Questions: The Meiji Restoration and Japanese Modernization

Question 1

What was the main motive behind Meiji reforms?

• A. A desire to spread Christianity
• B. Fear that Japan would be dominated by Western powers as China had been
• C. Pressure from peasants for land reform
• D. An alliance with Russia

Answer: (B)

Japanese leaders had watched Britain defeat China in the Opium Wars and had signed unequal treaties themselves. Their slogan, 'rich country, strong army,' expressed the aim of becoming strong enough to stand as equals with the Western powers.

Question 2

The Meiji government abolished the privileges of the samurai class and replaced samurai armies with a conscript army.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: True

Conscription began in 1873, and samurai stipends and the right to wear swords were ended in the 1870s. Some samurai rebelled, most seriously in the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, which the new army defeated.

Question 3

Give two examples of how the Meiji state promoted industrialization.

Model answer: Any two of: building railways, starting with the Tokyo–Yokohama line in 1872; founding model factories such as the Tomioka silk mill and later selling state enterprises to private firms; sending students and officials abroad, as in the Iwakura Mission; hiring foreign experts; creating a national banking system and currency.

The state led early industrial growth and then handed many enterprises to business groups that became the large conglomerates known as zaibatsu.

Question 4

Which victory made Japan the first Asian nation in modern times to defeat a European great power in a major war?

• A. The First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895)
• B. The Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905)
• C. The Boshin War (1868–1869)
• D. The Satsuma Rebellion (1877)

Answer: (B)

Japan defeated Russia on land and at sea in 1904–1905. The war against China in 1894–1895 had already gained Japan Taiwan, and in 1910 Japan annexed Korea.