Hey, explorers! Bryan here, and welcome back to Japan! I want you to imagine for a minute that you
live in a country which has a very, very strict hierarchy; that means that everyone is born into
a particular standing in society, and it never changes. This idea is reinforced by your religious
and social beliefs, your parents, their leaders, and your emperor, whom you believe to be a god.
Before we move forward, I want you to pause here, and if you haven't yet,
print out the PDF supplement for this lesson, and think about the following question: How would a
society built like this ever become a wealthy, democratic, technologically advanced country?
Our objective today will be to explore the cause-and-effect transformation of Japan
from a tightly controlled, isolated warrior state to a modern, wealthy, and democratic country.
So I'm not actually introducing a new martial arts movie, though it sounds like a good one, right?
According to legend, the first emperor of Japan was Jimmu of the House of Yamato in 660
C.E. Since then, Japan claims that 126 monarchs, from Jimmu to the current emperor,
Naruhito, form a mostly unbroken chain. I heard you gasp as you did that math there,
and that's right! Japan claims an unbroken line of rulers for over 1,400 years.
However, fights over power were frequent in Japan. [Many soldiers yelling in battle] Arguably, the
worst was the Sengoku Period, which was basically 150 years of constant civil war, lasting from 1467
to 1615. Emerging from this period, one man named Tokugawa sidelined the emperor and brought Japan
under his control as a shogun, or warlord. Along with his daimyos, or regional governors,
and each daimyo's elite soldiers, the famed samurai, the Tokugawa Period lasted until 1867.
In 1867, under an emperor named Meiji, the rule of the emperors was restored.
This period ushered in a great time of progress for Japan, but before that happened...
We've mentioned in our lesson about Japan's land and culture that the Japanese were wary of
outsiders. However, "wary" isn't the right word for most of Japan's history: That word would be
"sakoku," an imperial law which prescribed death for any outsider on Japanese soil. This rigid
isolationism, or policy of remaining apart from others, kept the Japanese society functioning but
stopped most new innovation, technology, beliefs, and ideas from reaching Japan.
In 1854, Commodore Matthew Perry of the United States
sailed into Tokyo Harbor in steam-powered ships. With advanced weaponry such as cannons and guns,
he forced an opening of Japan to Western influence and trade. While done under threat of force,
many of those advising the Emperor Meiji saw the technology of the American Navy
and the negative effects that hundreds of years of isolation had caused.
Pause the video here, and think about this question: After the experience with Commodore
Perry, what technological improvements do you think Japan will focus on first?
After the opening of Japan to trade, the country transformed from an agrarian economy to an
industrial power with incredible speed. Under the slogan "Enrich the country, strengthen the
military," Japan's government centralized most of its processes, eliminating the old shoguns,
daimyos, and samurai and replacing them with a modern army of conscripts.
As a measure of their increased economic output, Japan's coal production jumped
from less than a million tons in 1870 to over 23 million tons by 1913. They laid over 7,000
miles of railroad track in just over 40 years and increased their merchant, or trading, fleet
from 26 ships to over 1,500 within the same time period. Before we go on, pause here. In your PDF,
think about and answer this question: From what you know about Japan's resources and the process
of industrialization, predict Japan's next moves in order for their country to continue to grow.
If your answer had anything to do with acquiring natural resources and securing markets for goods
which are produced by Japan, then well done! Japan's success at modernizing its economy
and the centralizing of its government under the emperor created a swell of national pride.
Throughout the early 20th century, the Japanese military continued to expand,
eventually holding most of East and Southeast Asia.
The country joined World War II with Germany and Italy in 1940
and committed a surprise attack against the American Navy at Pearl Harbor on December 7th,
1941. This attack brought the U.S. into the war. After that, Japan continued to
fight a bloody Pacific campaign against Allied powers, with an estimated 36 million casualties.
On August 6th, 1945, a single American bomber dropped an atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima.
Three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped over the city of Nagasaki.
On August 14th, Japan surrendered, bringing an end to World War II. Pause here. On your PDF,
think about and answer this question: How does a country with
fierce national pride and a tradition of winning deal with losing a war?
From 1854 to 1945, the Japanese Empire had quickly industrialized, modernized,
and beaten every opponent it had encountered. It had been largely able to accomplish these
things because there were no dissenting voices in Japan's government. It was run by a single man,
who many still regarded as a god, and a powerful military behind him.
Now the country stood in ruins, occupied by Allied forces, most of its Asian empire gone,
and a people and economy devastated by war. The United States of America recognized the bonus
of a strategic partner in Asia and set about assisting Japan's restoration in three steps.
Japanese treatment of the Chinese, Koreans,
and prisoners of war was nothing short of horrendous. Starvation, experimentation,
direct force, and neglect had cost an estimated 10 million civilians.
Over 5,700 government and military leaders were put on trial for war crimes. Additionally, within
the surrender agreements, Japan had to reform its government to a constitutional monarchy,
spreading power to the people and breaking the dictatorial control of the military.
Next, the U.S. poured almost $2.2 billion, or over $14 billion in today's dollars,
into the Japanese economy in order to rebuild what was destroyed.
In September of 1951, Japan, the U.S., and 48 other nations signed a treaty,
ending the occupation of Japan and establishing friendly relations between nations again.
From 1951 through to the 1990s, the Japanese economy was among the fastest-growing and
largest economies in the world -- from a time only 70 years prior, where the
economy was only the super rich and super poor under the emperor's and the military regime,
to almost 85 percent of Japanese identifying themselves as middle class through the 2000s.
This allowed for a boom in consumer products, which is where many of the
pop culture phenomena we discussed in Japan's earlier lesson came from.
Innovation and industry came as a result of breaking large industrial monopolies up and
allowing for smaller companies to survive. Today, well-known Japanese companies such as Sony, Honda,
and Toyota are the result of this. Before we move on, pause just a minute here, and think about what
factors contributed to Japan's recovery. Is there anything that seems to be missing from this list?
How about the beliefs of the Japanese people in their community? Psychologically, this belief,
once for war, translated to the workforce. Many Japanese have a fierce loyalty to
their place of work and a desire to see it succeed. Perhaps more than anything else,
this has been responsible for Japan's post-World War recovery and rapid gain.
No country is without economic difficulties, and in 1991, much of the Japanese financial market
collapsed due to loans, which failed to be repaid, and an overestimation of value on many Japanese
assets. Until 2000, many companies lost market shares around the world, and the Japanese economy
stagnated. However, Japan's economy today is the third-largest GDP in the world, at roughly
$5.9 trillion dollars as of 2021, and it is the second-largest developed economy in the world.
Its GDP per capita is a whopping $42,928 U.S. dollars, or 23rd in the world.
Thanks to movies and myth, the role of the emperor, the shogun,
and the samurai will forever be embedded in the minds of people when it comes to Japan.
While forced to open to trade, Japan rapidly modernized and became a world power,
brought low in defeat during the Second World War, only to rise as an economic power
literally second to none. In your PDF, you'll find an extension activity where you can reflect
and journal your thoughts on the development of modern Japan. Until next time, keep exploring!