 It started in the middle of 19th century

he Freedom and People's Rights Movement, Liberty and Civil Right Movement, Free Civil Right
Movement (自由民権運動, Jiyū Minken Undō) (abbreviated as Freedom Party (自由党, Jiyūtō)[2]) or
Popular Rights Movement was a Japanese political and social movement for democracy in the
1880s. It pursued the formation of an elected legislature, revision of the Unequal Treaties with the
United States and European countries, the institution of civil rights, and the reduction of centralized
taxation.

The Sino-French War stirred up a sense of crisis in Japan, as the publicfeared an invasion of Asia
by the Western powers. A newspaper affiliated with the Liberal Party, the main pillar supporting the
Freedom and People’s Rights Movement (Jiyu Minken Undo), proposed that Japan should foray into
Asia and the government and people of Japan should end their antagonism.

 Contributing factors to growth of Japanese nationalism:

The determination to transform Japan into a Western-Style power linked to a desire for equality
with Western powers
Japan’s belief in its destiny as the leader of Asia Economic: need to obtain raw materials and
secure markets
Need to strategic security Actions of Western powers
Growing popular support for nationalism and militarism

 Linking nationalism with imperialist foreign policy, as well as dependence on military and
their actions to secure land

Inoue Kaoru, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and head of the treaty revision talks, argued that in
order to achieve equality with the Western powers, Japan would have to become an imperialist power
with a colonial empire. Ever since the beginning of the Meiji period in 1868, the Japanese government
had being trying to westernize the Japanese state and society, but these efforts became even more
noticeable under Inoue Kaoru.

2-3rd SLIDE

The Meiji Restoration

 When the Japanese heard what the British did to China (in the Opium War) and how China was
forced to endure unequal treaties, Japan knew the West would soon come.
 Japanese fears were realized in the summer of 1853. American President Millard Fillmore
wanted to open ports of trade, wanted better treatment of shipwrecked sailors, and wanted to
open foreign relations between the two countries.
 The American request was delivered by Commodore Perry and four American warships. 
Commodore Perry brought examples of Western technology to leave with the Japanese in order
to impress them with Western power and science.
 A telegraph link was set up between Perry’s flagship and the Japanese royal palace.
  He even set up a miniature railroad along the Japanese coast and whirled Japanese officials
around on its tracks.  The technological and military significance of these gifts was not lost on
the Japanese.  Perry was told to come back later for an answer to President Fillmore’s requests
(Perry was not pleased)..

Slide 9

The Treaty of Kanagawa

Enlarg

Sketch of Simoda from the Treaty of Kanagawa, 1854 Record Group 11 General Records of the
United States Government
On March 31, 1854, the first treaty between Japan and the United States was signed. The
Treaty was the result of an encounter between an elaborately planned mission to open Japan
and an unwavering policy by Japan's government of forbidding commerce with foreign nations.
Two nations regarding each other as "barbarians" found a way to reach agreement.
The United States Government was determined to take the lead in bringing Japan's two-
century-old policy of self-imposed isolation to a close. The Fillmore administration sent
Commodore Matthew C. Perry and a small fleet of sloops and the latest steam-powered ships to
go to Edo (Tokyo) Bay to insist on a treaty that would protect the rights of American whalers,
provide for coaling ports, and eventually lead to trade.
Perry achieved two of his three central objectives by improving America's access to strategic
energy resources. He succeeded in getting two coaling ports for the Navy's new steamships
and in protecting America's oil workers (the whalers). He did not, however, open Japan to trade.
It wasn't until 1858 that the U.S. Consul at last achieved Perry's final objective: establishing a
commercial treaty.
SLIDE 12
The results of the modernization were significant:
Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 – Japan defeated China, thus positioning self as a world power
with an empire
Treaty of Shimonoseki gave Japan Formosa, Pescadores islands, and Liaodong Peninsula,
forced China to open ports and China had to recognize Korean independence
SLIDE 9 -12
The Meiji Restoration lasted from 1868-1912.
 The Meiji period ended the series of military governments that had dominated Japan since
1185.
It marked the birth of a new Japan

SLIDE 14-15
is a treaty signed at the Shunpanrō [ja] hotel, Shimonoseki, Japan on April 17, 1895, between the
Empire of Japan and Qing China, ending the First Sino-Japanese War. The peace conference took
place from March 20 to April 17, 1895. This treaty followed and superseded the Sino-Japanese
Friendship and Trade Treaty of 1871.