How Japan Became a Great Power in Only 40 Years (1865 - 1905) // Japanese History Documentary
1,857,428
Published 2021-03-06
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00:00 Introduction
04:20 The End of the Beginning
10:31 Japan Meets The World
18:00 Business Opportunities
20:33 Meat
24:57 Upgrading The Military
30:22 Rebellion
37:11 Big in the West
44:36 Climbing the Ladder
48:15 Tension with the West
52:58 The First Rank of Nations
Written by Thomas Lockley.
Check out his book on Yasuke: www.amazon.com/-/es/Geoffrey-Girard/dp/1335044981/…
Edited and narrated by David Kelly.
Art by Matthew Cartwright.
— Music courtesy of:-
Epidemic Sound
Artlist.io
Bibliography:
Beasley, William. 1995. Japan Encounters the Barbarian. Japanese Travellers in America
and Europe. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Bird, Isabella. 2006. Unbeaten Tracks in Japan. Saitama: Japan and Stuff Press.
Checkland, Olive. 2003. Japan and Britain after 1859 – Creating Cultural Bridges. London
and New York: Routledge.
Cwiertka, Katarzyna. 2006. Modern Japanese Cuisine. Food, Power and National Identity.
London: Reaktion Books.
De Coningh, Assendelft. 2012. A Pioneer in Yokohama. A Dutchman’s Adventures in the
New Treaty Port. Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett Publishing.
Downer, Lesley. 2003. Madame Sadayakko. The Geisha who Bewitched the West. New York:
Gotham Books.
Esposito, Gabriele. 2020. Japanese Armies 1868-1877. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
Fukuzawa, Yukichi and Kiyooka, Eiichi (tr.) 1966. The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa.
New York: Columbia University Press.
Gardiner, Michael. 2007. At the Edge of Empire. The Life of Thomas Blake Glover.
Edinburgh: Birlinn.
Hillsborough, Romulus. 2005. Shinsengumi. The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps. Tokyo, Rutland, and Singapore: Tuttle.
Jacob, Frank. 2014. Japanism, Pan-Asianism and Terrorism. A Short History of the Amur
Society (The Black Dragons) 1901-1945.
Bethesda, Dublin and Palo Alto: Academica.
Jansen, Marius. 1994. Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration. New York: Columbia
University Press.
Jansen, Marius. 2000. The Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge, MA and London: The
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Koyama, Noboru. 2007. Japanese Tattooists and the British Royal Family during the Meiji
Period, in Britain and Japan Biographical Portraits Volume VI (Hugh Cortazzi ed.) Folkestone: Global Oriental.
Kokaze, Hidemasa. 2011. ‘The Political Space of Meiji 22 (1889): The Promulgation of the
Constitution and the Birth of the Nation.’ Japan Review, 23, 119-41.
Lloyd, Arthur. 1905. Admiral Togo. Tokyo: Kinkodo.
McArthur, Ian. 2013. Henry Black. On Stage in Meiji Japan. Victoria: Monash University.
Mihalopoulos, Bill. 2011. Sx in Japan’s Globalization, 1870-1930. London and New York:
Routledge.
Nakae, Chomin, and Tsuki, Nobuko (tr.) 1999. A Discourse by Three Drunkards on
Government. New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill.
Nimura, Janice. 2015. Daughters of the Samurai. A Journey from East to West and Back. New York and London: W. W. Norton and Company.
Swale, Alistair. 2000. The Political Thought of Mori Arinori. A Study in Meiji Conservatism. Richmond: Japan Library.
Wilson, George. 1992. Patriots and Redeemers in Japan. Motives in the Meiji Restoration.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Image credits:
Treaty of Portsmouth By World Imaging - Own work, photographed at Japan Foreign Ministry archives, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12769311
Allegory of inflation PHGCOM, pre-1868 anonymous Japanese artist, CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Hakodate Castle By 京浜にけ at Japanese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28217497
Imperial Palace Moat By Kakidai - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18542305
内閣府, CC BY 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Utagawa Image By Rawpixel - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75372106
Treaty By World Imaging - Own work, photographed at Japan Foreign Ministry Archives, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12765184
High School Class By takato marui from Osaka, Japan - 神奈川工業高校, CC BY-SA 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6496517
We try to use copyright free images at all times. However if we have used any of your artwork or maps then please don't hesitate to contact me and we’ll be more than happy to give the appropriate credit.
All Comments (21)
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Big shout out to Thomas Lockley, the genius behind these long form Japan documentaries. His book on Yasuke is available on Amazon, and is similarly excellent: www.amazon.com/African-Samurai-Yasuke-Legendary-Wa…
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Meiji restoration is one of the most impressive examples of how a society can transcend the entire industrial revolution in 40 years. Just incredible focus and raw determination on steroids
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Honestly one of the best written and narrated historical documentaries I've seen in a long time, not just on YouTube but anywhere.
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The reason Japan became a Great Power in the blink of an eye was that the education, culture and economy of the Edo period were at a high level. Before Japan was modernized, it was the most urbanized country in the world, and the common people were active in the economy, and the literacy rate of the Japanese was the highest in the world. And compared to other Asian countries, each domain had stronger decentralization of power, so many talented people existed in the provinces, and they were able to lead the modernization of the Meiji period even after the Tokugawa Shogunate, the central government, collapsed.
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素晴らしいドキュメントを作ってくれて、日本人として感謝します 取り上げるテーマが面白くて日本人としても勉強になったし、なによりコンテンツとしてのクオリティがすごい
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1940 Germany: Prepare for trouble. Japan: Make it double. Italy: Meowth, thats right.
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We’ve upgraded to secondary sources now boys
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My great grandfather fought in the Russo-Japanese war. He was Polish but conscripted into the Russian army as it was their territory at the time. Gouged out his own eye to avoid conscription but they took him anyway! He disappeared for decades and found his family again after years in Asia. My father didn’t meet him until he was already in his 80’s. Lived well into his 90’s. What a life!
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Japanese culture and European technology was the most terrifying combination.
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Damn......I don't think I've ever seen/heard anything on YouTube as good as this was. A serious work of art. To say it was excellent wouldn't come close to doing it justice.
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A former samurai using strategy from Nelson- Togo is the meji restoration personified.
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One thing I admire about Japan is their ability to quickly adopt the teachings of other cultures to improve their society while still holding firm to Japanese heritage. Another example of this was in the post-WWII era when an American named Deming visited Japan and taught many of their companies about quality in manufacuring. Today most people associate Japanese goods with high quality, but before Deming they were seen as "cheap crap." An impressive turnaround in just a few decades.
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A great document regarding an important moment for Japanese history. Much respect for Japan from Turkey🇯🇵🇹🇷
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If the tears of defeat are a harsh teacher, the Glee of victory can lead to hubris and delusion. The next 40 years would teach a whole other set of lessons.
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Hello all! Hope you enjoy this documentary adventure, been a joy to work on. Back to primary sources next week, insights into the life of a Manchu soldier. See you there!
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As a MA student in Modern Japanese History, I am fascinated with the quality of this documentary! Great visuals and excellent content! I will suggest this video to my undergrad students and other friends who would like to watch an introductory documentary on Japanese modernization
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The link between beer and Mitsubishi (maker of the Japanese Zero) was such a delight. I was even more surprised that eating niku was a recent thing in Japan.
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Absolutely brilliant content!!! This puts the History Channel to shame, I can’t wait for the next one!
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I wept a little at the end of part 2 in this video. Instead of reveling in spite and resentment, Japan learned from those who were greater. Instead of merely trying to copy the western nations, they improved upon what they learned and maintained some of their own cultural goods. For all the pain they endured and caused in this change, its essence is one of the most right and beautiful things I've seen. I wish for friendship and cultural exchange between our countries to run strong so long as we exist.
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This is amongst my all time favourite history videos. Not just macro view, but you get to experience the room back then, hear interactions, view things as they saw it. This is gold.
