A History of Japan

As pressure mounted from grass roots organizations like the Freedom Party, the Meiji government decided to finally draft a constitution. The process which brought it about, and the language which it employed, would determine the course of Japan's political future.

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The early years of the Meiji period saw an explosion of economic growth as Edo Period merchant houses transformed into conglomerates called Zaibatsu.

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The Meiji Revolution very rapidly changed nearly every aspect of public life in Japan. Such rapid progress led, inevitably, to counter-revolutions among various groups who felt discarded by the march of modernization, including a large body of samurai in the land formerly known as Satsuma Domain.

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The Buddhist temples throughout Japan had worked hand-in-hand with the Shogunate to help prevent the spread of Christianity in Japan. Now that the Shogunate was gone, anti-Buddhist sentiment in the country boiled over into a violent response.

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As the Meiji leaders continued to consolidate power and enact radical reforms, they also sought to expand Japan's sovereignty over the northern island of Ezo and the Ryukyu islands to their south.

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As the new Meiji government continued to develop and expand, so did the participation of Japanese commoners in the political process. The 1870s witnessed the Iwakura Mission and the birth of Japan's first newspapers which were quickly followed by censorship laws.

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Now firmly established in Tokyo, the Meiji leaders launched a series of measures aimed at bringing feudal Japan into the modern age. However, upon their inception, these reforms often met with violent reactions.

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In the closing days of the Boshin War, the remnant of the Bakufu's forces attempted to establish a semi-independent state on the northern island of Hokkaido. The fledgling Meiji government, however, had no intention of allowing this.

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 After the Boshin War, the Shogunate as a form of government would cease to exist. In this episode we examine the three different warrior governments that ruled over Japan over nearly seven centuries and see what they did well, where they struggled, and why such a form of government ultimately failed. 

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In this bonus episode, we trace the origins of the samurai and their subsequent evolution to the heights of political power.

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