8 Comments

Good overview and introduction to Pre-Industrial Japan. About a year ago Mr. Moto, who was on the ship with Commodore Perry, had his office in Manhattan turned into a private museum. Inside you can view the various items he collected during his voyage to Japan as well as view some of his logs.

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Thanks for the review. But from the mid-1800's to the 1940's, what happened to Japan, Russia and China (Manchuria)? Somewhere I read about how ruthless the Japanese were to the Manchurians (slavery, etc).

(One of these days I'll get those references down...)

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All of that will be revealed in part 2 under the Meiji government! Part 2 will explain why Japan became an imperial power!

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Great review. Totally agree with you that show 'Rurouni Kenshin' helps with understanding the Bakumastu period.

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Well written and interesting as always! But as usual :)....

I'll point out that the Taisho Period (roughly ~1885 to ~1930) was one of the most vibrant periods of democracy in human history, this is where most of their progress came from, and one of its many effects was that it oscillated between so called "protectionism" and so called "trade openness" at the national level BUT as with the USA's Old Republic there was a not insignificant amount of variability within in Japan at any one time so the country was never 100% on the same program, including in regards to foreign trade. Democracy works.

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Thanks! I'll be writing about the taisho next time! This one was just focused on Sengoku and Edo. You are 100% right thats when their vibrant progress started.

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Nice overview. Glad to see that you are focusing on more than just Africa.

I am curious whether you believe that Tokugawa Japan experienced per capita economic growth during the period.

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Thanks! Yea I love East Asia. I'll probably write a mix between North America, East Asia, Africa and some Europe.

that's a really good question. I would guess they did have some growth considering since they were more stable than the Warring states period, but I would put these growth rates are very very small.

By late Tokugawa they probably experienced faster growth but it was wasteful spending.

The Late Tokugawa was trying to "Modernize" (in a very slow way) but their investments were not productive since their debts ballooned and they were basically bankrupt right before the Meiji revolution.

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