Ch. 13 Sec. 1 Japan Modernizes

Japan in 1600’s  Emperor - Symbolic power, respected through tradition  Shoguns - supreme military dictator  Daimyo - landowning lord  Samurai - warrior (knights)  Tokugawa Shoguns seized power in Japan and closed it to foreigners  200 years of isolation from the world led to discontent over domestic policy  Weakening of Shogunate set up unequal treaties

U.S. Imperialism  Commodore Matthew Perry  1853 arrives off the coast with a fleet of well-armed ships  Want Japan to open ports  Unable to defend, Japan signs treaties that give the U.S. trading rights  Disgraced by these terms, daimyo and samurai revolt, unseat the shogun and restore the Emperor to power (Mutsuhito)

Meiji Restoration  Mutsuhito moved to the shogun’s palace in Edo and renamed Tokyo  Reform:  New political and social system  All citizens equal  Formed a Diet (legislature)  Built a modern industrial economy supporting the zaibatsu (powerful industrial families)  Reform occurred quickly partly due to Japans homogeneous society (common culture and language)

Imperialism (Japan)  Need natural resources for industry  Pushes them to build an empire  Forces Korea to open its ports for trade  Competition between Japan and China leads to the First Sino-Japanese War  Gains ports in China and control over Taiwan  Russia feels threatened and loses battle with Japan in Russo-Japanese War  By early 1900’s Japan is strongest power in Asia