Japan China  Had been isolated for centuries  Was exposed in the 1850s by the United States  Government voluntarily gave in to the West  People were united and convinced to modernize  Japan achieved economic and military parody w/ West by 1920  Had been isolated for centuries  Was exposed in the 1850s by Great Britain  Government fought against Western ways and lost popularity with the people  Government became corrupt, the people became terrorists against the west  The Qing dynasty ceased to exist and the West took all the good parts of China by 1920.

 The US sends trade proposal to Japan in 1853 › Via warships commanded by Perry › Before this, only the Dutch allowed into Japan  A year later Japan signs the Treaty of Kanagawa › Agreeing to open ports for U.S. › Giving extraterritoriality rights › Opening the door for others to come in

 The Shogun gets the blame for being subservient to west. › He is removed and a new Government era is put in place  The new group of “Oligarchs” was headed by Emperor Mutsuhito. They were in charge for 45 years › Oligarchy is “rule by a few”. This was a group of 12  Japan was able to copy the best from the West and modernize industrially as well as politically /militarily and economically

Notice the uniform: No more Samurai/Shogun feudal outfits. The nineteenth century military uniform is adopted by the Emperor and his oligarchs.

 By end of century, Japan was comparable to the west › They were able to negotiate away extraterritoriality rights for west  Now, the Japanese sought to demonstrate their equality by becoming an imperialist power

 In the 1890s, Japan increases presence in Korea. › Angering the Chinese who felt Korea was their possession  The Chinese couldn’t hold on though against the modern army/navy of Japan  Both the Russians and Japanese compete for Manchuria › The Northeastern portion of China had a lot of industrial resources such as Coal

 Began in 1904, ended in 1905  Started over Russia and Japan’s competition for a sphere of influence in Manchuria › And Russia trying to trade in Korea  The Japanese launch a sneak attack (sound familiar?) at Port Arthur.  Russia’s Baltic fleet is sunk by the Japanese. The Portsmouth Treaty ends Russia’s influence in Asia

Manchuria know for having winters as harsh as Siberia. You’d think that was an advantage for Russia. Didn’t turn out that way. What happened was a blow to European racists who felt they were superior to Asians

 And it is very brutal  The army was particularly cruel › Thousands of Korean women taken all over Asia › To serve as concubines for the army  Koreans not allowed to participate in their own economy as their resources are used to make Japan rich and powerful  Oh well, says the West!