Japan's Meiji Restoration

By jesusMora
  • 1 CE

    Japan Changes

    • The Japanese overthrew the last Shogun and put their emperor in charge
    • Japan ended its policy of isolationism
    • Emperor Meiji’s government decided the only way to avoid China’s fate was to modernize through selective borrowing from the Western nations

  • China's Unequal Treaties

    After the Opium War of 1839-1842, Japan was convinced they had to open up to the West.

  • Internal Problems

    • Declining agricultural productivity
    • Periodic crop failures, famine, and starvation
    • Harsh taxes on peasants
    • Samurai and daimyo are in debt to merchants
    • West arrives demanding trade with Japan

  • The Meiji Restoration

    Japanese period beginning in 1853 when Japan went from a non-industrial feudal nation to a modern, industrial and imperial power