Essays on Meiji Restoration

The Tokugawa Period lasted between 1603 and 1867 (Yanemoto). It was founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu, and it was also called the Edo period. The Tokugawa period was characterized by political stability, internal peace, and economic growth. The people were led under military dictatorship. During this time, the Japanese society experienced some changes. Some of the transformation include educational expansion, commercialization and economic growth among others. The social order in the society was totally frozen. The society was divided into four classes: Samurai class, Farmers/Peasants, Artisans, and Merchants. Peasants were concerned with food production through farming. Artisans used their crafts ...

The Tokugawa Shogunate had been peaceful and prosperous for many decades. However, when things started changing, and problems arose, the Tokugawa Shogunate fell and lost its glory. The Tokugawa Shogunate fell as a result of both internal and external factors. The internal factors came in the aftermath of the rise of the merchant class and the decline of power. In this case, the leadership fell since the Emperor did more of the reigning than the ruling, which means that more power is bestowed on the Shogun ("Tokugawa Period and Meiji Restoration"). Aside from the internal factors, there were external ...

Shintoism and Buddhism in Japanese History

Before the spread of today’s religion, the early civilizations had different views as to how they could explain the things around them. Some would say it is the work of spirits who dwell upon plants, animals and inanimate objects while others believe in the intervention of divine beings who created the world prior to mankind. While some of these early beliefs have been forgotten in favor of newer religions, there are countries where early beliefs played heavily in the formation of the nation and even triggered a conflict to occur when a new religion was introduced to the ...

Introduction

In the recent past, the world has experienced paradigm shift in the political arena as a result of the emerging uprising movements in different parts of the world. Most of these uprising movements have been experienced in Syria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and other nations in the Middle East. These revolutionary waves are characterized with protests, riots, and demonstrations and aim to set the pace for political reforms by overthrowing dictatorial leaders from power. Many people may perceive the emergence of uprising and revolutionary movements as spectacular and unique aspect, but this is not the case because revolutionary movements have existed ...

Question 1

Facing external encroachment and internal rebellion, the Peking government by the 1860s appeared to be on its last leg, but the Self-Strengthening Movement breathed new life into it. Self-strengthening movement that included development of many institutional reforms after concessions and military defeats by the foreign powers was of importance to the Peking governmen. Self-Strengtheners did not realize that western military strength arose from political and economic structures and therefore needed to improve western technology and science in Qing empire. Due to such ignorance of the self-strengtheners, the reforms had various strengths and weaknesses. China needed a technological advancement when it ...

JAPANESE POLITICS, ECONOMICS, AND/OR SOCIETY BETWEEN 1868-1920

JAPANESE POLITICS, ECONOMICS, AND/OR SOCIETY BETWEEN 1868-1920 The period of 1868-1920 saw some changes in the history of Japan. These changes had significant impacts on the political, economic and social aspects of the society of Japan. They influenced the perceptions of individuals during that period concerning political and economic elements of the society. The Japanese developed various attitudes towards these changes and had various thoughts concerning these changes. There was a correlation between the as some of them had significant influences on others. That is; some of the political changes experienced during this time played a role in the transformation ...

Abstract

The paper deals with Japanese samurai warriors and the cultural peculiarities of this highly decorated social and military elite. Customs, religious practices, different codes of conduct, material culture, such as clothing and weaponry, food, and drinks are among the main subjects highlighted in the paper. The project is based on the opinions and knowledge shared by prominent subject-field scientists and journalists. Keywords: culture, Japanese, samurai, code, weapon, elite, warrior All world societies, whether civilized or not, have always had a distinctive social group of nobility or a ruling caste in charge of administrative, cultural, economic and political affairs, with ...

Olympe de Gouges: she was a French political activist and playwright whose abolitionist and feminist writing reached a large audience. Her play writing career began in the early 1780s at a time when France experienced increased political tension. She immediately became an advocate for improving the conditions of slaves in French colonies and also began writing political pamphlets. She is known in history as among the first feminist who demanded that French women be awarded equal rights as French men. In her text “Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen” written in 1971, Olympe de Gouges challenged the notion ...

Movie Review: The Twilight Samurai

The twilight samurai was produced in 2002 by Yoji Yama. The setting of the film is sometime before Meiji Restoration. The film follows the life of a poor samurai Seibei Iguchi, working as an accountant. Despite his poverty, he is able to live a happy and content life with his two young daughters and aging mother. However, through the thing do not go his way, and life turns unbearable for him and his family. The film has won many Academy Awards including the Best Director, Best Picture, Best Screen Play, and Best Actress. This film produced a very interesting film that would ...

Institutions

Japan has emerged as one of the economic and political powers globally. This has been quite a remarkable success in todays modern history. Its rise to success can be attributed to its long history of innovation and impactful political revolutions of its time. The period between 1868 -1945 was the most rapid transformation time in the country's history. It underwent a series of events that depict the todays current Japan. Transformations internally led to an overhaul of economical, economical and socially (Meyer, 2009). Due to the factors Japan changed to be among the most powerful nations in the world. It was ...

Q1.

Examine how and why Japan was able to shift from the Tokugawa to the Meiji era politically while launching an unprecedented leap into industrialization and even imperialism in little more than a generation. The most important distinction to make between the Tokugawa and Meiji era from a political standpoint was the absence of the shogunate. Once Emperor Meiji took over, he claimed political power back to the throne and shut down the feudal system. This was done mainly to keep up with the industrialized, Western political system and economy that they had seen with their increased presence in Japan; seeing ...