American Influences on Japan’s Constitution Following 1868

When the Tokogawa regime was over run during the Meiji Restoration, a lot of things changed in Japan. With a new rule a new constitution was created putting four central Han in charge. They then abolished the Han and made prefectures which caused dilemmas of there own. Education, equality, and politics were all changed when the new Han came into power. These changes all tried to keep with Japanese tradition while incorporating European and American ideals and systems. More recently, Japan was again reformed after America’s occupation of Japan. This reform was stricter and clearly was American, building a new constitution built around American values. Though it did not keep with Japanese tradition, this newer constitution allowed Japan to solve many of its problems from their first reform while also allowing them to come into the modern age with flying colors.

The Charter Oath of 1868 was the first attempt to reform Japan. This looked to unit the people, give them equal standing, encourage learning, incorporate the public into the government, and to ensure that the most learned people were in the highest positions in Japan. Like all of the documents written to encourage reform, the Charter Oath had many drafts with slight revisions, some being very important. Upon installing the Oath there was much hope for change. By encouraging learning to all people to strengthen Japan would lead to more knowledgeable officials gaining higher ranks appropriate to their skill. Then by allowing equal voice to all people and by having open political discussion, Japan was looking to equalize all people so they all could have an opportunity to have their voice heard. Similarly they also tried to allow all people to work in positions they saw fit for them, assuming they had the correct skill. This removed the idea of the family business from Japanese Society though was not entirely successful in enactment (Lu 307- 308 and Pittau 11-17).

Other documents continued to try to reach these goals in Japan. Japan’s form of government was altered slightly by introducing a threefold Council of State, similar to the system in the US, also incorporating in elections through balloting. The difficult part with all of this was as they added freedoms they also took some away. Christianity was abolished and was illegal to practice. Then those who went in search of new careers were liable for their actions to their old master until they acquired a new one, all punishments falling upon their old master.