Japan an Inward Looking Nation

535 Words3 Pages
Japan an Inward-Looking Nation An inward looking nation is a nation that desires to be self- sufficient. i.e. producing goods sufficient for their country and looking for less imports. An outward looking nation would have a high number of exports and imports. Was Japan an inward looking nation? Japan was an inward looking nation as the country was not interested in trading i.e. importing and exporting goods. Up until the Meiji restoration Japan was controlled by the Tokugawa shogunate had put Japan into seclusion. This closed all trade and depended on the country supporting itself and therefore Japan was an inward looking nation. Japan before the Meiji restoration Japan was a war run country. It was run by the strongest clans which would fight for power to control the country. However as the Tokugawa shogunate came to power the country was closed off from the rest of the world apart from the small port which was allowed for Dutch traders in Nagasaki. This was because the shogun and people feared the increasing Portuguese influence on religion and trade would bring down the Japanese hierarchical system. People feared that the Portuguese would try and take over Japan as their influences increased which eventually led to the banishing of Portuguese from the country. The Tokugawa shogunate was able to keep peace in the country for 250 years which led to the redundancy of the samurai class. This made Japan weaker as fighting was no longer necessary and the weapons and tactics had largely remained the same. The shogun of Tokugawa and the emperor had died which caused a crisis because at the same time as the Americans were looking to open Japan up to trade by force. The Meiji restoration started in 1866 with the alliance of several clans who planned to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate as it had failed to protect Japan from the American and Western invaders. The
Open Document