The Meiji Restoration - Pressing Fast Forward on Modernization
The Meiji Restoration was a revolutionary reaction to the threat of the Western colonization, sparked by Commodore Perry's arrival with an American Navy Gunship off the coast of Japan in 1853. Soon after, Japan rapidly reformed it's social, political economic and Military institutions turning a closed feudal country into modern world power in Just 40 years.
When American ships forced Japan to open in 1853, young leaders decided to modernize super fast instead of getting colonized like China. In only 40 years Japan went from samurai swords to beating Russia in a War !
Crazy fast changes -the modernization timeline
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1871: no more daimyos ( Japanese Lords with hereditary land holdings).
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everything's run from Tokyo
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1872: mandatory schooling for all kids
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1873: Samurai lose money and right to carry swords
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1870s: railroads, telegraphs, and a modern national Army
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1889: Japan's Creates a Constitution( first in Asia)