Introduction:
Sth that captures the reader’s attention.
Background :
In the middle of the 1800’s Japan had been a closed country for
hundreds of years. There was a governmental policy which
essentially stated that Japanese people would be killed if leaving
the country and anyone entering would also be killed. There was a
small island in the south of Japan where the Japanese imported
goods from the Dutch, Chinese, and Korean nations, but there was
little or no trade with any other country. Thus, the country of
Japan was closed to outside influences, partly to maintain
political domination control and to prevent the foreigners from
stealing their gunpowder. In the mid 1860’s an American diplomatic
fleet of steam powered battleships arrived and insisted upon the
opening of Japanese trade with the US. The feudal Shogun
government, however apprehensive of the threat to their control
over the people of Japan, had no choice but to allow trade with the
US. This opened the door for international trade and relations with
the world beyond Japan for the first time in hundreds of years. I
1868, the shogun(the military leader) was forced to step down and
the sixteen year old Emperor Meiji was “restored ,” so that Japan
might catch up military with the West.
There was the end of a relatively stable number of years of
Shogun government called the Edo period. During this period a
primary Shogunate (military dictatorship) was essentially running
the government and the various different Samurai clans of the
country were managed by this primary Shogunate, which was based in
Edo (the city now known as Tokyo). Thankfully this particular
military dictatorship was a relatively noble group monetarily, but
their own noble and self-sacrificing way was actually part of what
allowed the imperial family to take over the government of Japan at
this rather pivotal moment.
Essentially Meiji was the heir son of the imperial family and
so those who stood to benefit from him being placed in as leader of
the country helped to make it happen. The leadership of the
Shogunate in Edo was handed over rather effortlessly as the
Shogunate was apparently duped by Meiji and his supporters. Meiji’s
primary supporters, of course, were leaders of some of the primary
opposition to the Shogunate. This assertion of the leadership of an
imperialistic family was known as the “Meiji Restoration”, yet it
was not really a restoration as there had apparently never been a
truly united Japan ruled in such a way before. Suddenly Meiji took
over and any Samurai opposition to the changes was essentially
stopped with force until the Samurai class was finally outlawed.
The Meiji constitution was written as part of this
“restoration” and basically fabricated a national identity for
Japan. It also conveniently fabricated a nationalistic mythology
which attempted to falsely present Meiji and his family as Shinto
divinity. The result was a fanatical religious theocracy with a
false history and deluded national patriotism. This ultimately led
to the sad events of WWII and the immense disgrace of the Japanese
people. It was essentially a nation-wide cult fabricated by
politicians.
Rationale:
Westernisation influence in Japan during the Meiji
Restoration Period:
Political influence:
In 1889, a constitution was promulgated which established a
parliamentary government but left it accountable to the emperor
rather than to the people. Administrative power was centralized in
a national bureaucracy, which also ruled in the name of the
emperor. There as a change in the feudal system. The classes were
declared equal, so that samurai and their lords lost their feudal
privileges, while the role of merchants began to be respected.
Japan received its first European style constitution in 1889.
A parliament, the Diet was established while the emperor kept
sovereignty: he stood at the top of the army, navy, executive and
legislative power. The ruling clique, however, kept on holding the
actual power, and the able and intelligent emperor Meiji agreed
with most of their actions. Political parties did not yet gain real
power due to the lack of unity among their members.
Economic influence:
In order to transform the agrarian economy of Tokugawa Japan
into a developed industrial one, many Japanese scholars were sent
abroad to study Western science and languages and businesses, while
foreign experts taught in Japan. The progression and improvements
in education would boost the economy because of the increase in
knowledge and skills. Industrialization created more importance on
businesses and the prospering of them, than the farming and
agrarian economy. After means of large governmental investments,
the transportation and communication network in Japan were
improved. The government also directly supported the prospering of
businesses and industries, especially the large and powerful family
businesses called zaibatsu.
The large expenditures led to a financial crisis in the
middle of the 1880s which was followed by a reform of the currency
system and the establishment of the Bank of Japan. Thus, Japan’s
economic grew tremendously during the Meiji restoration period.
Education influence:
A universal education was implemented. The education system
was reformed after the French and later after the German system.
Among those reforms was the introduction of compulsory education.
Compulsory public education was introduced both to teach the skills
needed for the new nation and to inculcate values of citizenship in
all Japanese. This means that the money is going towards education,
which goes to the people, and creates more capital, because of more
knowledge.
Military influence:
There was a high priority for Japan in an era of European and
American imperialism. Universal conscription was introduced, and a
new national army modelled after the Prussian force was
established, and a navy after the British force was established.
Arts influence:
In 1876, the government opened the Technical Fine Arts School
(Kobu Bijutsu Gakko) and invited the architect Giovanni Cappelletti
(d. ca. 1885), the sculptor Vincenzo Ragusa (1841–1928), and the
painter Antonio Fontanesi (1818–1882), who was deeply influenced by
the Barbizon school, to teach its students in Western techniques
and media. Fontanesi’s students Yamamoto Hosui (1850–1906), Kuroda
Seiki (1866–1924), and Asai Chu (1856–1907) all later travelled to
Europe to study academic painting, and are looked upon today as the
Meiji period’s greatest producers of Western style paintings
(yoga). On the other hand, the government took the acquisition of
Western art techniques as a means of fostering industrial
development, as opposed to promoting an appreciation of Western
aesthetics or art theory. This was to let the young Japanese gain
appreciation for the potentially important role of the museum in
society, and the establishment of Japan’s first public museum at
Yushima Seido Confucian shrine. Conder taught at the University of
Technology (Kobu Daigakko). His students Tatsuno Kingo (1854–1911),
Katayama Tokuma (1853–1917), and Sone Tatsuzo (1853–1937) were
responsible for many of the major architectural monuments during
the Meiji period.
Education system in Japan during the Meiji Restoration
period:
School system reform:
The reform of the school system has contributed the most to
the enlightenment of the Japanese people. By the 1906, the school
attendance was as high as 95%, which Japan boosted the one of the
highest literacy rates in the world. The resorted Imperial
government immediately realised the importance of universal
education to the nation’s pursuit of modernisation and progress of
Japan. Gakusei, a education system was implemented in the 1872 and
the promulgation of the Imperial Rescript on education in the 1890,
these laid the foundation for modern education system in Japan. The
school system was then modelled after the westernisation.
Universities established:
Universities as well as technical and professional schools
were established to promote higher education to meet the demands of
a labour force. Except for the terakoya, small regional schools
providing basic education, most traditional schools from the Edo
period were almost exclusively reserved to boys belonging to the
samurai class. Despite this, the level of literacy in the late Edo
period was remarkably high, which no doubt paved the way for the
Meiji educational reforms.
Primary school:
The nationalisation of the education system made primary
school compulsory for both boys and girls. At first, the attendance
was very low. However, after tuition was abolished for elementary
schools in 1900, then there was an increase in attendance. Many
things in the school was influenced by the westerners. Firstly, the
school was furnished western-style were built throughout the Japan.
Secondly, the school curriculum was also based on western models.
This includes history, science, geography and arithmetic. Schools
also continued to give moral instruction based on Confucian
tradition, which encouraged patriotic loyalty and filial piety.
Games like sugoroku, the New Year’s game, were used to introduce
young children to the scripts in a fun way. The sugoroku board
shown here illustrates the different steps a student must follow
before earning a degree.
Education in the Empire of Japan was a high priority for the
government, as the leadership of the early Meiji government
realized the critical need for universal public education in its
drive to modernize and westernize Japan. Overseas missions such as
the Iwakura mission were sent abroad to study the education systems
of leading Western countries.
After 1868 new leadership set Japan on a rapid course of
modernization. The Meiji leaders established a public education
system to help Japan catch up with the West and form a modern
nation. Missions like the Iwakura mission were sent abroad to study
the education systems of leading Western countries. They returned
with the ideas of decentralization, local school boards, and
teacher autonomy. Such ideas and ambitious initial plans, however,
proved very difficult to carry out. After some trial and error, a
new national education system emerged. As an indication of its
success, elementary school enrollments climbed from about 40 or 50
percent of the school-age population in the 1870s to more than 90
percent by 1900, despite strong public protest, especially against
school fees.
By the 1890s, after earlier intensive preoccupation with
Western, particularly United States, educational ideas, a much more
conservative and traditional orientation evolved. Confucian
precepts were stressed, especially those concerning the
hierarchical nature of human relations, service to the new state,
the pursuit of learning, and morality. These ideals, embodied in
the 1890 Imperial Rescript on Education, along with highly
centralized government control over education, largely guided
Japanese education until the end of World War II.
There are two different perspective to the modernization of
Japan. Some Japanese think that it is a chance to achieve
collective, national glory. However, others do not really encourage
modernization. Change to them meant danger, decadence and loss of
moral virtues. They fear of three areas: gender disorder, cultural
concern and political disorders.
Firstly, for the gender anarchy, the Japanese banned women
from adopting short hairstyle in the 1872. It emerged again when
the government sharply restricted women’s political activity in
18890. However, during the Meiji period, the primary duty of the
women was to serve the twin roles of good wife and wise mother was
not purely reactionary or restrictive. During the Meiji
formulation, wise women needed schooling. This was to ensure that
the mother raises the children well in a new era, thus the mother
needs to be literate. They had to know something about the world
beyond the home. “Good mother, wise mother” was aggressively
promoted by the Japanese government that the women have to be
educated. The imperial institution took part in the project to
prescribe new roles of women for men. The imperial signaled that
men should have western haircuts by adopting that style of him.
While the hair of the women should be kept long and braided up. The
women’s appearance was also influenced by the westerners. the
westernized facial appearance encourages the women to stop shaving
their eye brown and blackening their teeth. However, it was later
changed with support from the throne in the face of western
examples and criticisms.
Secondly, the Japanese fear of political disorder. They fear
that a restless populace might challenge their political control
which led to the decision for a conservative constitution. It
inspires for a call for scarification for the state in Imperial
Rescript. It also inspired a spark for military drills in school.
Thirdly, it is the open of the port to the outside world.
Japanese fear that people from across the sea would poison the soul
of the Japan. They fear that they would influence the Japanese or
to convert them into Christianity and demolish their true identity
and cultural, they fear the lost of their cultural.
Due to the rapid modernization and adapting many things from
the westerners, they start to fear that there is no unique identity
of Japan. Thus a magazine “ The Japanese” was published. The writer
thinks that the nation followed a path towards the so-called
civilized. They feared that it might “forfeit our nation national
character and destroy all the elements in
References:
Websites:
https://allaplusessays.com/order 21/4/11 , on the western
influence on Japan.
https://allaplusessays.com/order (21/4/11), the background of
Meiji Period.
https://allaplusessays.com/order 23/4/11, education system
during the Meiji period.
