Why Japan?

Why did Japan industrialize and become a world power while no other non-European and non-North American nation was able to do so?

* Pre-1853 development

   - Tokugawa achievements

      -> building a strong road network (the 5 roads)

      -> urbanization

          => Ieyasu's alternate residence scheme helped fill the cities

          => the 5 roads build travel towns

      -> channeling of rivers (less erosion and flooding)

      -> complex irrigation schemes (better productivity)

      -> improving rice planting methodology and seeds

      -> promoted education, especially amongst Samurai elite and rich peasants

      -> population control, especially amongst Samurai elite and rich peasants

   - Proto-industrial development

      -> increasing wealth of the merchants created a class capable of developing

          => peace of the Tokugawa Shogunate gave them space to develop

      -> lots of large-scale artisanal production

          => guns and cannons (unchanging tech copied from Europe) and swords

          => ships for coastal trade

          => stoneware and pottery

          => textiles

      -> roads and urbanization helped

          => internal trade regularized and expanded

          => big cities meant big markets and factory-style economies of scale

          => provided a good jumping-off point for later industrial expansion

      -> good use of wind and water mills (ready for coal)

   - Tokugawa politics

      -> orderly Shogun-Daimyo-Samurai political structure

      -> removing Samurai from the countryside

          => water rights settled legally instead of with a sword

          => people controlling the farming are farmers

               +> experimentation with for-profit crops (mulberry/silk, tea, fruit, etc.)

* Immediate post-1853 development

   - Chose the path of peace when faced with Perry's Black Ships

      -> embarrassing and weak-seeming, but no first resort to violence helped

           in the long run

      -> their treaties with US and Europe were a bit more of a compromise

   - End of the Shogunate and Samurai

      -> quickly abandoned the idea of hereditary nobility and class distinction

      -> Meiji emperor takes over, but a more modern form of monarchy

   - Imperial decision to embrace industrialization

      -> building the Tokaido line (Tokyo to Yokahama)

          => railroads create cascading industrialization

      -> militarization

          => particularly naval development

              +> able to whomp the Russians by 1905 (52 years after opening!)

          => makes exploitation by foreigners more difficult

          => would get them into trouble later with WWII

   - deepened their harbors for trade

   - created the Bank of Japan in 1882

      -> gave them the ability to control their own currency and finances

   - universal and compulsory (mandatory) primary education for everyone

      -> an educated populace works better

   - merchants were already ready to embrace coal, factories, and industrialization

      -> grouped into handy financial clans called zaibatsu

          => good for pooling capital and controlling financial risk of investment

   - agricultural already advancing, now aided by modern tech

   - centralized Imperial government provides a sense of order and (internal) peace

   - basically, the Japanese were willing to embrace the West's technology

      and social structures in order to catch up