While some historians view the Meiji Restoration as a success in political reforms, others argue it failed to fully establish democracy in Japan. The Meiji leaders successfully incorporated some Western political systems like establishing laws and a constitution, but democracy was limited. The constitution concentrated power in the hands of oligarchs and bureaucrats rather than elected officials. Commoners also had little influence or participation in the political process. Additionally, the lives of peasants did not significantly improve and some argue deteriorated after the restoration. Therefore, critics claim the restoration failed to resolve issues from the feudal system and brought confusion by mixing authoritarian and democratic elements, making the reforms vague and lacking practical application of representative government.

1. Analysis
While there are different perspectives regarding the success of the Meiji Restoration
in terms of political reform, many historians claim that the Restoration had a great success in
leading the future Japan. Historian Alistair D. Swale remarks that the Japanese reform during
the Meiji period was successful because the Meiji leaders were successful in incorporating
Western politics and established a functioning democracy without sacrificing Japanese values.
(Swale 50) The leaders could successfully make numerous laws and political systems and
great a huge progress in Japanese society. (Swale 51) They emphasized the traditional Shinto
aspect in the new system andit is not another kind of Bakufu, but rather a government that is
ruled by the emperor and is an adaptation of Western political ideas to Japanese tradition.
(Swale 63) Thus political reforms were closely associated with social reforms too. They
established the Charter Oath in 1868 which announced the main aims and course of action
under the rule of the Meiji Emperor. This was significant in transforming the society from
feudalism to constitutional monarchy. In 1890, they established the Meiji Constitution which
claimed the role of politicians in diets and the new political system under the Emperor. These
reforms showed Japan’s progress to the West and allowed her to end the unequal treaties. In
1925, the General Election Law became effective and allowedvoting rights to men above 25
years old. This implies the great success of democracy when compared to other countries at
that time. GerogeSansome, a government official from the United Kingdom during the Meiji
period, had positively stated “By the beginning of the nineteenth century the authority of the
central government is being challenged by the great feudatories….Japan has now to enter the
international society. The feudal hierarchy presently collapses, and in 1867 the rule of the
throne is fully restored.”(Sansome 242) From these accomplishment done during the era,
people can regard the Meiji restoration as a significant transformation that later helped Japan
become a modern state.

2. However, some scholars assert that the restoration failed. According to Ian Buruma,
the main reason of its failure lied on the vagueness of the reform, allowing the Meiji leaders
to control the Japanese politics. (Buruma 37) Although the political leaders mainly from
Satsuma and Choshu clans tried hard to make Japan a westernized nation, they lacked focus
on the details of the official documents. The new constitutionwasbased on the Prussian
constitution which was meant to impress the Western world. However, the oligarchsdid not
seem to fully support democracy. They mixed the German constitution with the Japanese
authoritarianism which brought massive confusion to the society.Although it claimed
democracy, the involvement of the public to the politics was strictly limited. Public
gatherings were often repressed due to the Safety Preservation Law of 1894.In addition,
Buruma explains that although Emperor’s active involvement in leading the country was
claimed in the constitution, he was nothing but a symbol of the country. He was “expected to
stand above worldly for affairs, while bureaucratic elite made political decisions in his
name.”(Buruma 39)This suggests that the bureaucrats gained authority rather than the elected
officials which is far from a democratic system. Moreover, the Emperor’s position limited the
involvement of the commoners’ participation in politics. Therefore, it can be said that
democracy was not fully supported. These vague system of the Meiji politicsbrought massive
confusion to the society. The shift from feudalism to the constitutional monarchy lacked
practicality and did not resolve the peasants’ problems of high rents which emerged in the late
Tokugawa era. Historian Richard Storryeven states that the condition of the peasantry
deteriorated for several years after the transformation.(Storry 108) This indicates that the
commoner’s small influence over the politics. He explains the reason that the political
reforms were so precarious is that“the government was so busy building up, on a pragmatic
basis, the strength of the nation…that it looked upon the demand for representative
institutions almost frivolous…”(Storry 112) From this, it is evident that the Meiji leaders
were more interested in economic progress than in politics. This is shown clearly when Japan

3. started to invade China and Korea for expansion later in 1895 and 1905. Therefore, by
looking back at the actual conditions of politics during Meiji restoration such as the restricted
participation in democracy, the discord of the Emperor’s role in the constitutional monarchy,
and unchanging lives of the peasants support the claim that the reform was a failure.
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