(1) What were the main factors that drove the Meiji Political Transformation?

Ans: Meiji Era underwent massive political and social changes. After seizing the power to his
hands by Emperor Meiji, he realized about the vulnerability of Japan due to overstanding threats
from the Europeans and the U.S. The Japanese were at huge risk cause they were in no match
against Europeans deadly weapons and ships. He wanted to turn Japan into global power equal
to Europe and America. Iwakura Mission(a convey of Japanese Embassy to the U.S) was carried
out to modernize Japan to increase its stability and power in the Asia Pacific. Those efforts at
modernization required Western science and technology, and under the banner of “Civilization
and Enlightenment” (Bunmei kaika), Western culture, from clothing and architecture, was widely
promoted. The previous Shogunate was replaced by the Imperial system of government. They
implemented the constitution which was based upon the European model. Soon, they had their
army serving under the single nation. Ports were opened to do trade with most countries. After
defeating China, Korea and Russia at war a sense of nationalism spread among people. Also, The
transformation has a lot to do with the past era i.e. Tokugawa era where significantly less
development was done as compared to the rest of the world powers. Also, The peasants,
samurais, and merchants wanted the same level of status in society to cause only some of them
were rich and most of them were being left out. These factors drove Meiji political
transformation.

2. In your view, who profited and who suffered from the far-reaching changes during
the first three decades of the Meiji era?
Ans: Most of the daimyos suffered cause their land and power were taken from them. And
those who have huge land they were subjected to heavy taxes. The samurai class also suffered
great disappointment. This new law required every male able-bodied Japanese citizen,
regardless of class, to serve in the military. This monumental law, signifying the beginning of
the end for the samurai class, initially met resistance from both the peasant and warrior alike.
The peasant class interpreted the term for military service, ketsu-eki (blood tax) literally, and
attempted to avoid service by any means necessary. The samurai were generally resentful of
the new, western-style military and at first, refused to stand in formation with the peasant
class.After the reformation, the general public was living more happily than ever before.
School education was made compulsory for all children. Markets flourished across the
country. The whole nation was thriving at that time. Highways were built, houses were
sprawling and all the other infrastructure was developing. Technology, Education and
Medicine were brought into the country through many foreign experts and students were sent
to Europe to learn those things too. So, In general, people were happy about that.