PROLOGUE: FROM THE MEIJI RESTORATION TO THE PACIFIC WAR

1. From the Meiji Restoration to the Japan-Russia War

The Meiji Restoration In 1868, what is called the ‘Meiji Restoration’ took place in Japan. There are no other events as important and crucial in the history of modern Japan than those which took place in this Restoration. So much so, that any reader who is interested in Japan must grasp their essence. Before the Restoration Japan was a feudal society, orderly, stable, rich and in its own way with a highly civilized culture. It was gov- erned by a class of warriors (samurai), which effectively controlled the class of farmers, producers and merchants. The country was divided and governed by warlords (daimyos) and above the daimyos stood the Shogun, the ruling warlord of the Tokugawa dynasty who resided in Edo (present-day Tokyo). In the early 17th century, the Tokugawa Shogun introduced a tight regime of control over political and economic contacts with the outside world. This policy later became known as the policy of Sakoku, or period of isolation. The country had been cut off notably from the Western world for two and a half centuries. The only exception was the relationship with The Netherlands, whose representatives were allowed to stay on a fan-shaped artificial island constructed within Nagasaki Bay in Southern Japan.1 The Netherlands were a natural choice for the Tokugawa Shogun to preserve diplomatic rela- tions with, because the 17th century was the ‘Golden Age’ for the Netherlands. Dutch ships took the lead on the seven seas and mer- chant and other activities expanded.

1 It has long been perceived both in Japan and among Western researchers on Japanese history that, except for the Netherlands, Japan was completely cut off from the outside world during the Sakoku period. But recent scholarly works indicate that this isolation primarily applied to the West and that Japan had maintained its con- tacts with China and Korea (Leitch, Kato, Weinstein, Japan’s Role in the Post-Cold War World, Greenwood, 1995, p. 10). 2 prologue

In 1853 the peace and tranquillity of feudal Japan were shattered by the sudden arrival of American gun boats, led by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, at a bay not far from Edo. It is not easy for con- temporary Japanese to truly appreciate the extent of the shock to the psychology of the Japanese people, but for the Japanese of one and a half centuries ago, the black, iron-covered, steam engine driven gun boats were surely as shocking as gleaming spaceships from outer space would be for us today. At any rate, by the middle of the 19th century the Tokugawa and other feudal leaders came to understand the hard reality that Great Britain, France, Russia, the Netherlands, Germany, and the United States were each trying to expand their sphere of influence by reach- ing out to Asia, particularly to China, so close to Japan. It was a painful process, entailing a lot of confusion and some bloodshed, but it was implemented amazingly fast, and in 1868, the Tokugawa Shogun relinquished power to a new government, which was shaped by a group of influential ‘reformist’ warlords, united under the author- ity of the Emperor Meiji. The Imperial tradition that originated in Japan from the begin- ning of Japanese history,2 played an important role during her for- mative years and then through the feudal years. During the Tokugawa Shogunate the Imperial House was carefully preserved as a centre of spiritual and cultural value in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan. It then played a critical role in the unification of the country dur- ing these difficult years of Japan’s modern history. It is now of paramount importance to understand how the Meiji government leaders saw the world and what conclusions were derived from their vision. The Meiji government leaders were aware that Japan was surrounded by incomparably strong imperialist powers. For Japan, to survive and remain as an independent nation, there was an absolute necessity to understand exactly where she stood and what she should do, so as not to be engulfed by these imperialist powers. Thus from 1871 to 1872 for nearly a full two years, the newly established government sent an extraordinary mission to America and major European countries, headed by five top leaders

2 One of the oldest narrative histories, the Nihonshoki, says that the first Emperor assumed the throne in 660 BC. Historians maintain that it was around the 7th cen- tury that the Imperial system came into existence.