meiji restoration in japan

An archipelago is a group of many islands in a large body of water. An example of an archipelago would be Japan. Japan thought their race was superior to all other races, so they practiced isolationism. Since they practiced isolationism, Japan was not very advanced in technology. They had no contact with the outside world and were not aware of the great technological advances that were occurring all around them because of the industrial revolution. In 1853, the U.S. sent a fleet of ships under the command of Mathew Perry to Japan in order to end the nation’s self-imposed isolation and open it to trade.

The Meji Restoration was the movement that occurred in 1868, when Emperor Mutsushito decided that in order to withstand the imerialistic might of the West, Japan would need to adopt western ways. Mathew Perry "bullied" the Japanese into signing a trade treaty through a display of military might.When Perry dropped an anchor 26 miles off the coast of Tokyo, capital of Japan, the Japanese were amazed by the movement of ships with no sails.Perry intentionally arrived in port with sails down to intimidate the Japanese with their technological progress.The impressive naval force that Perry brought to Japan was obviously superior to any Japanese warships, this left the Japanese with few options other than to sign the trade treaty. On March 31, 1854 a treaty was signed between the United States and Japan that opened two ports to the United States.

During the Meji Era, the Japanese economy changed. The impact of foreign intervention was tremendous and sent the Japanese economy into a downward spiral. Since they were not a part of the industrial revolution, the Japanese economy had established itself on the production of labor intensive goods. By eliminating tariffs on foreign goods, the United States and the European countries were able to import comparable goods, produced on a large scale, and undersell the local Japanese producers. The resulted in all the small producers being undersold at the market, and often forced into bankruptcy. An unfavorable trade balance was established for the Japanese and their economy was in need of help.

After a while Japanese became better with trading because of the United States. They stopped being isolated and traded with other countries all over the world. The way they modernized was by establishing a parliament and made a system of transportation and communication.