The Meiji period saw sweeping transformation in nearly every aspect of Japanese society. The political status quo which it established, however, paved the way for future infighting and the imperial government’s tendency toward repression cast a dark shadow.
After the Russo-Japanese War, the Meiji government moved quickly to solidify their control of Korea, gradually chipping away at the sovereignty of its government until annexation became the only logical next step.
After securing the southern portion of Liaodong Province, the Imperial Japanese Army proceeded to besiege Port Arthur while simultaneously fighting Russian forces to their north in increasingly costly and difficult battles.
In February of 1904, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on Port Arthur and initiate the Russo-Japanese War
As pressure mounted from grass roots organizations like the Freedom Party, the Meiji government decided to finally draft a constitution. The process which brought it about, and the language which it employed, would determine the course of Japan’s political future.
The early years of the Meiji period saw an explosion of economic growth as Edo Period merchant houses transformed into conglomerates called Zaibatsu.
The Meiji Revolution very rapidly changed nearly every aspect of public life in Japan. Such rapid progress led, inevitably, to counter-revolutions among various groups who felt discarded by the march of modernization, including a large body of samurai in the land formerly known as Satsuma Domain.
The Buddhist temples throughout Japan had worked hand-in-hand with the Shogunate to help prevent the spread of Christianity in Japan. Now that the Shogunate was gone, anti-Buddhist sentiment in the country boiled over into a violent response.
As the new Meiji government continued to develop and expand, so did the participation of Japanese commoners in the political process. The 1870s witnessed the Iwakura Mission and the birth of Japan’s first newspapers which were quickly followed by censorship laws.
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