30/9/2020
Story of japan
which is the modernization and the industrialization of Japan
because Japan, since the late 19th, and early 20th century, gradually became a powerhouse in the
international economy.
it was the second largest economy in the world, which is now which is currently which is the largest
economy in the world.
Japan has been the first country to industrialize. Not in general, of course, because the first country to
industrialize was the UK, and then some European countries.
Geography
first, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Germany, and so on. Industrial Revolution was Europe, at least
Western Europe. But which was the first non-European country to industrialize the first non-European
country to industrialize USA and japan
japan industrialization was largely based on a very peculiar mix of tradition and innovation of change
and continuity with roots of Japanese tradition were crucial to allow the country to industrialize
obviously
Now before Meiji Restoration / japan was fiefdoms and dictatorship
Japan was a closed country on the moon. This is the definition put forward by Kathy
It was a very isolated country and feudal one
the country was preserved from external cultural, religious, economic, and technological influences. So,
it was a very isolated country from the early 17th century, until the late 19th. So, roughly from 1603
in political situation, Shah goon below belonging to the noble outstanding family of the Tokugawa
TOKUGAWA and ruled on behalf of the Emperor. They were very powerful, collecting taxes (primarily on
agriculture). They minted coins. They set up armies. defending the fief, controlling the cities,
encouraging commerce and manufacturing which were required by the fief, monopoly over foreign
trade and foreign affairs. The trade monopoly was important because significant profits were available
to the Tokugawa alone.
economy in such a society was based on agriculture like fish and tea and peasants were to present have
the rise they produced to the feudal lords who had the rights over the land
Nobel families allows trade because they get a lot of money and they need it.
A closed society on the moon, we mean some factors for change did exist already in preindustrial Japan.
They were not enough to change the overall balance and structure of preindustrial Japanese society. But
they created some.
the following evolution
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,he existence of several densely populated urban centers in the first place was a powerful factor for
social and economic evolution.
Tokyo was among the largest in the world and other cities were important cities according to the
standards of that age. In the 18th century, merchants supplied foodstuffs and manufacturers in urban
centers, while bankers loaned money on usually in rural areas, the more able peasants exerted a
significant local power and increase their socio-economic status
middle class developed both in rural and urban areas, okay. Even though it was kept in a condition of
social, cultural, and political inferiority,
Japanese isolationism ended in 1853.
Why were the Americans interested in Japan?cast system
What had happened just before in the previous decades in the United States, geopolitics and geo-
economics will help us understand.
between 54 and 59, following us example, also, Britain, France, Russia, Portugal, and perhaps the
Netherlands, demanded similar trade treaties. Meanwhile, this, if not an outright aggression, but this
approaches from abroad, also set-in motion reaction in the country.
In 1867, so this is the preparation, both on an international level and on an internal level of what was
just about to happen. That is to say, the Meiji revolution, and or restoration, and the double definition is
very significant
the young emperor heater/ with some, both practical and symbolic moves. Among the letters
moving the capital city to Tokyo
abolished a very crucial point, he abolished the traditional feudal system, people became equal
on the law
the new system of power conceded to the old outstanding and powerful people to be included
in the new system itself
in practical terms
o hat former was appeased by receiving a new annual pension by being admitted in a
business's in bureaucracy and so on.
o monetary economy boosted by collecting heavy taxation on agriculture to be paid in
money. The government fostered agricultural productivity by sending experts abroad
with our humble approach
o They sent instructors to rural areas, they encouraged the use of chemical fertilizers and
the excavation of irrigation canals, the results on agricultural productivity was
spectacular
create a new industrial structure, certainly, with patience with common sense, not aiming at
becoming immediately.
o pragmatic approach, step by step, take your time. Japan was also favored by its
neutrality during World War One, which guaranteed increased foreign outlets for its
goods, which acted as replacement foods in the country's at war the main goal of the
new government was to modernize and industrialize the country. between 1868 and
1880,rule of state was very important , the state financed its own enterprises. Japan
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, took advantage of foreign technical experience. And Japanese government paid foreign
teachers, engineers, managers and skill workers, who had the task to demonstrate the
use of machinery and how to run enterprises. So once again, you see a pragmatic, land
was restructured, artisan and industrial enterprises develop in rural areas. country
people move to urban areas searching for non-agrarian jobs
o strongly promoted education, primary schools, professional schools, universities,
education was critical to this approach. The government also initiated industrial
activities in different fields.
o founded a foreign trade agency in order to encourage and foster exports, Several
managers were young samurai sensitive to the idea of national interest and power and
willing to invest their finances in the firm's
o the socio-economic system continued to be based on the traditional cultural model of
the family, thus, successfully mixing tradition and adaptation to the modern world
o Japanese model of development, combined, that's highly concentrated financial power
a sort of oligopoly with dispersion of industrial activities. And the reason is that this way
they manage to avoid too intense and rapid a concentration of industries in urban areas
which preventing the rise of social and cultural malaise linked with too quick and
intervention
o Soft transition from agriculturist to industrialization huge numbers of rural people and
all of a sudden so to speak, put them in urban industries and factories. So gradual
improvement in the living standards of a wide portion of the population occurred over
the years.
o but they took a gradual approach, a pragmatic even Japanese business men
o result / Japan exported as a developing country, raw materials and agricultural products.
Then, after an initial phase of industrialization, textile manufacturers were exporting
typically, sale manufacturers and Japan became the most important silk producer,
overtaking for instance, Italy and France. Japan diversity their activity and Japan, one of
three important as tactic was against China, Russia and Manchuria. And this was the
strategic side of the story. more technologically more advanced, economically more
powerful development of crucial industries, such as steel, mechanical engineering,
shipbuilding, and later on aeronautic
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, 1/10/2020
early globalization/ in the late 19th and early 20th century. No , the modern Japanese economy offers a
remarkable, and example of economic development, which was strongly although obviously, not only
influenced by government, and state bureaucracy, depended on state action, let alone that Japan was a
sort of communist country. Obviously, that's not true at all. But certainly, together with private actors.
The state and its bureaucracy played a pivotal role.
Japan put the critical element of the pattern of development of the so called for Asian tigers.
So Japan, first non-western country to modernize and to industrialize, which makes all the difference in
the world, began to develop this model of the developmental state, which does not mean that
everything depended on the state, but simply, the state and its bureaucracy played a pivotal role. One of
the main reasons why Japan succeeded in its modernization effort lies in having accepted the role of
economic of an economically backward country without an inferiority complex. But they did their best in
order to gradually close this gap and follow Western examples, but according to their specific peculiar
traditional ways, and manner, So Japan, for instance, did not appeal for foreign financial capital, which
was, for instance, different if we compare that much later on with China.
they were very well motivated, strongly determined, but also pragmatic, flexible, and not, crucial factor
of Japanese industrial success was a remarkable and durable, long standing capacity to learn, to imitate,
to adapt and to pursue the best possible the best possible. The process of quick modernization from as
we sell, as I saw yesterday, from feudalism, to industrial capitalism took place without strong ideological
implications influenced by the traditional frugality of the Japanese peasants only what was technically
indispensable was borrowed from the west, but for the rest, indigenous factors and elements, such as
cultural traditions, family based social organization and value ranking, a high average level of education,
which obviously, is crucially important when it comes to human capital and the work ethic.
mix of tradition and innovation, of indigenous factors, and of Western import of technical and
organizational elements. And so this is the key to understand these unprecedented process of
modernization out of the Western world, the spread of the group over the individual, which was to
some extent, just the opposite of the Western style approach. We are much more still today, we
European, we Westerners are far more individualistic than Asian peoples. there is a sort of growing
mixture between different cultures, but still today even though the Japanese society is less is a little
more individualistic than before, it is still today nevertheless less individualistic than ours. So, this is an
important point that the importance of cooperation and harmony rather than competition and
antagonism, the respect for the differences of rank which often were and are considered as perfectly
natural rent and just a moment ranks and ceremony the significance of personal relations, which usually
override contractual transitions, all these values and attitudes inherited through tradition greatly
contributed to the peculiar Japanese model of development.
After world war two Japan was forced to change its institution in the very first month after peace was
signed. Japan was, as a matter of fact, under American control, and it was forced to change institutional
and political framework, at least to a certain extent. It became a constitutional monarchy. And so the
Emperor Hirohito was not toppled. But his nature changed completely. He was no longer a sort of God,
but he was a constitutional monarchy. and Japan was forced to adopt a democratic constitution, while
establishing close relations with the US.
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