1. JAPAN COLLAPSE OF TOKUGAWA
In the early nineteenth century, Japan was ruled by the Tokugawa Shogunate, and local lords had significant autonomy. This system made it hard for Japan to coordinate its response to outside threats. 1

2. COLLAPSE OF TOKUGAWA (cont.)
JAPAN
COLLAPSE OF TOKUGAWA (cont.)
In 1853, the American commodore Matthew C. Perry arrived in Japan with a fleet of steam-powered warships and demanded that the Japanese open their ports to trade and American ships. 2

3. COLLAPSE OF TOKUGAWA (cont.)
JAPAN
COLLAPSE OF TOKUGAWA (cont.)
Dissatisfaction with the shogunate’s capitulation to American and European demands led to a civil war and the overthrow of the shogunate in 1868. 3

4. JAPAN MEIJI RESTORATION
The new rulers of Japan were known as the Meiji oligarchs
The Meiji oligarchs were willing to change their institutions and their society to help transform their country into a world-class industrial and military power. 4

5. MEIJI RESTORATION (cont.)
Raw Silk Production and Export from Japan 1868 to 1913
JAPAN
MEIJI RESTORATION (cont.)
The Japanese had a long history of adopting ideas and culture from China and Korea; in the same spirit, the Japanese learned industrial and military technology, science, engineering, and even clothing styles and pastimes from the West. 5

6. MEIJI RESTORATION (cont.)
JAPAN
MEIJI RESTORATION (cont.)
Year(s)
Production/Exports (annual average in tons)
1026/646
1883
1682/1347
640
7103/4098
12460/9462
The Japanese government encouraged industrialization, funding industrial development with tax revenue extracted from the rural sector and then selling state-owned enterprises to private entrepreneurs.
Year
Number of Steamships
1873 26
1894
169
1904
797
1913
1514 6

7. RESISTANCE TO FOREIGN INTERVENTION
JAPAN
RESISTANCE TO FOREIGN INTERVENTION
Japan did not have a long history of top down reforms before Meiji Restoration; rather changes in politics, education and military structures were done at a local level (less likely to foreign influences) 7

8. JAPAN RESISTANCE (cont.)
Exposure to military and economic pressure by European sea powers was limited:
Was not a huge empire with large trading networks like Ottomans or Qing
Not seen as a “strategically” significant position (remote location) 8