The Meiji Era of Japan was in essence a super-compressed Industrial Revolution. It lasted from around 1880/90-1930s. In this short time period that took place after the Tokugawa Era, Japan went from being a rural and developing nation to the urban, advanced one it is today. Although it did change into a more Western nation-like country, Japan’s main spots of adjustment were its military and its industry. On the whole Japan’s culture became more like its Western influences.

           The changes in Japan’s military were one of the largest reasons for the change in Japan’s culture.  The Western Powers influenced Japan to change their military in numerous ways (notes).   One valuable change, the emperor decided, was that every man should train and serve as a soldier where he resides (Document 1).  This is different than earlier on, in the Tokugawa Era. Samurai used to be a small and elite warrior class, but now the samurai aren’t the only warriors serving for Japan, causing them to lose all of their honor and respect (Document 13), which had been an important part of culture for the past 250+ years (Notes). In addition, if a man (any) served in Japan’s military, the emperor would forgive him for any and all of his past sins (Document 14).  This would motivate a lot of Japanese men to become a soldier, so that they could lose their feeling of guilt.  This new rule affected Japan’s culture because a lot more men would now leave their life to go live as a soldier and serve for the emperor. They will now be stronger and militarily trained, instead of the everyday peasant.  Military definitely directly affects the culture of a nation, and Japan’s strategic adaptation was no different, especially because it had a huge influence on the social pyramid, what with every social class actually having the choice to become what was always seen as above or better than you, the warriors.

            Though the military had a lot of influence on Japan’s culture, the biggest role in Japan’s massive cultural shift was played by industrial changes.  After the end of the Tokugawa era, a greater amount of factories were built, causing a dramatic increase in the number of laborers.  Along with this came poor working conditions, low wages, child labor, pollution, and crowded cities (Document 8).  This is very similar to Britain’s Industrial Revolution, and based on the cultural effects it had on Britain we can infer that it had the same results for Japan. In addition, Japan’s number of industry workers, cotton spinning industry growth, and foreign trade was increased dramatically from the late 1800s to the early 1900s (Documents 9, 10, and 11 respectively). The key points in the documents are as follows: The amount of agriculture and forestry workers slowly decreased; the output of yarn increased dramatically, and the amount of exported wholly manufactured goods increased between 1868 and 1935 from 108 yen’s worth to 1,451,330 yen’s worth. That’s roughly a 13.4 thousand percent increase, which means a lot more factory workers, making life more based around factory work and industrial. This therefore caused a huge industrial change in Japanese culture.

Another short but important aspect that influenced Japan’s culture industrially was Tanaka Hisashige, known as Japan’s greatest mechanic, who devised a model of a steamship and “astonished people.” According to “Education by Example,” a teacher’s manual, he continued to invent things useful to Japan even after he was 70 years old.  A quote from Education by Example is, “We must strive to invent and create new things, and thus enhance Japanese culture.” The effect that Hisashige’s steamship had on Japan’s culture was that he was able to show a new emphasis on modernization and technology.

In conclusion, Japan’s culture was greatly affected by its military and industrial changes. The Meiji Era’s impact on Japan’s culture itself was negative for a short time. It made Japan temporarily become an industrial/working class nation, and the feeling of honor given to the class of samurai was forgotten. These immediate cultural changes were bad, however the changes in modernization for Japan were well worth it in the long run.