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Japan’s Political and Economic Development and Comparison with China
In the beginning of 16th century Japan had been an economic power and had isolated itself from the rest of the world. In this regard Japan enjoyed periods of political stability coupled with economic development and free from any form of foreign influence. However it later came to establish a relationship with its ally, the United States. This paper will focus on United State’s occupation in Japan, the Anpo treaty between the two nations and the ensued oppositions and student’s protests as well as Japan’s economic development. The paper will also compare and contrast the political and economic developments between China and Japan.
With the new entry to the former Japan, the political landscape was totally transformed following mass political reforms that prevailed at the time. The United States assisted the former Japan administration draft a new constitution that had immense contribution to the political stability. This was because the new constitution was totally different from the then Meiji constitution of 1889 (Study Pack 205). The new constitution guaranteed the transfer of sovereignty from the emperor who now only acted as a symbol of Japan unity and its culture.
Further the former supreme institution only functions as Japan’s parliament that was now composed of freely elected representatives. In addition the new constitution guaranteed the people of Japan political participation in grass-root levels because the local government was strengthened (Study Pack 212). The most notable contribution however was the promotion of equal right to both women and men. The women were allowed to participate in election processes through voting. Article 9 forced the former military forces to be abolished as well as ensuring that Japan and the army would not enter into war again.
In addition the American entry into the territories of Japan helped make effective reforms in the economic sector. In the pre-war periods most Japanese farmers never owned any lands that they could practice their agricultural activities. In this regard over fifty percent of Japanese farmers only engaged in renting agricultural lands from the big landlords. Japanese lands were mostly characterized by inequality and big gaps drifts between the big landlords and these farmers (Study Pack 385). The farmers were greatly economically oppressed by these big landlords who typically lived in cities and only paid them half of what they cultivated. In effect the peasant farmers only wallowed in poverty as the big farmers continued to ensure that they made big profit from them for lack of lands. However the American entry ensured that there was implementation of land reforms that led to fair distribution of land (Cohen 431). In addition the farmers had gained economically and were further helped by the implementation of the new democratic government.
Moreover the American entry into Japan ensured that there were civil reforms in Japan by engaging the Japan citizens in understanding the laws of democracy (Cohen 422). They achieved this objective through the use of popular magazines and newspapers that were common at the time. They typically used the American democracy as an example of a sound democratic government that was worth emulating. During this period most of Japanese people were open to new reforms after the war that had consumed their lives and were left disillusioned (Cohen 412). The American government used educational institution in regulating as well as ensuring that the Japanese children learned the American democratic values. In essence the American entry brought with it a lot of political, economic and social reforms that contributed to Japan.
American entry into the political, economic and social lives of Japan led to the signing of a treaty known as Anpo treaty (Study Pack 310). This treaty acted as a symbol of mutual kind of relationship between the two nations. Further the treaty ensured that the activities of the United States would be regulated for instance through binding it to only act for the intentions of maintaining peace in East Asia and also help in Japanese own domestic misunderstandings. However this part that allowed the United States to interfere in Japanese domestic affairs was later deleted after some deliberations.
This revised treaty also included a mutual understanding between the two nations on defense issues. In this regard the United States was barred against battling within the territories of Japan and also the protection of Japanese territories from any form of attack (Cohen 412). In conclusion this treaty was primarily meant to safeguard Japanese safety and peace. However the two nations were supposed to defend each other from any form of danger or attack. Hence following this treaty the United States presence in Japan was reinforced.
However the Anpo treaty was met with so much opposition from the Japan population and mostly the students (Study Pack 239). The continued stay of the United States raised a lot of suspicion to the Japanese population especially the fact that the United States sought to impose their ideologies into the political, economic and social lives of the Japanese people forcing their own identities to disappear. The most notable activity of the United States that made most of the Japanese population question their intentions was the establishment of the Futenman Army Base.
This particular establishment brought a lot of opposition from the Japanese especially the fact that the United States failed to give clear explanations pertaining the prospective benefits for the common good (Cohen 440). In this regard it was clear that the Anpo treaty was not a mutual benefit but only intended to benefit the United States at the expense of Japan. This forced the student movement to gain momentum from the periods of Taisho democracy in the periods of 1960s. However it was the second student protest that had immense effect to this treaty. The students led by their student leaders hurdled themselves in their respective universities and engaged in armed conflict with the Japan police which left a lot of students seriously injured (Study Pack 289).
Compared to Japan, China had been a leading leader of civilization to the rest of the world especially in the fields of sciences and in arts. However this country was hit with unfortunate events in the periods of 19th and 20th centuries. During these periods China was hit by intense famine, civil unrests, foreign competition and military defeats. These unfortunate events forced the then democratic leader Mao to establish an autocratic form of government that was predominantly socialist that shifted control from the government bodies to the ordinary Chinese people (Study Pack 489).
This system of government was also able to restore China’s sovereignty. However after Mao’s death the next leaders led by Deng shifted their focus to economic-oriented objectives that made China’s economy to develop steeply at their tenure (Cohen 439). As a result this development led to China’s output to increase as well as improving the living standards of the people by 2000. In addition these improvements led to the establishment of personal choices of the Chinese people that were consequently expanded. Consequently today China has improved immensely in global participation to the international affairs as well as increasing its global outreach.
In conclusion after Japan had established a strong relationship with the United States and consequently improving its economy, it was met with civil unrests that opposed this relationship. The country was able to maintain its economic development record until the 1990s when it was hit a major catastrophe. The country unfortunately experienced a major earthquake that rocked the entire country. In addition this earthquake was followed by another natural disaster; the tsunami. These two unfortunate catastrophes killed thousand Japanese people, destroyed properties worth millions of dollars including the existing nuclear plants (Study Pack 289). Japan’s economy was bruised with most of its infrastructure damaged and the capacity of Japan to deal with humanitarian kind of disasters as these ones tested.
Works Cited
Cohen, The Cohen Material Provided, 2015
Study Pack, The Cohen Material Provided, 2015