Japan and the West

The subject of Japan and the West raises some interesting issues of historical interpretation.

Virtually every history book describes the 1853 arrival of U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry in Tokyo Bay with naval warships as "opening up" Japan. By its own choice, Japan had excluded foreigners for hundreds of years. But American whaling ships frequented ocean waters around Japan and Japan represented a convenient way station for steamships to bring on coal. In the face of continued Japanese resistance, the U.S. decided to "open up" Japan. What, exactly, entitled the United States to access to Japan? American gunboat diplomacy wasn't as onerous as the British "opening up" China a few decades earlier so they could sell opium to the Chinese. But maybe it's time to find another phrase for such aggressive and obnoxious behavior.

Then there's the other common phrase that goes along with this era of Japanese history--the "restoration" of the emperor. This makes it sound as if Japan was renewing a feudal, autocratic form of government. In fact, just the opposite was happening in the late 19th century. The rigid, feudal rule of the shoguns, which had endured for hundreds of years, was overthrown by some young, rebellious gentry (called samurai in Japan). The rebels nominally put the emperor in charge in order to suppress the feudal lords. Once they gained control of the government, the rebels developed a constitution and representative legislature for Japan. In Europe, representative government emanated from popular pressure by newly emerging middle and merchant classes. In Japan, representative government was initiated from above by the government.

As Japan mimicked Western military, business and political methods in the 19th century, it also copied an unsavory element of Western civilization--colonialism. By World War II, Japan had invaded and controlled much of Southeast Asia, which still haunts Japan's relationships with its neighbors.