Meiji Era in Historical Investigations Report

A history of east Asia- Charles Holcombe¹

The author traces the history of early Japan and builds its foundation from as far as 1045 BCE. He makes an outline of the formation and creation of modern-day Japan by interrogating political regimes and administrative eras along with their ideology as well as the growth and development of culture.

He provides the Meiji – era as the turning point and transition between the isolated feudalism ideology and governance structure to the modernist representative design. The antecedent leading to the Meiji age begins as far back as the formative era in which Japan was part of the greater Zhou Dynasty China. These influenced and motivated the creation of the first empire that survived in the faults of Qin of 221-207 BCE, followed by the Han Empire of 202BCE to 220 CE that led to the romance of the Three Kingdoms that lasted sixty years to 280CE.

The cosmopolitan age[1] set in around 304 CE in the division of China into the five Hu and sixteen kingdoms of north china alongside the southern dynasties of south china. After the interaction with the world powers in the world wars, Japan confronted civilization. The confrontation was characterized by the Opium wars and domestic rebellions. Other significant events depicting this confrontation were the boxer rebellion, the treaty ports as well as the Tongzhi Restoration. The climax of this confrontation was the Meiji restoration that began in the late stages of the 18th century. The Meiji era embraced the industrialization and modernization of Japan.

The Meiji restoration- Gordon Andrew[2]

History

The Meiji restoration goes on as one of five of the greatest revolutions in recent history. As such, the name Meiji in Japanese translates to a word whose meaning is renewal. There are several other words that have been associated with his period, including reconstruction and remodeling. The native word in Japanese is yonaoshi, whose literal interpretation is correcting the circumstances or events forming the day or the world.

Japan’s cultural founding was able and willing to embrace industrialization. The culture facilitated the process by assimilating the imperialist ideologies methods and means to enhance the regime’s ambition. The auspicious happening of the Meiji- era could not have come at a more appropriate moment in the history of Japan.

Critical policies of transformation

The political sphere of influence was affected by the works of imperialist proponents such as Itagaki Taisuke, who was a major proponent of the representative government approach. His ideology and power in the late 18th century and early 19th century, as well as his authority as a leader among the Tosa and former member of the council of state in the Korean affair, went a long way in fuelling the policy change in political approach. He was behind the development and perpetuation of the constitutional monarchy and legislative assembly school of thought, which would, in later years, develop into a movement. The core principle of the action was a civil approach to governance as opposed to the historical rebellions[3].

The late 18th century also saw the input of Okuma Shigenobu[4] and the Rikken Kaishintō alias, the Constitutional Progressive Party whose manifesto and ideology was to recommend a constitutional democracy based on the British approach. This marked the beginning of party politics leading to the formation of the Imperial Rule Party. The political debate between these parties was climaxed by the development and signing of the constitution of the Empire of Japan. This acted as the foundation and basis of all economic, social, and administrative policies formulate and enforced during and after the Meiji- era.

Economic policy reformed to accommodate the currency system under the Yen along as well as related and relevant tax and trade laws. The budgetary process was now modernization driven with the state through governance under the constitutional democracy as the primary and principal administrator. Due to the politically driven economic approach to modernization and restoration, the Meiji era identified with factory expansion and calculated investment in strategic resources in anticipation of the world war.

The Meiji era was more of a revolution than a restoration. From the meaning of Meiji in the Japanese translation of correction or renewal, the period is characterized by change rather than improvement. The political ideology was replaced by constitutional and representative systems under a constitution. The leadership approach transformed from a rebellion approach to a more civilized choice-based process. The economic policies were changed to accommodate and assimilate the imperialism and industrialization of the new Japan. These events can only be allowed to describe a revolution[5].

Beneficiaries and victims of the Meiji era

The onset of the Meiji era led to the movement of the capital from Kyoto to Tokyo. Political power was withdrawn from a centralized Tokugawa Bakufu and placed in the control of a group of elected persons considered as nobles who were under the supervision of a former samurai.

In the social spheres, for instance, the assimilation of representative governance dealt a severe blow to the social class system that existed within the various boundaries of administration of Tokugawa Japan. The rank and role of the samurai were rendered irrelevant, and the social reforms trampled over their status, position, and privileges. These were significantly affected by the principles of democracy embedded in the rule of law and bill of rights that, among other rights, create a request and choice of religion.

The Meiji transformation embraced the concept of equality in wealthy distribution, which went to reclaim the vast territories previously under the control of feudal lords, which to one end was beneficial to the citizens and detrimental to the lords who were stripped of their lands and wealth. The intention was, however, to create a sense of stability.

The westernization process allowed students to travel overseas for studies at the expense of learning their own culture and heritage. The education system offered a western-based culture and approach to modernization. This greatly affected the passing on of cultural practice and traditional wealth embedded in Confucianism and Shinto as expressed in the tradition of worship for the emperor.

The concept of rights also brought an imbalance in gender politics, with the feminist movement making an entrance into the social circle. Gender bias was a significant concern for the representative government, and as such, the agenda of female empowerment began to appear as a contradiction to the patrilineal society[6].

On the other hand, the Meiji era presented excellent economic and commerce opportunities for traditional co-operations in the form of family businesses branded the Zaibatsu. These businesses were supported through subsidy, structural as well as strategic support.

Furthermore, benefits accrued to traditional industries, especially the textile industry, that received a technological boost to increase the capacity for export. This, on the other hand, had an implicit effect on the working environment, with workers forced to survive under inhuman and intolerable conditions.

Main themes and arguments- Westney, D. Elanor

Westney[7] rationalizes the argument that organizational structure reshaped the Japanese tradition, and not the other way round. She considers the police, the postal, and the newspaper systems in Meiji, Japan. She makes two main findings that are built from her arguments. The first goes to acclaim that there is no relation between culture or tradition and organization structure. The second is that, if there’s such relation, then it can only be in the reverse case where the organization structure defines tradition.

She makes specific reference to the development and history of the postal system procured by western countries with a particular interest in the trends of growth and transformation of the industry. She provides acknowledges that the development of transport and communication in Japan was far from easy[8]. This argument is based on the analysis of the western criticism of Tokugawa communication systems as being primitive. This criticism would then be followed by the introduction of western posts in the treaty ports beginning with the British, then the French, and the Americans. She develops her argument by acclaiming that the style of the west post was much precipitated by government commitment and ideological proponents. This is due to the original similarity in administration styles in the early stages of the police and postal systems.

She also analyses the progression in the newspaper as a tool for the spread of foreign languages[9]. The launch of the first newspaper in the treaty ports was to be followed by widespread distribution of the linguistic material in Japan. She discusses the newspaper as an organization-creating tool and as a driver of political ideology. This ideology was characteristically far from the influence of traditional confusion ideas of governance.

In the final chapter, she acknowledges the input of culture on the operationalization of structure through training of the officers on professionalization. “The input made here is on the moral and personal profile basis. The Japanese style of management that demands loyalty toward the organization and a personal sense of duty[10]”.

This analysis is preceded by an allusion to the three case studies in the book, namely the postal service, the newspaper, and the police. She explains late development as the gap between the most developed country’s status and that of Japan at the time. The effects of late action on the organization structures maintained a pull towards the western style approach. She also considers the factors against the interest towards the style of the west as being tradition and culture, societal conditions, and the environment. She makes a convincing conclusion that “This is not to deny that the western-based patterns had to adapt to the Japanese climate. However, the Japanese environment of the Meiji period was rapidly being transformed by the wide-ranging introduction of western organization forms. [11]

Gluck, on the other hand, interrogates the development of ideology and argues that “…More than the state or the imperial house, it was the word ‘modernity’ itself that held a strange appeal for the late-nineteenth-and-twentieth-century Japanese.[12]” She also builds her arguments on the principle role and relevance of ideology in the development of the organization’s structure. This is expressed in the lengths of loyalty and patriotism and the concept of citizenship.

She also discusses the place of morality and exemplifies Confucianism as the best guide to character and skills in the pillar of education. This argument drives towards the role of ethics and social, cultural norms in the organization. She also makes arguments for and against the influence of westernization on state organization, making reference to examples from the education sector’s statistics and case scenarios. She makes the valid conclusion that there was a needless influx of western pollution of traditional organizations and ideology. This may have been circumstantial but far more detrimental to the all too familiar customary socio- moral tradition[13].

Foonotes

1. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth, Japan encyclopedia. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 2005), 67.
2. Gordon Andrew, A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 230.
3. Gordon Andrew, A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 230.
4. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth, Japan encyclopedia. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 2005) 145.
5. Gibney, Frank, The Pacific Century: America and Asia in a Changing World, (New York: Kodansha International, 1994), 97.
6. Nolte Sharon and Hastings, Sally Ann, The Meiji State’s Policy Toward Women, 1890-1910, (California: University of California Press, 1991), 78.
7. Westney, D. Elanor, Imitation and innovation: The Transfer of West Organizational Patterns to Meiji Japan,(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1987),99.
8. Westney, D. Elanor, Imitation and innovation: The Transfer of West Organizational Patterns to Meiji Japan,(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1987),103.
9. Westney, D. Elanor, Imitation and innovation: The Transfer of West Organizational Patterns to Meiji Japan,(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1987),153.
10. Westney, D. Elanor, Imitation, and innovation: The Transfer of West Organizational Patterns to Meiji Japan. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1987), 219.
11. Westney, D. Elanor, Imitation and innovation: The Transfer of West Organizational Patterns to Meiji Japan,(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1987),103.
12. Carol Gluck, Japan’s Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987),102[12] Carol Gluck, Japan’s Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987),154.
13. Carol Gluck, Japan’s Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987),154.

Bibliography

Carol, Gluck. Japan’s Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987.

Donaldson, Lex. In Defence of Organization Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

Gibney, Frank.The Pacific Century: America and Asia in a Changing World. New York: Kodansha International, 1994.

Gordon, Andrew. A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present, New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Holcombe, Charles.

A History of East Asia: From the Origins of Civilization to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Nolte, Sharon, and Hastings, Sally. The Meiji State’s Policy Toward Women, 1890-1910. California: University of California Press, 1991.

Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric, and Käthe Roth. Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005.

Westney, Elanor. Imitation and innovation: The Transfer of West Organizational Patterns to Meiji Japan.Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987.

1 Holcombe Charles, A History of East Asia: From the Origins of Civilization to the Twenty-First Century. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 216