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Japan finished the industrialize process in late 19 century and became the new world super power since then. The imperial Japanese navy was one of the most powerful and biggest navy in the world during WW2 period.
What do you think were the factors that contribute to the success of the Japanese industrialization much earlier than any other Asian nations?
They made industrialization a priority? And prior to that, beginning in the late 1800's, they develloped a national education system that was open to all, and included several universities. They made an effort to study education in Western countries, and enlisted the help of Westerners in developing their own system. This was motivated by a desire to catch up with the West in many respects, including industrialization.
Japan by edict of the ruling class was effectively cut off from the west and foreigners for almost two hundred years from the 1600’s to the mid 1800’s with an essentially agricultural economy. By the mid 1800’s things began to change.
American Admiral Perry arrived in Tokyo Bay in the 1850’s in a show of force and coerced the Japanese to open their ports to international trade. With the Meiji Restoration the emperor set a course of westernization and industrialization to catch up with the United States and Europe while most other Asian countries lagged behind.
Japan finished the industrialize process in late 19 century and became the new world super power since then. The imperial Japanese navy was one of the most powerful and biggest navy in the world during WW2 period.
What do you think were the factors that contribute to the success of the Japanese industrialization much earlier than any other Asian nations?
That's a good question. The "why" was never really answered.
Let me explain - in the mid 19th century the Japanese noted more and more of Asia being gobbled up by western powers, parts of China, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, all the European colonies in Asia. Previously, they had been an isolationist nation as was mentioned. At the same time, America sent gunboats to Japan to force open Japanese ports to trade...with of course modern warships no match to the shoguns with medieval weapons. Finally you had the Meiji Restoration to change the rule from shogun warlords to a centralized government ruled by an emperor. So it simply a need to compete with the modern world to ensure it's own survival, as well as political changes in Japan.
So this included not only industrializing, but modernizing the military by bringing in western military experts from both America and Europe. All this happened very quickly - in the last half of the 19th century. By the turn of the century they had advanced enough to defeat a major European power - Russia (Russo-Japanese War). They also allied with European powers and became a major player in Asian affairs, participating in the Boxer Rebellion in China alongside European troops. In the 30's Japan started shifting from a monarchy with periods of democracy, into a military state focused on totalitarianism, expansion, and nationalism - basically there version of fascism. Of course they were expanding earlier in the century as well - Korea, etc. The rest is history.
That's a good question. The "why" was never really answered.
Let me explain - in the mid 19th century the Japanese noted more and more of Asia being gobbled up by western powers, parts of China, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, all the European colonies in Asia. Previously, they had been an isolationist nation as was mentioned. At the same time, America sent gunboats to Japan to force open Japanese ports to trade...with of course modern warships no match to the shoguns with medieval weapons. Finally you had the Meiji Restoration to change the rule from shogun warlords to a centralized government ruled by an emperor. So it simply a need to compete with the modern world to ensure it's own survival, as well as political changes in Japan.
So this included not only industrializing, but modernizing the military by bringing in western military experts from both America and Europe. All this happened very quickly - in the last half of the 19th century. By the turn of the century they had advanced enough to defeat a major European power - Russia (Russo-Japanese War). They also allied with European powers and became a major player in Asian affairs, participating in the Boxer Rebellion in China alongside European troops. In the 30's Japan started shifting from a monarchy with periods of democracy, into a military state focused on totalitarianism, expansion, and nationalism - basically there version of fascism. Of course they were expanding earlier in the century as well - Korea, etc. The rest is history.
Good points. I am not sure your answer fully explains how Japan was able to so successfully modernize and industrialize though. It is true that the Japanese saw other countries around the world being colonized by Western powers and made a conscious decision to modernize their government, economy, military and society, but what is notable is that none of the other non-Western countries that avoided colonization were able to do the same.
I think the key factors relate to Japanese society before the West forced it to open up. Although pre-modern Japan was a feudal society, it was also (for the time) highly urbanized - three of the ten biggest cities in the world in 1800 were in Japan. These were Edo (Tokyo), Osaka and Kyoto. China was the only other non-European country with multiple cities in the hundreds of thousands at the time. It was highly educated with almost half of all Japanese men and around 15% of Japanese women having basic literacy in the mid 1800s. This is comparable to literacy levels in Europe and much higher than any other civilization. Finally, and most importantly, it also had highly sophisticated economic system and and a large merchant class. Remarkably, all of these factors developed during the isolationist Edo Period when Japan had little interaction with the outside world, and I would say they were the key factors that allowed it to industrialize so rapidly when its hand was forced in the 1860s.
There is also the fact that Japan is in an isolated corner at the Northeast of Asia and that there was very few natural resources, that European colonizers didn't bother colonizing aince they wont be able to extract raw resources if they invade the area.
They embarked on modernization/Westernization as early as the middle of the 19th century and because they're an orderly and therefore successful society.
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