rests came, not from the scramble for concessions, but from the advance of Russia southward from the Amur.
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 with five countries, less as a choice than because it was increasingly apparent that Japan could no longer avoid freer trade with foreign nations. Takao Tsuchiya points out that this change would create an influence that was enormous:
The Japanese feudal economic order which was already on the verge of bankruptcy had to be swiftly revolutionized. Moreover. . . Japan now had to transform her economic life quickly into a modern capitalistic system."
The speed of the transition from feudalism to modern industrial society has been noted by many observers, including contemporary journalists and travelers. These early observers virtua
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