#29 Japanese Imperialism

# 29 Japanese Imperialism

Lecture 29: What events caused Japan to end

its isolation and begin to westernize?

So we're going to take a look at how Commodore Perry

ended the isolationism, the Meiji Era, and then the

era of Japanese Imperialism

Japan is an archipelago; it's a series of islands.

And if any foreigner landed there, they would cut

their heads off. Japan was like China.

They were very traditional, very xenophobic.

But because they had an advantage of an island

and a relatively smaller population

They could prevent any foreign influence

But lots of people wanted to control

Japan because it was another market.

It had good harbors, and the Americans were really interested in it.

So, President Fillmore sends Commodore Matthew Perry

into Yokohama Harbor. He fired off his guns

in his steamships, and he really scares the Japanese

And he threatened to use force if he was not able

to meet with the highest ranked member of the government

And ultimately the Japanese succumb, and they

sign a treaty with the United States

and this is called "gunboat diplomacy"

So the United States and Japan introduce each other

when the United States basically fired guns upon Yokohama Harbor

So the Treaty of Kanagawa happens

Japan opens up two ports to trade with the United States

US opens embassy. In Japan, they get extraterritorial

rights like the British gave to Chinese

And now the United States becomes the power on the Pacific Rim

And here are the countries on the Pacific Rim

They are the countries that touch the Pacific Ocean

So the Pacific Ocean is about twice the size of the Atlantic

So if you control the Pacific Rim, you control

a great trading empire. So the United States is becoming this imperial power

once again. Now at this time,

the next emperor in line, his name was Mitsuhito

He was 15 years old, and he rules in a time

called the Meiji Era in the late 19th century

It is known as an enlightened era of rule

and he looks at what happened to China

and how the Opium War destroyed China

And so he decides not to remain traditional

he decides to westernize his country, and you can see

he dresses like a European soldier here

It's an example of westernization, and he begins to

massively industrialize his country. This has

a huge impact, and this actually was the focus of a movie called the Last Samurai

with Tom Cruise.

So, what he does is he decides to increase the

army and navy like the Europeans. He copies

the best European army, the Prussians, and he

really likes their obedience. He copies the British navy and their steamships

and he builds a great navy, one of the best in the Pacific Ocean

The only navy who's better is the United States

And he also copies American public education

They copy the American system of education

They send students abroad to study in America

And they promote that feeling of nationalism

which really led to imperial power

So, they're beginning to expand their empire

They become the strongest military power in Asia

They eliminate extraterritoriality

Here's Japan. They'll conquer Manchuria,

Korea, most of China during World War II.

They'll conquer all of these areas: French Indochina,

Indonesia, and the Philippines as well

And this is the biggest empire they have during World War II

in 1942

How do they do this?

Well, because they have such a strong army that's westernized

They imperialize Korea first. China and Japan

fight a war over Korea, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894

Japan wins.

And then, they have to deal with Russia

They have to fight the Russo Japanese War in 1905

And the way they did it is going to sound

very familiar. They had a sneak attack on the

Russian fleet of Vladivostok, and in the morning

and they destroy the entire Russian navy

and the Russians had to sail the fleet all the way

from the Baltic Sea, around the entire continents

to get over there, and by the time that

second fleet arrived, the Japanese had won

Teddy Roosevelt negotiates the peace treaty

between Russia here and Japan here

and the result is more imperialism of Korea by Japan

and so now, the only country that is more powerful

than Japan on the Pacific Rim is the United States

and that leads us nicely into World War II

Alright thank you, bye.