Question

Before the 1860s, Japan’s government was a shotgunate. This was feudal system in which local leaders were able to control their territories, but they each pledged loyalty th the shotgun. During the Meji restoration, power was given to an empreror instead of the feudal shotgun. What was one way the restoration helped janpan industrialize and modernize

Answer 1

Answer:

Meiji Restoration

As agricultural production lagged in comparison to the mercantile and commercial sectors, samurai and daimyo did not fare as well as the merchant class. Despite efforts at fiscal reform, mounting opposition seriously weakened the Tokugawa shogunate from the mid-18th to the mid-19th century, when years of famine led to increased peasant uprisings. A series of “unequal treaties” in which stronger nations imposed their will on smaller ones in East Asia, created further unrest, particularly the Treaty of Kanagawa, which opened Japanese ports to American ships, guaranteed them safe harbor and allowed the U.S. to set up a permanent consulate in exchange for not bombing Edo. It was signed under duress when Commodore Matthew Perry menacingly sent his American battle fleet into Japanese waters.

In 1867, two powerful anti-Tokugawa clans, the Choshu and Satsuma, combined forces to topple the shogunate, and the following year declared an “imperial restoration” in the name of the young Emperor Meiji, who was just 14 years old at the time.

The Meiji Constitution of 1889–which remained the constitution of Japan until 1947, after World War II–was largely written by Itō Hirobumi and created a parliament, or Diet, with a lower house elected by the people and a prime minister and cabinet appointed by the emperor.

Explanation: