The Asian Exception--Japan

I. The Tokugawa Bakufu

A. 17th Century Japanese Society

1. Feudalism--Japanese society in the 17th and 18th century is best characterized as feudalistic. It should be noted that during this time most European countries were beginning to shed those same social characteristics.

a) The Han--the Japanese term for the feudal lords who controlled large areas of land, and had peasants working that land, and had samurai to control the peasants and to fight other Han groups when there were disputes.

2. First Contact with Europeans--when the Europeans first showed up on Japanese shores, they and their trade goods were initially welcomed. These trade goods proved to be problematic, however.

3. Social disruption--the disruption this exposure to European trade goods caused--particularly in regards to firearms, which upset the ritualized (and less deadly) style of fighting between samurai warriors.

B. Rise of the Tokugawa Bakufu--this disruption of Japanese society created a crisis in confidence in the leadership of the government, and presented the opportunity for new leaders to emerge.

1. Tokugawa Shogunate--the emperor of Japan was at this time merely a figurehead, but represented the fiction around which the whole government revolved. The Shogun was suppose to act much like a prime minister does in a parliamentary democracy; acting as the directing hand of the emperor. In reality, the Tokugawa Shogun ruled the country, and the emperor usually acquiesed to the wishes of the Shogun.

a) Edo--present-day Tokyo became the new capitol of the country. The other Hans were directed to spend at least part of the year in Edo, and to leave their families there year round, in order to insure that they remained on their best behavior.

b) Restriction of trade--after consolidating power, the Tokugawa restricted trade to a single port--and also insisted that the only trading partners were to be the Chinese and the Dutch

2. 1st Conservative Revolution--the Tokugawa regime intended their rule to return Japan to a “traditional” way of life. But while order was maintained, the Tokugawa regime could not stop the changes that were being made to Japanese society.

a) Urbanization--by forcing other Han leaders and there families to live in Edo, this created opportunities for peasant farmers to sell surplus food to the people living there--and also created the opportunity for craftsmen to take up residence nearby in order to make luxury goods for the nobles living there.

II. Japanese and Western “Free Trade”

A. Commerce in the Pacific

1. Trade--western countries were competing with each other to trade with countries in the Pacific, particularly China (because of its great size), but were also beginning to press other countries to trade, as well.

2. Fishing--the need to find more sources of fish led fishing fleets to move farther and father from home.

a) Whaling expeditions--we know whales are technically not fish, but for the first half of the 19th century they were considered as such. The largest whales, the sperm whale, was also a valued resource for for sperm oil and spermaceti (from which the whale derived its common name).

b) Sailors stranded because of Moby Dick-like encounters with the largest toothed mammal who were able to make it to the shores of Japan were treated like hostile invaders; it was for this reason that a three gunboat fleet from the United States showed up in 1852, and “asked” the Japanese to open their ports to trade. With promises to return in a years for the Japanese response, the Americans withdrew.

B. Commodore Matthew C. Perry--the younger brother of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, he led a small fleet of four gunboats in the return of the American fleet. The Togukawa ruling elites realized that they did not have the capability to resist, and agreed to sign a treaty granting the US rights to trade in Japanese ports.

1. Convention of Kanagawa--the Japanese-style “unequal treaty” granted rights of extraterritorality (meaning foreign nationals were not bound by local laws), and being forced to grant European powers “most-favored nation” status (meaning lower tariffs for the goods they exported), while receiving nothing in return.

C. Fall of the Tokugawa--this development was a rude shock to Japanese pride, and undermined the confidence previously placed in the ruling regime.

1. Tokugawa betrayal--the treaty was portrayed as a betrayal of the emperor by the enemies of the Tokugawa, largely because they did not consult with the emperor before agreeing to the treaty.

2. Internal strife--other Han attempted to move into the power vacuum created by this development, setting off a low-key civil war that lasted until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

III. Meiji Restoration

A. Role for the Emperor--the emperor remained largely a figurehead.



B. Modernization of society--the Japanese leadership quickly realized that they would need to modernize their society to compete with the West--or, at least, not end up in the position that China had fallen into.

1. Ending feudalism--the Han were largely done away with; while large landowners remained an important part of society, peasants for the first time were allowed to own land as well.

2. Creation of State Capitalism--to compete with the industries of the west, Japanese leaders realized that industries in the country would need state assistance to capitalize (acquire machinery and factories), which they then provided.

C. Acquiring Raw Materials--Japan is a country rich in people, but poor in natural resources; there are minimal sources for iron ore, zinc, tin, or coal--all necessary to begin industrialization at this early time. Realizing that their neighbors China and Korea had these resources, the Japanese modernized their military with an eye to acquiring these materials.

D. Modernizing the military

1. Acquiring western arms--not only firearms, but cannon and eventually ships, until they could build their own (which did not happen until near the turn of the 20th century).

2. Universal conscription--initially opposed by what was left of the samurai class (who saw the large presence of peasants as demeaning to their honorable profession), as these samurai moved into the developing officer corps, this development became more palatable.

E. Asian Imperialism--by the turn of the 20th century, Japan was able to raise itself to become a military and industrial power equal to some of those in Europe--although Europe and the United States refused to recognize that that was the case.