meiji constitution was
During WWII however, Japan takes Nazi Germany's side and as a result in 1945, the United States drop two bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This leads Japan to surrender and to disband its military and naval forces. During the war Japan lost 25% of its national wealth, its production levels were 10% of what the were before the war and this all caused hyper-inflation as well as commodity shortage. The West tried to democratize Japan politically and economically and this led to things such as the dissolution of the Zaibatsu, large conglomerates of major companies which lead to the more even spreading out of the country's wealth. In 1947 American fair market rules were introduced, securing market competition and transparency. Furthermore, labor movements were legalized and the compulsory education was extended from 6 to 9 years. However high inflation persisted and so to rapidly reconstruct the economy, the government implemented a strategy to concentrate resources in priority industrial sectors such as steel, coal mining, electricity, marine and railway transportation, and chemical fertilizer. Due to this industrial production rapidly recovered and in just two years, production levels increased from 31% of prewar levels to 80%. In 1949, a series of policies were conducted by Joseph Dodge, a US banker who came to Japan as an economic adviser to the Allied force General Headquarters