Mysterious Empire Japan - Case Study Example

Opening up of Japan to the World Introduction Even though Japan had not remained strictly closed to outsiders, the 19th century expeditions from the West such as the U.S. and Russia were adamant on "opening Japan to the world." Through extensive research locally, the West were convinced that trade with Japan would economically benefit them as well as extend their reach into the Far East. Japan at the time seemed like another end of the world; travelers considered this mysterious land the last avenue to be explored. Consequently, there emerged a series of attempts throughout the 19th century to "open Japan" and expose it to the worlds existing Western civilization. However, in their attempts, it was not clear whether the Japanese civilization became exposed to Western concepts or the other way round. Problem Statement The opening up of Japan had affected both Japan and the West analogously. This was evident from the historical research documented and presented A. H. Palmer, an American Counselor of the Supreme Court and a personal account of the evolutionary leader Lev Mechnikov from Russia, which shall be discussed below. Discussion During the 18th and early 19th century, Japan was, unlike the general perception, not closed to the world. At the time a trickle of Chinese traders and members of the Dutch East India Company regularly visited the island of Deshima in Nagasaki. The ships of the Dutch East India Company especially were more of an information source and link to the outside world for the Japanese rulers rather than intruders. Ironically Japanese did not shun these foreigners and used to capitalize on their information of the Western events and civilization to reform their own. As Miyoshi writes: "When the officers of Commodore Perrys Susquehanna made their first contact with the Japanese in 1853, they were surprised by the Tokugawa officials grasp of the "general principles of science and of the facts of the geography of the world" (Miyoshi 8). The Japanese were clearly not unaware of the Western culture, values, political principles or way of life. Nevertheless, during the second half of the 19th century, when more fishermen and shipwrecked sailors began to land on Japanese coasts the Third Prohibition Decree of 1635 was relaxed to accommodate the presence of the new foreigners. This change of attitude was however limited to certain groups of nationals, while the government shunned American "intruders", and treated them abominably. These were the American whalers and expeditions who came to their land without permission. They seemed a threat to the national security (Murase 273). The U.S. in particular was considered to be conspicuous intruders with whom the Japanese were reluctant to form bilateral relationships; partly perhaps because the U.S. wanted to change the Japanese and persuade it to participate in a new Western order, and partly because the U.S. showed anarchist tendency. Through A. H. Palmer, the U.S. initially received reports of the broad range of trade possibilities with Japan. According to Palmer Japan was a mysterious empire which was sealed against the Western world except for the Chinese and the Dutch (Palmer 13). If Japan was to open up, trade with it would help the Western world to exploit the inexhaustible precious metal and coal resources. Especially, Palmer noted, the Loo Choo islands were ideal for American ships to make stops, replenish its stocks and load goods. Ships of all sizes could be accommodated in these islands, according to Palmers research. He outlined the strategic location of the Loo Choo islands as ideal for establishing a transportation network from St. Louis or Michigan to San Francisco or San Diego, connected with the Far East through Pacific steamers to Shanghai via Loo Choo (Palmer 15). It was Palmers vision which was carried out through the Perry Expedition, whose narrative was published in 1856. While the U.S. government at the time was concerned about the mistreatment of American whalers who were accidently captured by Japanese, Palmers plans detracted their attention towards trade and commerce. Clearly, underlying the U.S. proposal was the need to establish hegemony in the region rather than to create trade relationships. The U.S. had covertly sent its missions to Japan in order to establish power in the region, by first undermining the cultural values and its political principles, and secondly to influence the Japanese through Western capitalism. Although, the U.S. partly succeeded in its mission, these missions actually coincided with the cultural revolution which was being carried out in the country known as the Meiji Ishin (Konishi 1). The Meiji Ishin was a radical revolution completely different from any that the West had ever known, according to Lev Mechnikov, a Russian populist and international revolutionary leader sent to Japan to observe and participate in the revolution. According to Mechnikov, Japan was not as "opened" to the West as the West opened up to the Japanese radical revolutionary movements known as the "kaikoku" or Opening of the Nation (Konishi 2). Indeed, historians feel that the West absorbed many of Japanese social, cultural and political progressive strategies during the Ishin. These were more civilized as compared to the Western conceptual system. The Western version of revolutionizing Japan was based on anarchy and capitalism whereas the Japanese focused on cooperatist anarchist modernity to transcend into the ethnic, racial, gender, and national levels (Konishi 6). Conclusion From the above discussion one understands that the opening of Japan to the world, as envisioned by the Western civilization was a misunderstood ideology. Historical evidences suggest that the process of opening up of Japan comprised of bilateral progress. While the U.S. missions envisioned itself revolutionary, in fact it was only the catalyst which drove the already underlying Ishin prevalent in Japan. Japan indeed was already exposed to the Western civilization long time ago through the Chinese, Dutch and Portuguese. At the time when the U.S. and Russian sent its missions to Japan, the Japanese were actually revolutionizing its own political, cultural and social systems based on a non-anarchist approach. The reason why the U.S. resented Japans rejection of U.S. mission for trade and treatment of its ambassadors was because the U.S. wanted to establish its power in the region. It followed an anarchist approach which was against the Japanese principles. Moreover, the treaties proposed by the U.S. were unequal in value and ideology to the Japanese as much as it was beneficiary to the U.S. This resulted in conflict. References Konishi, Sho. Reopening the Opening of Japan: A Russian-Japanese Revolutionary Encounter and the Vision of Anarchist Progress. The American Historical Review, Vol. 112, No. 1, 2007, pp. 1. Miyoshi, Masao. As We Saw Them: The First Japanese Embassy to the United States (1860). University of California Press: Berkeley, 1979. Murase, Shinya. The Most-Favored-Nation Treatment in Japans Treaty Practice during the Period 1854-1905, The American Journal of International Law, vol. 70, no. 2, 1976, pp. 273-297. Palmer, A. H. "Revised Plan for Opening Japan" 1849. 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