With glittering metropolitan cities and scenic sights, the island of Japan boasts one of the largest economies in the world — though it is not without its fair share of problems. A rapidly aging population, caused by the combination of a long life expectancy and a low birth rate, is one of Japan’s major challenges in the twenty-first century.
In the face of the challenges which lie ahead, Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, called for the people to emulate the spirit of the Meiji people in 2018.
He was referencing a momentous event in Japanese history that happened 150 years earlier. In 1868, the centuries-long reign of the Tokugawa bakufu came to an end. In the face of foreign encroachment by Western powers, new leaders rose to overthrow the weak and inept Tokugawa government, declaring a “restoration” of power to the throne. Realizing their inferiority, the Japanese embarked on an aggressive modernizing campaign — the Meiji Restoration — in order to match up to the West.
What ensued was the borrowing and learning from Western thoughts and ideas. The Meiji Restoration — sometimes even referred to as a revolution — left major political, economic and socio-cultural changes in its wake.
Many of the changes enacted during this period were the fruits of emulating “Western” thoughts. These examples included the establishment of a Supreme Court in 1882 and Westernised military training and organization, influenced by the German General Staff System. The Iwakura Mission showed that the Japanese were keen to learn from the West, eagerly sending out scholars to study “Western” subjects such as law, finance and trade.
Yet amidst all the borrowing and emulating of Western ideas and societies, Japan’s cultural identity remained strong. It was obvious that many aspects of “Westernisation” clearly failed to penetrate Japanese society beyond the peripheral.
How truly transformative was the Meiji Restoration, and was it ‘successful’?
Political Transformations of the Meiji Era
The focal point of the Meiji Revolution was the restoration of power to the Emperor. Under the Emperor, a new government would be formed.
Replacing the feudal system of old Japan — where daimyo held power over their individual domains — political power was centralized in the capital of Tokyo (renamed from its old name Edo). By 1871, the domains of Japan ceased to exist, replaced by prefectures.
This would not be a simple name change. The 260 autonomous domains of Japan were compressed into 72 centrally governed prefectures, later shaved down to 47. To administer these new political units, governors were appointed by the central government, with most of them not being former daimyos. This was a significant transformation from the Tokugawa era, where daimyos came to power, and held on to power, on the basis of familial relations. Instead of hereditary relations, merit came to play a bigger role in Meiji Japan.
Standardization over Japan’s many prefectures would become a common theme for the policies that followed. For example, the taxation system was revamped in order to support the newly impoverished Meiji government. Instead of the population paying taxes to both their daimyo and the bakufu, they would now pay taxes to the Meiji government directly. Instead of paying in kind, taxes would be collected in money, thereby subjecting farmers to the rise and fall of commodity prices as well.
The Meiji Constitution
In 1889, a new constitution fell into place. Heavily influenced by Western models — chiefly Prussian and Austrian, the Meiji Constitution became a“landmark” for Japan’s entry into modernity.
The new document pronounced the Emperor “sacred and inviolable”. In reality, it was clear that he would exercise little power over the runnings of day-to-day governance, no different from emperors in the preceding Tokugawa era.
Instead, a legislative National Diet would be the apparatus for passing laws, as well as selecting the prime minister. Comprising of the upper “House of Peers” and the lower “House of Representatives”, the former was filled with noblemen and those appointed by the Emperor, whereas the latter was popularly elected. The people were at last represented in the governance of the country.
Nevertheless, this new political structure would not be without its flaws. The initial 1890 election saw only 1.1% of the entire population eligible to vote, though this would expand over time. More importantly, the Constitution codified a political structure that would pose significant problems in the future.
Under the Meiji government, the independent chief-of-staff, army minister and prime minister stood as equals, with the Army and the Navy answering directly to the Emperor, rather than the Diet. The civilian government’s ability to reel in the army was limited, a fact that would become glaringly obvious as militarism in Japan swelled in popularity.
Economic Transformations
The new Meiji government proved centerpiece in directing economic and agricultural reforms. From the capital, technical and financial aid were injected to the respective sectors to help them become competitive.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce was set up in 1881, and agriculture benefitted from greater diffusion of knowledge. Despite a decline in the agricultural population in rural areas, agricultural output was estimated to have increased by 1% to 3% per annum, with food production keeping up to the booming population.
The silk industry, too, enjoyed a massive boom. Owing to a silk blight in Europe, Japanese silk became an important export during the Meiji era. From 1868 to 1893, silk production increased by almost five times, taking up the lion’s share of Japan’s export revenue during this period. Hand-reeling would be replaced by machines, making silk production faster and more efficient. The quarter-century before the start of World War One saw Japan’s silk output increase by four times, with most of it produced by machines.
Industrialization occurred beyond the silk industry, extending to the coal and mining industry. Output in these industries increased by 700% between 1876 and 1896, bolstered by the development of new railway companies and railway lines. The Meiji government played an important in directing industrial reforms, building factories under the supervision and management of the government. The Ministry of Industry, in 1870, would be pivotal in introducing new industrial methods and technology into the mainstream.
The extensive involvement of foreigners and their advice helped Japan’s economic development. At its peak, the Japanese government hired 520 foreign employees, whereas 760 foreigners worked in private companies. One famous example would be the contribution of Horace Capron, the United States Commissioner of Agriculture. Playing a key role in dispensing advice and providing American technology, the far-flung, underdeveloped island of Hokkaido flourished.
Extensive government involvement in the economy also meant high costs. The salaries of foreign employees dominated about a third of the Ministry of Industry’s budget at one point. This, combined with other spendings, caused the government to be in debt. By 1881, the government was on the brink of bankruptcy.
To counter the growing inflation — the result of printing money to fund its spending — the government embarked on an aggressive deflationary program, dubbed “Matsukata Deflation”. As commodity prices plunged, small-scale farmers suffered from the combination of rising taxes and debt, with bankruptcies reaching 108850 households in 1885. Rural hardship would lead to unrest, such as in Chichibu, where 70% of all households there raised silkworms.
It did, however, overturn Japan’s trade deficit, decrease interest rates and created an environment that encouraged industrial investment. Having successfully fulfilled their purposes of introducing and diffusing new technology, state enterprises — which were often unprofitable — were sold off as well, reducing the strain on the budget of the government. These policies ultimately stabilized Japan’s economy in the long-run, albeit at the cost of the farmers.
Importing “Western Culture”
[Things] ought not to be adopted simply because they are Western; they ought to be adopted only if they can contribute to japan’s welfare.
— Japanese Newspaper “Nihon” , 1890
Despite emulating Western societies, it was evident that not all Western ideas would be palatable to the Japanese masses.
Some aspects of Western culture took roots in Japan faster and more successfully than others, particularly in urban areas. Western haircuts replaced the Japanese ‘topknot’, and court officials donned Western clothing during ceremonies. The emperor himself had worn Western clothing in 1870.
On the other hand, other aspects of Japanese culture remained strong, even without state support. Traditional music and theatre continued to be popular among the Japanese. Meanwhile, attempts by playwrights to “Westernise” traditional Kabuki theatre proved to be unpopular, and traditional storylines and outfits in those theatres were preserved. During the mid-1880s, a movement to reassert native, traditional culture started, as a response to the materialism of Western culture.
Essentially, Meiji Japan saw a “change”, but not a “replacement” of culture. Imports of Western culture existed alongside the old Japanese culture, and while they sometimes conflict and clash, other times they co-exist or even mix. Instead of being mutually exclusive, the Noh theatre and the Western opera were promoted as parallel forms of art. The reach and popularity of Western culture ebbed and flowed, though these changes almost always happened faster in urban areas than in the rural population.
By contrast, Western religion remained on the fringe of Japanese society.
Christian missions had been in Japan for centuries, though they were persecuted under the Tokugawa-era sakoku. Despite the new constitution promising freedom of religion, evangelists and missionaries found relatively little success in proselytizing the masses. Composing of merely 1% of the Japanese population, it was clear that the contraception of Western religion could not permeate Japanese society. State Shintoism would continue to dominate.
Nevertheless, the minuscule Christians population often played a disproportionately large role in Japanese life. Many became activists that championed social reforms, and Christianity projected its influence through the medium of social projects.
Evaluating the Meiji Restoration
Much of the changes made during the Meiji Restoration were inspired by a desire to be seen as an “equal”, to become “modernized” and match up to the West. By that definition, Japan was fairly successful.
In its dealing with foreign powers, there was growing recognition for Japan as a modern power. Reforms gave Japan the political goodwill and power to renegotiate unequal treaties. By the late 1890s, extraterritoriality, one of the most abhorrent clauses of these treaties, was abandoned by Western powers. In 1902, Japan also made history. The Anglo-Japanese Treaty was the first treaty signed between an Eastern and Western power — on equal footing.
Its streak of foreign policy success would continue, defeating Russia, a “Western power”, during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. Increasingly recognized as a major power in its own right, Japan became part of the Eight-Nation Alliance to quell China’s Boxer Uprising in 1901 and “Big Five” victorious powers in Versailles, 1919.
Economically, while Meiji-era reforms did initially bring up a myriad of problems, Japan would eventually earn itself the nickname of “the Workshop of Asia”. Despite adopting Western technology and ideas to become an industrial powerhouse, foreign ideas did not flush out the existing culture, and the cultural identity of its people remained strong.
Nevertheless, the Meiji Constitution introduced in 1889 would lack the mechanics necessary to curb any expansive tendencies the military may have. Should militarism become popular and economic woes aplenty, there would be little the civilian government could do. And in that case, what happens then?
References:
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1889 Japanese Constitution. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://history.hanover.edu/texts/1889con.html
Early Westernization & Modernization in Japan 1868–1900. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.japanvisitor.com/japanese-culture/history/westernization
Iokibe, M., & Eldridge, R. D. (2011). The diplomatic history of postwar Japan. London: Routledge.
Osaki, T. (n.d.). 150 years on, Abe calls for ‘emulation’ of Meiji Era bravery to overcome Japan’s modern crises. Retrieved from https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/10/23/national/150-years-abe-calls-emulation-meiji-era-bravery-overcome-japans-modern-crises/#.Xl9zlqgzZPZ
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