Frank McGee

HS110
October 2, 2011
Japan and the West
Japan and its relation with the West is a very peculiar one, it
could be compared to that of a clocks pendulum swing- at one end, it
is a dear, close friend of the West: relations are good, trading is going,
and political relations are great. At the other end, it hates the West:
relations are bad/nonexistent, trading barely occurred save for a few
countries that were strictly regulated as to what comes in and out.
Even when they did come into contact with the West, the Japanese
were very clever- instead of being carved up like China or the other
East Asian countries did, they eventually joined the ranks of the
Western countries in terms of power and strength, and made
themselves the Great Superpower of Asia. Japan and its encounters
with the West were quite numerous, but due to a few major events that
have occurred within the last five hundred years, Japan has been
changed completely- forever.
The Portuguese were the first to encounter the Japanese in the
16th century in 1543, and began to trade and send Christian
missionaries to Japan. Trade relations were good and all, but then after
the shogun Hideyoshis death under his successor Ieyasu all ports were
closed to the West with the exception of the Dutch. The West in Japan
was considered disruptive and a threat to the state. Daimyo,
equivalent to Barons or lords in Europe, were converting to Christianity

left and right to get privileges to trade with the West, especially to
acquire guns. Additionally, after a few suppressed rebellions by
Christian peasants and samurai, the Tokugawa had had enough with it.
Until 1853, Japan was almost a completely isolated country. The only
connection it had to the West was the Dutch, and they kept to
themselves, traded, and that was it.
Eventually in 1853, the United States came knocking on Japans
door for them to open up their ports to trade with the West once more.
Under Commodore Matthew Perry, in sailed four ships. The only reason
Japan was able to ask the West to leave before was because the West
and Japan were equally powerful. This was no longer the case- after
isolating themselves technologically time virtually stopped, the West
flourished. Out of fear, they opened their ports to the US and the
West, but they did not get carved up, like China. Following the Meiji
Restoration, in which the discontent Japanese overthrew the Tokugawa
regime and gave power to the Emperor, who began to industrialize the
country, the Japanese used a process of adapt and adopt in which
they took what the West exposed them to and with a few alterations
made it their own. Within a few decades they were just as powerful as
most of the Western superpowers, and even had the potential to defeat
a few of them in battle. They were friends with the US, but they were
scared at the same time.

Relations with the West began to shift and take a rather violent
shift, especially as they began to hone and learn how powerful they
truly were. Since Japan was now industrialized, it needed to have more
land to spread out in the Pacific, so they turned to Korea, China, the
Dutch East Indies, and other islands aka potential colonies. The
Japanese first waged a war with China, the Sino-Japanese war, and got
a good chunk of the province of Manchuria. Their victory was very
important, as it meant that Chinas reign as the Great Asian Power has
come to an unfortunate end. Eventually they got into a conflict with
Imperialist Russia, which was over Port Arthur. To the worlds surprise,
Japan rose as the victor- they defeated a Western power! Eventually,
the League of Nations tried asking Japan to give up their empire in
Asia, which they felt threatened by, after all, the Japanese mainland
cannot produce any reasources for themselves- they needed their
colonies. So then they just walked right out of the League. But this
was only the beginning of their violent pendulum swing of hatred
towards the West.
Eventually Japan waged an all out war with East Asia, threatening
the US presence in the Philippines and Hawaii. Since the US was
already on edge with them due to an oil and scrap metal embargo,
something that the Japanese were not happy about, they were
preparing for war and before bombing Pearl Harbor, Japan planned to
take over as much of the Pacific as they could, so as to make the

United States believe that if they were to go and fight Japan in the
Pacific that it would not be worth all the bloodshed. Little did they
know how wrong they were- they were going to be in for one long and
bloody war, and were able to become [ironically] the Americans most
hated enemy. While those in Europe could easily relate and had similar
ideals of fighting and surrendering with their Nazi counterparts (if you
surrender, youre taken prisoner and treated humanely), the Japanese
were a completely different enemy. They refused to surrender- they
fought to the bitter end. If shot, and an American approached them to
see if they were alright, they would just pull a grenade: kill themself
and the Americans, thus expressing their dire hatred towards the West.
If Americans surrendered, they were treated as if untermenschen
(German: Less than human). They were beheaded, killed for sport,
eaten, even. In Okinawa the civilians living there were stunned at
American compassion to the Japanese in an offer to help them. All that
time they were poisoned by the media, and were stunned when the
Americans extended aid to soldier and civilian alike when the battle
was won. After the war ended, another pendulum swing occurred, one
for perhaps the greater good for Japan.
After Japan was defeated, they accepted an unconditional
surrender. The conditions brought upon them were rather drastic, the
Japanese have never experienced something like this since the Meiji
Restoration. The changes were mainly political, though also were

economic, making Japan democratic and also brought upon changes in

civic values as well. The main change was that sovereignty was
stripped from the Emperor, who became a mere figurehead, similar to
the Queen of Englands role in todays society- just a cultural
symbol/icon. A parliamentary system was also established, also called
the Diet, and the people were able to elect them into office. Women
got equal rights, which was a first in their society, and free speech was
given to all. Furthermore, they were not allowed to keep their military.
All they were allowed to have was a defensive army. They didnt have
a problem about that at the beginning though, especially after the
Occupation, because the Americans became stationed there, so Japan
didnt even need to pay for an army. Their education was reformed,
and children were taught democratic values. Economically, industrial
workers were allowed to make trade unions, farmers didnt need to pay
rent to landlords, instead the landlords were taken out (which still kind
of traced back to feudalism if you think about it) and their land was
distributed to the farmers. During the US Occupation, Japan was
rebuilt and restored, mirroring the US very similarly. We didnt institute
anything to them like we did to Germany in World War I. Instead, with
the threat of Soviet and Chinese communism spreading, strategically
speaking we helped them get onto their feet, and made them our
closest friend in Asia. Eventually, in the 80s, when the USSR collapsed,

Japan was able to fully catch up after an economic miracle and became
the worlds second wealthiest country after the US.
In such a short period of time in being exposed to the West,
Japan has been through so much. From the first relations with the West
to its quick end almost a century later bringing an age of isolationism,
to the Meiji Restoration and Imperialist self to the time of Occupation
and so on, it has gone from having normal relations with the West, to
cutting itself off completely, to resuming relations and embracing
Western ways, ideals, power and technology, to hating the West and
what it stands for and fighting against it, and then being utterly
defeated, and occupied by the US to having an economic boom
spontaneously and flourishing to this very date, these pendulum
swings were very contradictory yes, but at the same time, very unique.
This is what makes Japan what it is today, a grand, wealthy superpower
that has adopted and adapted to the Western ways while at the same
time merging its own culture into the mix. Its relations with the West
are a walking contradiction, yes, but that is just a mere factor of the
past that has helped to shape the country.