This era feels completely overlooked. All I see is the Shogunate, the Meiji restoration, and then flash forward to the rise of militarism in the 1930s, with perhaps a brief sojourn into the Russo-Japanese war.How did Japan modernize? How did they resist becoming a colony? How did they become on par with the Western Powers? What did their people think to this? What internal reforms did they enact? How did their society change during this time? What the hell was going on with female anarchists attempting to kill the Emperor? Where do I go and what do I read for sources on this?
Rurouni Kenshin and Golden Kamuy are both set in this period and both are excellent works of historical fiction, would strongly recommend>What internal reforms did they enact?A constitution and a parliament, they didn't go universal suffrage until the 1920s though (and even that was coupled with harsh restrictions on the left and civil liberties). On some levels it was French Revolution tier after the overthrow of the shogunate but then again they backed down from some of the most radical ideas after a couple years, like banning Buddhism. >How did their society change during this time?Massively, feudal to modern>Where do I go and what do I read for sources on this?Emperor of Japan - Meiji and his world will take you through the Meiji period. I know I've read some good stuff on the Taisho era and am forgetting where and frustrated I'm blanking on this.
>>18509339I recommend looking into Walter Lefeber's book "The Clash" which is about the history of the US-Japan relationship, as it covers this period extensively.One of the most eye opening parts of it to me is that at the start of the Meiji Restoration the vast majority of people in Japan were not even aware that they had an Emperor at all, and self-conscious of this fact the government sent the emperor on a multi-year tour of the country to educate the people of his existence.
>>18509754It makes sense that most people didn't know there was an Emperor. They were essentially decorative, the Shogun held real power, and Japan was very feudal and decentralized. Most people were peasants who never left the estate they worked on. The only authority that had any real presence in their lifes was the local feudal lord.
>>18509846Would the peasants have known they had a Daimyo? Or a Shogun?
>>18509849They'd have known about the daimyo for sure, they might even have personally known the daimyo, especially in the smaller han. That's who they paid their taxes to.
>>18509339>How did they resist becoming a colony?Distance mostly, along with population density. It's the same reasons China and Korea also didn't become colonies. China lost multiple wars but never became a colony, although small areas like Hong Kong and Shanghai became colonies.
>>18509339Japan had Aryan blood. Simple as that.
>>18509849Peasants had to pay taxes, so yes they knew who their masters that demanded the taxes were. They wouldn't actually see the daimyo, let along the shogun, though. Just his deputies and magistrates and the like, who waved his authority in the faces of the peasants to impress and cow them. So yes, the peasantry was very aware of who ruled them.They didn't know about the emperor because he didn't rule them, he lived in a palace in Kyoto doing poetry and religious ceremonies.
>>18509339>How did Japan modernize? How did they resist becoming a colony?I recommend pic related bookIt's often understated that while Shogunate Japan was 'feudal' it wasn't this ass-backwards Medieval polity that hadn't talked to the world since the 1500s. The Japanese maintained a constant source of imported books via the Dutch in Nagasaki and there were many "Dutch Schools" across Japan where students learned the language and kept themselves up to date on the world via these imported Dutch books. When the Meiji era came rolling, Japan already had a sizable cadre of European language speaking intellectuals who had been reading the books for years and had experience running these schools, so the intellectual foundations for modern Universities, etc. were all already present and ready to go.As for resisting colonization, they simply got lucky by not really having anything to "offer". Japan was resource poor and kind of in the periphery of what most Colonial Empires were looking for (Indonesia, Malaysia, etc... which were en route to China's southern ports and abundant in rubber, cacao, spices, etc.). Japan was literally only being used as a whaler's resupply depot, but otherwise they were too far north to be worth traveling all the way up to via the Indian Ocean route and too temperate to offer any exotic goods.
>>18511419>there were many "Dutch Schools" across Japan where students learned the language and
