Opening Japan to the West
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Japan was a country isolated form the rest of the world for most of her history. Japan is an island, making it difficult to access, and this fact also separated it from most of the history of other Asian nations. This began to change when the first European ships arrived and sought trade with different parts of Asia. Japan resisted for a time, but eventually the Japanese began to see certain defense and trade advantages in making alliances with different countries. One of the major sources for this effort was a fear of Russia and a desire to keep Russia at bay. The United States was the first to try to open Japan to the outside world, but Britain also became interested in a defense and trade alliance with Japan and with China and so sought the means to accomplish such an agreement. At the end of the nineteenth century, the first of several Anglo-Japanese alliance treaties came into being, offering each of the signatories some of what they wanted and creating a relationship that would last into the twentieth century. The British and the Japanese renewed their agreement twice, each time seeking some change in the basic agreement while reaffirming the need for an alliance. The last half of the Tokugawa period began in the middle of the eighteenth century, and this was also the era of the rise of industrialism in Europe. Japan during this era maintained her policy of seclusion. A change came about in 1858 when Japan signed commercial treaties
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as to modernize rather than to Westernize. They chose the best model in each field of technology and administration and adopted them to make Japan powerful and a match for other nations. They did not intend to sacrifice tradition or the basic structure of their society. They did send students and statesmen abroad to learn about new ideas on which reforms could be based. This was an act of conscious cultural borrowing, always seeking the best model they could find from whatever source. They borrowed different ideas from different Western countries and instituted their own versions of them as needed.
FIRST TREATY
Japan was opened to the West in 1853 when Admiral Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay and found a country still in a feudal stage of development. This was a country that had isolated itself rigorously from the rest of the world, but Perry issued an order that Japan would have to open her markets or face the consequences. This would change the country forever, but it would not be the type of change the West envisioned. The Japanese culture found a way to satisfy the West while retaining its own style. The Japanese announced that they would open their market, but they also said it could not be done all at once. Foreigner
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Meiji Era, Britain United, West Japan, Ministry Education, Britain America, Tokyo Bay, China Meiji, Manchuria April, Franco-Japanese Russo-Japanese, CONCLUSION Meiji, anglo-japanese alliance, meiji government, meiji period, feudal society, minister kato, britain united, alliance britain, japan country, economic life, economic life japan, inward-looking country, country seen formation, outward-looking country seen, inward-looking country outward-looking, shifted inward-looking country,
Approximate Word count = 3773
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page)
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