Sixty Years of Japan's Meiji Restoration

What made Japan the country it is today? From the arrival of the Black Ships to the death of Emperor Meiji, these 60 years utterly transformed Japan's national destiny. In 1853, the Tokugawa shogunate, Japan's de facto ruler, declared the country open to the world. In 1867, the shogunate returned power to the emperor, and the reformists declared the “Restoration of Imperial Rule.” The anti-shogunate faction, the shogunate loyalists, the expulsionists, and the advocates of opening the country to the world all took the stage in turn. In 1875, Japan announced that it had entered a period of preparation for constitutional government. In 1890, Japan convened its parliament, then embarked on a frenzy of expansion, fighting the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War. Victory in these wars propelled Japan into the ranks of the world's great powers. In 1912, Emperor Meiji died, bringing the Meiji era to an end. It was the end of one era, and the beginning of another, frenzied age.