The document summarizes Japan's transition during the Meiji Era from 1868-1912. It describes how Commodore Perry opened Japan to Western trade in 1853. In response, Japan abolished its feudal system and embarked on modernizing reforms inspired by Western models, including a written constitution and adopting Western clothing, technology, and education systems. Japan emerged as an imperialist power, defeating China in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, expanding its territory and becoming a new power in East Asia.

2. Japan Changes Direction During the
Meiji Era: 1868 - 1912
Commodore Matthew Perry

3. 1853 – Commodore Matthew Perry
“Opens Up” Japan to Western
Trade!

4. W Did the U. S. W
hat ant??
 Coaling stations.
 More trading
partners.
 A haven for
ship-wrecked
sailors.

5. Perry’s “Black
Ships”

6. The Treaty of Kanagawa - 1854

7. Japan Learns a Lesson!
In 1862, just before the start of the
Meiji period, Tokugawa sent officials and
scholars to China to study the situation
there. A Japanese recorded in his diary
from Shanghai…
The Chinese have become servants to the
foreigners. Sovereignty may belong to
China but in fact it's no more than a
colony of Great Britain and France.

8. China’s “Unequal Treaties”
 After the Opium War of 1839-1842,
Japan was convinced that it had to Open Up
to the West.

9. The S hi-shi (“Men of High
Purpose”)
 Highly idealistic samurai who felt that the
arrival of Westerners was an attack on the
traditional values of Japan.
 They believed that:
 Japan was sacred ground.
 The emperor, now a figurehead in
Kyoto, was a God.
 Were furious at the Shogun for signing treaties
with the West without the Emperor’s consent.
 Their slogan  Revere the Emperor, Expel
the Barbarians!

10. The Meiji Revolt - 1868
 A powerful group
of samurai
overthrow the
Shogun.
 Sakamoto Ryoma,
the hero.
 He helped Japan
emerge from
feudalism into a
unified modern
state.

11. The Shogunate Is Overthrown!
 The last
Shogun.
 Tokugawa
Yoshinobu.

12. The Emperor Is “Restored” to
Power
MEIJI  “Enlightened Rule”

13. Newspaper Cartoon, 1870s?
Enlightened Half-Enlightened Un-Enlightened

14. Modernization by
“Selective
Borrowing”
 Popular board game.
 Start by leaving
Japan & studying in
various Western
capitals.
 End by returning to
Japan and becoming a
prominent government
official.

15. European
Goods
 Europe began to
“loom large” in
the thinking of
many Japanese.
 New slogan:
Japanese Spirit;
Western
Technology!

16. The Japanese Became Obsessed
with W estern Styles
Civilization and Enlightenment!

17. Everything Western Was
Fashionable!

18. Everything Western Was
Fashionable!
Japanese soldiers with their wives.

19. The Rulers Set the Tone
with W estern Dress
Emperor Meiji Empress Haruko
(1868- 1912)

20. Changing Women’s
Fashions
1900 Styles The First
“Miss Japan”
(1908)

21. Westernize
Westernize
Abolition
Abolition Land
Land the School
the School
of the
of the Redistribution
Redistribution System
System
feudal system
feudal system (Fr. & Ger.)
(Fr. & Ger.)
Modern
Modern
Modernize
Meiji
Banking
Banking Modernize
System
System the Army
the Army
(Prussian)
(Prussian)
Reforms
Written
Written
Constitution
Constitution Build a
Build a
(Germans)
(Germans) Modern Navy
Modern Navy
(British)
(British)
Human Rights
Human Rights Emperor
Emperor
& Religious
& Religious Worship
Worship
Freedom
Freedom Intensified
Intensified

22. A Constitutional Government
Copied from the Germans
Satsuma &
Choshu Families
The Emperor
of Japan
The Diet 1889 Constitution
(Legislative Body) of Japan
House of House
Representatives of Peers

23. Expansionism
& the Rise of Military Power
New players on the block?

24. Sino-Japanese War: 1894-1895
The Meiji Emperor was in Hiroshima during the
Sino-Japanese War

25. Soldiers on the Battlefield
During the Sino-Japanese W ar
The Treaty of Shimonoseki ended the war.

26. Today—Tensions Between China &
Japan
 Offshore gas field in
the East China Sea
reveals recently
strained relations
between China & Japan.
 Tension over disputed
gas field on the rise,
exacerbating mutual
mistrust dating back to
the Sino-Japanese War.
EEZ-Exclusive Economic
Zone.

27. The Russo-Japanese War:
1904-1905
The Battle of Tsushima:
The results startled the world!

28. President Teddy Roosevelt
Mediates the Peace
The Treaty of Portsmouth, NH ended the
Russo-Japanese War.

29. Japan Annexes Korea

30. Japan Is a Player in China

31. Competition from Another “Pacific”
Power Is on the Horizon

32. The U. S. “Great White Fleet”

33. But, Japanese Power Would Grow . . .

34. • EMPIRE OF JAPAN TREATY
• Kanagawa, March 31, 1854.
• Treaty between the United States of America and
the Empire of Japan.
• This agreement, forced on the Tokugawa shogunate
by Commodore Perry's menacing "black ships,"
ended over two centuries of virtual exclusion (the
exception being the Dutch) of foreign traders from
the coast of Japan. The intrusion of the U.S. in the
first place (see President Fillmore's letter derived
from the ill-treatment accorded American whaling
crews when shipwrecked off the coast or landing for
provisions or repairs. The treaty fully satisfied the
U.S. government's concerns in this regard but left to
the future the equally important matter of opening
the country to foreign trade; concluded in 1858 with
the signing of the Harris treaty.

35. • Unequal Treaties was a term used in
reference to the type of treaties signed by
several East Asian states, including Qing
Dynasty China, late Tokugawa Japan, and
late Joseon Korea, with Western powers
and the post-Meiji Restoration Empire of
Japan, during the 19th and early 20th
centuries. This was a period during which
these Asian states were largely unable to
resist the military pressures from foreign
powers as many unequal treaties were
signed by those countries after military
failure.

36. This is a List of Japanese board
games.
Western
Name of the Short description
equivalent
game
Pente;
Really just an advanced form
Renju distant relative of
of go-moku
tic-tac-toe
Played on a 9x9 board;
Shogi can use captured pieces Chess
against opponent
Sugoroku (one
Race game Backgammon
type)
Sugoroku Snakes and
Race game
(another type) Ladders

37. • The Second Sino-Japanese War (July 7, 1937
to September 9, 1945) was the largest Asian war
in the twentieth century. From 1937 to 1941, it
was fought between the Republic of China and
the Empire of Japan. After the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor, the Second Sino-Japanese
War merged into the greater conflict of World
War II as a major front in the Pacific Theatre.
• Although the two countries had fought
intermittently since 1931, full-scale war started in
earnest in 1937 and ended only with the
surrender of Japan in 1945. The war was the
result of a decades-long Japanese imperialist
policy aiming to dominate China politically and
militarily to secure its vast raw material reserves
and other resources.