Assignment:
Summary
The most important feature of the Meiji period was Japan's struggle for recognition of its considerable achievement and for equality with Western nations. Japan was highly successful in organizing an industrial, capitalist state on Western models. But when Japan also began to apply the lessons it learned from European imperialism, the West reacted negatively. In a sense Japan's chief handicap was that it entered into the Western dominated world order at a late stage. Colonialism and the racist ideology that accompanied it, were too entrenched in Western countries to allow an "upstart," nonwhite nation to enter the race for natural resources and markets as an equal. Many of the misunderstandings between the West and Japan stemmed from Japan's sense of alienation from the West, which seemed to use a different standard in dealing with European nations than it did with a rising Asian power like Japan.
Discussion Questions
1. What were some of the political, economic and social changes that occurred during the Meiji Period?
2. What personage was at the center of Japan's new civic ideology? Why was using this personage as a symbol of national unity effective?
3. What role did the central government play in growing industry? Providing education?
4. How did colonization affect Asia in the late 1890's? What was the West's response to Japan's colonization efforts?
5. The terms "modernization" and "Westernization" are often used interchangeably. What do these terms mean to you? Why do you think they often mean the same thing?
6. Why is the period 1912-1945 sometimes referred to as the "Taishô democracy"?
7. How would you describe the political situation in Japan at the end of World War I?
Attachment:- The Meiji Restoration and Modernization.rar