A. The conditions:

    1. International Pressure

• expansion of global imperialism in South, Southeast Asia
• Opium War in China   (1 - 2), imposition of Treaty of Nanjing (1841) - Hong Kong, treaty ports, extra territoriality, missionaries
• Matthew Perry comes to Tokyo in 1853-4 with 1/4 of U.S. navy (1 -  2 )

    3. coup by Satsuma, Choshu, beat Shogun's armies, seized imperial court, announced resumption of direct imperial rule
 

B. Meiji Restoration Strategy 1868

1. Centralized rule under the emperor

• myth of emperor as divine, ancestor of the whole country, country's father
• central government took all land, appointed regional officials to replace feudal lords
• gave government bonds, set up land tax to stabilize government revenue

• 2. Unify social classes
• end special privileges of military class (Samurai rebellion crushed 1877)
• universal education
• allow commoners to serve in military

• 3. Government leadership and management of industrialization
• Government establish, mange banking system, control investments
• infrastructure (harbors, telegraph, railroads)
• invest in industries, mines, steel for military development
• privatization in 1880
• students abroad for foreign training
• hire foreign experts

• 4. Political westernization 1890: modeled on Bismarck's Germany, France
• highly centralized, authoritarian
• limited suffrage, gradually expanded, became universal in 1925
• no charismatic leader, lots of old men behind the screen (genro) civil service (German/French model reinforced Confucian Chinese model)
• military under emperor, not parliament, led to militarism
• democratic institutions had no power of the purse

• 5. Create a colonial empire
• 1895, war with China, take Taiwan
• 1904-5 Russo-Japanese War, establish Japan as major military power in East Asia       (1 | 2 | 3 )
• 1908 Intervene in Korea, take Korea as colony
• 1930's move into China
•     1931 "Mukden Incident"  Make Northeast China puppet  "Manchukuo"
•     1937 "Marco Polo Bridge Incident" in Beiping (Beijing)
•     1938 Rape of Nanjing   (  1 -  2  )
•     1940's seizure of coastal China, penetration into central China
•     use of poison gas, other "weapons of mass destruction" ( 1 -)
• Unit 731 specialized in germ warfare   1 | 2 |
• There are many more websites that summarize the anger of other Asian countries concerning Japans's violence:  1
• Result: perpetual text book controversy 1
• 1940-41 Move into Southeast Asia (Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere)
•     Vietnam (France)
•     Hong Kong (England)
•     Malaya, Singapore (England) 1
•     Burma (England)
•     Philippines (U.S.)
•     Indonesia (Holland)
•     Pacific Islands
• Dec 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor