Can I get some feedback on my LEQ?
(I made it up) Prompt: Evaluate the ways in which isolationism affected Japan.
Japanese isolationism between 1200 - 1450 was an exceptional self-defense mechanism of the Japanese state, however isolationism between 1450 - 1750 became a hindrance that almost destroyed Japan, if the Meiji Restoration did not occur. Japan is an island chain located east of China and Korea, and throughout most of the nation’s history, its location made Japan almost invulnerable to outside influence or attack. This allowed Japan the freedom to pick and choose what influences it took in, and what influences it rejected, allowing it choice in how Sinification took place in Japan. However, because of Japan’s isolationist stance, it limited information and technology coming to Japan, almost leading to Japan’s destruction when European and American Imperial Powers arrived on Japanese soil. The only reason that Japan was saved from being imperialized was the Meiji Restoration and the end of isolationism.
The beginning of Japan’s isolationism can be traced back to 1200 - 1450. Japan was in a period of feudalism, meaning that the Japanese Emperor would give fiefs, also known as land grants, to the daimyo, or lords, who were expected to swear fealty to the Emperor. This measure was to ensure regional stability in Japan. The daimyo would give serfs the right to live on their land, and would provide them with shelter and food from the crops they harvested, which is known as subsistence farming. The daimyo also employed samurai, or warriors, to protect their land from other daimyo or serf uprisings. The feudal nature of Japan made it so that when Emperor Taiyaka proposed the Taiyaka Reforms, which was influenced by Sinification and the desire for a more absolute monarchy while creating an improved and centralized bureaucracy, they would fail due to the daimyo class rejecting these reforms as it would diminish their power. The failed Taiyaka Reforms display that foreign influences could be accepted or rejected by the Japanese people, and could not be forced upon them, entrenching a sense of isolationism to the rest of the world.
However, that isolationism would almost lead to Japan’s downfall in the period 1450 - 1750. Japan’s demise almost occurred from European colonialism and imperialism. With the invention of higher quality ships, naval technology, and cartography, European ships arrived in Asia. Britain formed the British East India Company, a joint-stock company owned by the public that was sponsored by the British monarchy to profit from colonialism in India. Colonialism is a practice of a nation invading another, establishing a new colonial government or directly ruling from the homeland of the colonizing nation, and using mercantilist economic principles to extract a rare resource to monopolize and sell for exorbitant prices. It is similar to Economic Imperialism, where an imperial power controls resources, trade, or resource production in an area without direct control. India experienced colonialism from the British East India Company and later the British Raj, while China, traditionally a great power, was imperialized and divided into spheres of influence by the European Imperial Powers. European Imperialism was aided by the Industrial Revolutions. The Industrial Revolutions were a series of great economic changes where manufactured goods were now mass produced in factories, coal now powered engines and steel, and the rise of consumerism occurred as well. However, with the invention of steam-powered ships, they needed a lot of coal that was abundant in Japan. British and American ships sought Japanese coal to power their vessels, and it would also open a new market for consumerism to take place and sell goods to. Japan saw what happened to India and China, and did not wish to suffer the same fate as American sailor Matthew Perry arrived in Tokyo Harbor, threatening to imperialize Japan because of its current weak status induced from its centuries of isolation from the outside world.
To avoid being imperialized like China and India, Japanese Emperor Meiji needed to modernize fast, and bring Japan onto the same strength and prestige as the Imperial Powers. They had to concede on some Imperial demands and fading away of Japanese traditions in order to survive the arrival of Europeans and Americans. The Imperial Powers had experienced their own Industrial Revolutions, had centralized governments composed of monarchies and republics, and practiced industrial warfare in imperialized nations. Emperor Meiji overthrew the Shogun and established the Japanese Diet, a parliamentary body, to create a centralized government. He also placed the daimyo under mandatory house arrest in Tokyo to keep them under control. He then sent observers to Europe and America to study their culture, bringing back “honorable” ideas to Japan. Japan quickly industrialized, using a combination of state-sponsored and laissez-faire methods of industrialization. Initially, the Japanese government prioritized funding companies like Mitsubishi to help them grow and make profit, however as they grew, the Japanese government gave them more independence, allowing these companies to choose how they grew and operated without government intervention. This created a mixed-market economy in only 60 years, the fastest industrialization effort of the entire world at the time. Japan also took ideas of militarism, or expansion of the army, from the newly formed German Empire. The German Army was one of the most advanced armies of the world, and had recently defeated Austria in the Bruderskrieg, Denmark in the war for Schleswig-Holstein, and France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Japan also acquired German military advisors as well. The rapid modernization of the Japanese government, economy, and military became known as the Meiji Restoration, named after the Emperor who orchestrated it. The Meiji Restoration chose to sacrifice some aspects of Japanese culture in order to save their entire culture from being erased by other Imperial Powers.