Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [19]
To help relations with the Western powers, the ban on Christianity was lifted, though few took advantage of it. Nevertheless, numerous Western ideologies entered the country, one of the most popular being ‘self-help’ philosophy. This provided a guiding principle for a population newly liberated from a world in which everything had been prescribed for them. But at the same time, too much freedom could lead to an unhelpful type of individualism. The government quickly realised that nationalism could safely and usefully harness these new energies. People were encouraged to make a success for themselves and become strong, and in doing so show the world what a successful and strong nation Japan was. Through educational policies, supported by imperial pronouncements, young people were encouraged to become strong and work for the good of the family-nation.
The government was proactive in many other measures, such as taking responsibility for establishing major industries and then selling them off at bargain rates to chosen ‘government-friendly’ industrial entrepreneurs – a factor in the formation of huge industrial combines known as zaibatsu. The government’s actions in this were not really democratic, but this was typical of the day. Another example is the ‘transcendental cabinet’, which was not responsible to the parliament but only to the emperor, who followed his advisers, who were members of the same cabinet! Meiji Japan was outwardly democratic, but internally it retained many authoritarian features.
The ‘state-guided’ economy was helped by a workforce that was well educated, obedient and numerous, as well as traditions of sophisticated commercial practices such as futures markets. In the early years, Japan’s main industry was textiles and its main export silk, but later in the Meiji period, with judicious financial support from the government, it moved increasingly into manufacturing and heavy industry, becoming a major world shipbuilder by the end of the period. Improvement in agricultural technology freed up surplus farming labour to move into these manufacturing sectors.
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The salaries of the foreign specialists invited to Japan in the Meiji period are believed to have amounted to 5% of all government expenditure during the period.
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A key element of Japan’s aim to become a world power with overseas territory was the military. Following Prussian (army) and British (navy) models, Japan soon built up a formidable military force. Using the same ‘gunboat diplomacy’ on Korea that Perry had used on the Japanese, in 1876 Japan was able to force on Korea an unequal treaty of its own, and thereafter interfered increasingly in Korean politics. Using Chinese ‘interference’ in Korea as a justification, in 1894 Japan initiated a war with China – a weak nation at this stage despite its massive size – and easily emerged victorious. As a result it gained Taiwan and the Liaotung Peninsula. Russia put pressure on Japan to renounce the peninsula then a few years later occupied the peninsula itself, leaving the Japanese feeling tricked. This led to the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, from which Japan again emerged victorious. One important benefit was Western recognition of its interests in Korea, which it proceeded to annex in 1910.
By the time of Mutsuhito’s death in 1912, Japan was indeed recognised as a world power. In addition to its military victories and territorial acquisitions, in 1902 it had signed the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, the first-ever equal alliance between a Western and non-Western nation. The unequal treaties had also been rectified. Western-style structures