A Modern History of Japan review

 A Modern History of Japan From Tokugawa Times to the Present by Andrew Gordon.

Over the years I have read many Japanese history books. They were usually simple things because that was all that was available. When it came to discussing the big picture they did very well. There was lots of information about what happened, who Tokugawa was and how he helped Japan recover from the Warring States period. Or what role Japan played in bringing down the Russian monarchy. How they recovered from the disasters of WWII. What role they played in the atrocities in China. Their economic miracle among others. However there was usually little information about the actual day to day lives of the people. That is a fault of high school history itself. The big picture is easier to teach and while we do need some detail there is no reason to look at the little guy.

This book does similar things but it gives more detail over things glossed over in the earlier books I`ve read. Some of the things I`ve learned from it that I didn`t know before were as follows.

We are usually taught that Japan after Tokugawa came to power isolated itself from the rest of the world and stayed that way for about two hundred years. Then when Perry came with his Black ships in 1853 Japan opened it`s country. Things weren`t so easy. For one thing the area of Satsuma which was one of the places that sparked the rebellion had a long history of outside trade with China and the Ryukyu kingdom. In addition Japan maintained relationships with Korea after Toyotomi`s ill fated conquest of the country failed. Japan knew about the problems facing China from the threat of the colonial powers but until it reached their doors weren`t quite sure how to solve it. 

Isolation itself was also a problem. In the beginning Tokugawa shoguns had a lot of power but as the years went on they slowly began to decline making the Meiji rebellion seem all the more inevitable. This book helped reinforce the conditions of the people during the time of the transition. The Meiji rebellion was a top down rebellion. The educated samurai wanted more say in the running of the government and took power for themselves in the coup. They didn`t really care about the common people until they realized that there were a lot more of them then the elites. Most people lived a farming life but with government setting up factories and creating more jobs the regular people began to gain more power in their lives. It was slow and the government took every method to reign in dissent. Regular people could voice their opposition at the government as long as they stayed away from the emperor. He was inviolable. 

Slowly the regular people gained more power but just as freedom was achieved it was taken away. However slowly and in the name of the state. There was a push for war and resources. The government wanted to gain a better position on the world stage. At first the people supported the push when they gained something int he process. However when there was an unclear benefit the people could and did rebel. The government tried to impose rules to govern what the regular people could do such as no western dress, music, hair. They were effective for about five minutes then the regular people went back to doing the same things. You still see that attitude today. Rules are proposed. debated, voted on and implemented but then ignored.

The striking labour forces in the 1950`s, 60`s and 70`s were mentioned in other books I`ve read but not the governments assistance to break them. When the coal miners in the the Miike area went on strike in 1960 it lasted about a year. They wanted better pay and safer conditions. The government and other mining companies worked together to get coal to Miike`s customers effectively pulling the teeth of the union. After it failed most strikes lost their power to force change and they took on a more cooperative structure with the companies. Strikes at Tokyo University which shut it down in 1969 soured many people on the militant nature of the action. Even today most strikes are simple affairs, planed well in advance and cause very little disruption of service. 

As the book wound down I recognized many of the things from when I first arrived in Japan. They still discussed the population crisis and the broken economy. The Tanaka faction was still holding on to power but was fading away. What they didn’t mention was Koizumi’s hair. The lion mane was his trademark. 

The books I’ve read before touched on many of the above topics but the more I read to more of a whole it becomes and the better I understand the reality of the Japanese life. I will never get a full complete picture but every single thing helps me just a little bit more.