The impact of Japanese nationalism and militarism on foreign policy Notes

The Impact of Japanese Nationalism and Militarism on Foreign Policy

1. Up until the mid 19th century, Japan had been isolated from foreign influence.
2. While they had an emperor, it was a symbolic figure
3. In practice authority was decentralized and exercised by shogun, daimyo and samurai.
4. Economically, Japan had little resources
   1. Only 20% of the land could be farmed.
   2. They had not industrialized.
5. Everything changed in 1868-1912, with the Meiji Restoration.
   1. This period will see the end of Shogunate and the attempt to restore real authority to the Emperor (not fully achieved!).
   2. It will also bring massive economic changes.
6. Japan’s modernization: in order to protect Japan from foreign invasion, the government believed that they should imitate Western models of industrialization to compete on equal terms.

Japanese Industrialization

1. The initial industrialization was driven by government investment.
   1. Foreign experts were brought into Japan, and academies and universities were set up to train new scientists in Japan.
   2. Banks, postal service and railways were completed at an impressive pace.
2. Around 1880, the government sold some of its industries and large corporations emerged.
   1. They were the zaibatsu, and by the beginning of the 20th Century, they owned a large part of the industrial and commercial sectors.
3. By the turn of the century, Japan was one of the fastest growing economies of the world, with exports worth $200 million and a GNP that grew by more than 3% per year.
   1. In the 1879s, most of Japan’s exports were primary goods (mostly silk), but by 1914, 90% of exports were manufactured, and they were importing raw materials.
   2. Politically, the Meiji brought the end of daimyo and the samurai military power was absorbed into the Japanese Imperial Army and Navy.
   3. The emperor remained the ultimate authority, but there was a new Constitution (1889) that implemented a cabinet and a National Assembly (1890).
   4. There was a Parliament: a “two chamber Diet”, with a House of Peers and an elected House of Representatives.
   5. Voting rights were restricted to men paying high levels of taxation (only 2% of the male population voted).
   6. Cabinet ministers and armed forces were accountable to the Emperor.

Causes for Japanese expansionism before WW1