What was gained and what was lost in Japanese society because of the Meiji Restoration?

What was gained and what was lost in Japanese society because of the Meiji Restoration?

Introduction

This paper is based on the good and bad changes that occurred due to in Japanese society because of the Meiji Restoration. In the year 1868, the ruler of Japan in the feudal period, Tokugawa shogun, lost his powers and an emperor was restored at the supreme position. The emperor named his reign as Meiji, which means enlightened rule; because of this, this event is marked in history as the Meiji Restoration. The Meiji Restoration brought a real revolution in the society of Japan, in cultural and social aspects.

Discussion

In the year 1868, when the Meiji emperor was brought back to Japan, the country was mainly an agricultural country, was not militarily in a good condition, and did not have any significant technological development. It was basically going through a feudal realm. However, by the end of the Meiji period in the year 1912, Japan was significantly changed. By then, it had turned into a nation having a powerful navy and army, a constitution setting out an elected parliament, a bureaucratic and an exceedingly centralized government, rapidly growing and a well-established industrial sector founded on the basis of most contemporary technology, an extremely erudite populace free of feudal class constraints, and a well-developed communication and transport system. During the Meiji realm, Japan had re-acquired absolute control of its legal and foreign trade system, and, by conquering a couple of battles, it had acquired complete equality and independence in global matters. The Japanese society, in over a generation, overachieved its objectives, and completely revolutionized during the process. The success of Japan in attaining modernization has developed significant interest in how and why it was capable of adopting Western, economic, social, and political institutions in such a brief interval.

This political transformation reinstated the emperor's power however he did not lead directly. It was expected that he would follow the suggestion by the group which had conquered the shogun, and this led to the emergence of a group of young, patriotic, capable, and ambitious men belonging to the lower samurai ranks to take over and set out the novel political system. Initially, the fact that was their only strength was that the emperor followed their advice and military support was provided by a number of influential feudal ...