Notes
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Causes of Taisho Crisis:
-->reduction in military expenses caused militarial officials discontent emotion towards Taisho Content: The emperor appointed Katsura Tarō, a former army general who had served as Prime Minister twice before and a member of the genrō, to form the new government. Katsura was not a popular choice with the public, which believed he focused his interests more on the military than on the people at-large. Soon after taking office, Katsura was faced with a ministerial defection of his own, when the Imperial Navy sought an increased budget to fund the construction of new battleships and threatened to withhold the appointment of a Navy Minister as a negotiating tactic. Unlike his predecessor, Katsura went directly to the emperor, who issued an edict that the Navy must provide a minister. Main Themes / Most Important: Death Education Opposition Distrust and discontent National Building Protests Weak and undominant Emperor Military Manipulation Features:
1. Write a list (min 10 stats) which show how Japan was emerging as a truly industrial and more urbanised nation. · E.g. Between 1914 and 1918 Japan’s industrial output rose from 1.4billion to 6.8 billion yen (pg 139 Gordon) · Between 1912 and 1932, real income per capita more than doubled (pg 15 Hanneman)
• Between 1912 and 1932, real income per capita more than doubled (pg 15 Hanneman) • Between 1750 and 1920, population more than doubled to 2.2 million in Tokyo • Osaka in the same period went from 400,000 to 1.8 million • By 1925, urbanite made up of 21% of the population (13m/60m-[• Until 1930s, more women were engaged in factory employment than men • In 1919, “the number of labor disputes skyrocketed to 2388” • 300 labor unions formed • A strike was forced by 30,000 shipyard workers in Osaka-Kobe area in 1921 2. What role did the zaibatsu play in Japan’s industrialization?
-The Zaibatsu helped Japan’s industrialization as the big family companies were able to regulate and control most of the businesses and reduce the competition within markets so that each producer were very successful in maximizing efficiency for the produce of goods. 3. What happened in April 1920? economic downturn 4. Outline the causes and effects of the economic downturn Japan suffered from in the 1920s? 5. Explain the term ‘Rich Country, Strong Army’. -Formulation of new policies to transform Japanese society in an all out effort to catch up with the West. -Aimed to come up with new political and economic ideas in order to get rid of the old traditions in efforts to modernize Japan and become a strong and united country in not only Asia but the world -The ‘rich’ term not only means wealthy in terms of money, but also means the amassing of natural resources and increase different productions and industries. Also, the ‘rich’ means enriching the minds of the Japanese people in hopes of uniting them as a country to move forward as a nation in order to modernize and forget about the old traditions that hinders Japan into becoming a powerful nation. 6. What was rural-urban migration? Why did it occur in Japan in the first few decades of the 20th Century?
Heading – Rural-Urban Tensions? 1. What impact had earlier legislation surrounding Education had on Japan’s urban population?
• Became 6 years in 1897 • 1912-1926: Tai Sho period • Lager reading in public greatly enhanced intellectual level (circulation of intellectual journals • Urban Female middle class read more particularly on child-bearing, household management, budgeting, how to manage mother’s in law • Female emancipation and social reform 2. How had continued contact with the west shaped the urban culture of Japan?
• Called white collar workers “salaliman” • Worked in a company with regular salary • Western clothes • Including western furniture • Bread consumption rose • Japanese Jazz • Mobos and Mogas dancing on floor • Sports became popular (eg baseball), had support of wealthy cooperations • Movies w/ Charlie Chaplin Features • Government had regular radio broadcasts 3. What was life like for the middle and working classes in the cities?
• Modelled from Prussia and France • Called army “national university” • Army reinforced ultra traditional values • Loyal to Emperor • Trousers, Jackets, Boots, Beer, Biscuits and Beef (Western Items) • Young men in army – breakdown of social class; created natural unity and social cohesion • One of the only places where urban and rural society can blend together 5. In what ways were there huge gaps between rural and urban society?
6. How were women emancipated, if at all, by rural-urban migration? 7. What was ultra-nationalism?
Kita Ikki, Outline Plan for the Reorganisation of Japan, 1923 9. What were the main issues between tenants and landowners through the 1920s?
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