A bit about Japan....
Well People,
now here is something about Japan, the country of my dreams(!?) and my area of specialization. Although i am a language expert, we need to study about Japan as a country too. Needless to say, learning a language without studying the country where it is spoken is useless. So let me tell you something about Japan.
Let us start with some hard facts. The Japanese Population is somewhere around 130 million. It is one tenth of Indian population. Japan is the second largest economy after the United States and Japanese automobile manufacturers like Toyota, Suzuki, Honda, etc. lead the world market. Of course, Japan is also famous for its high-precision instruments and even electronic instruments. Robotics is another field where this country has been pumping in a lot of resources and they have devised robots that play football, that walk on stairs and robot dogs which can help the visually challenged.
Let us have a brief look at Modern Japanese History. Modern Japanese History starts from the year 1868, which saw a major event called as Meiji Restoration take place. Remember "The Last Samurai" ? Well, the period depicted in that movie is exactly the one immediately after the Meiji Restoration. Actually from 1600 to 1853, Japan was a completely closed country. No Japanese were allowed to travel out of Japan nor were any foreigners allowed to come to Japan. Of course, interaction with the outside world was not completely cut off and limited ships from Holland, China and Korea were allowed to visit Japan. But in 1853, when American Commodre Perry brought his ships to the Bay of Uraga near Tokyo, Japan was jolted to reality. It got to know about the technological supremacy and in turn the military might of the United States, and had to listen to the U.S. demands. The demands were simple....open Japan to trade with the U.S. As Japan signed the treaty, more and more Western Powers forced her to sign treaties with them. There was difference of opinion between two factions of political leaders. One was supporting the Tokugawa Shogunate, which had kept Japan isolated for more than 250 years. Other was opposing the Shogunate and trying to bring back the Emperor into the power. The anti-Shogunate faction finally could carry out an uprising and in 1868, Emperor Meiji was restored to power. This was called as Meiji Restoration.
After the Meiji Restoration, Japan followed rapid westernisation and militarization simultaneously. Modernisation was complemented with Japanese eagerness to learn from western knowledge and Emperor Meiji sent a group of scholars to study the various systems of U.S. and Europe. This was called as Iwakura Mission.
Education was emphasized and you would be surprised to know that primary education was made compulsory way back in 1892. At the same time, the government also sold heavy and chemical industrial units to private economic conglomerates (called Zaibatsu) in Japan so that efficient usage of the resources was possible. With this, within twenty five years after the Meiji Restoration and Opening of Japan to the West, Japan had already started progressing on the path of Modernisation.
I guess this much is enough for today. I will continue this series as i think everyone will be interested in Japanese History. It is really interesting to know how a small country like Japan could become a formidable threat to the various big giants of the world in the first half of the twentieth century.
Looking forward to your comments and suggestions...
P r a s a d....
now here is something about Japan, the country of my dreams(!?) and my area of specialization. Although i am a language expert, we need to study about Japan as a country too. Needless to say, learning a language without studying the country where it is spoken is useless. So let me tell you something about Japan.
Let us start with some hard facts. The Japanese Population is somewhere around 130 million. It is one tenth of Indian population. Japan is the second largest economy after the United States and Japanese automobile manufacturers like Toyota, Suzuki, Honda, etc. lead the world market. Of course, Japan is also famous for its high-precision instruments and even electronic instruments. Robotics is another field where this country has been pumping in a lot of resources and they have devised robots that play football, that walk on stairs and robot dogs which can help the visually challenged.
Let us have a brief look at Modern Japanese History. Modern Japanese History starts from the year 1868, which saw a major event called as Meiji Restoration take place. Remember "The Last Samurai" ? Well, the period depicted in that movie is exactly the one immediately after the Meiji Restoration. Actually from 1600 to 1853, Japan was a completely closed country. No Japanese were allowed to travel out of Japan nor were any foreigners allowed to come to Japan. Of course, interaction with the outside world was not completely cut off and limited ships from Holland, China and Korea were allowed to visit Japan. But in 1853, when American Commodre Perry brought his ships to the Bay of Uraga near Tokyo, Japan was jolted to reality. It got to know about the technological supremacy and in turn the military might of the United States, and had to listen to the U.S. demands. The demands were simple....open Japan to trade with the U.S. As Japan signed the treaty, more and more Western Powers forced her to sign treaties with them. There was difference of opinion between two factions of political leaders. One was supporting the Tokugawa Shogunate, which had kept Japan isolated for more than 250 years. Other was opposing the Shogunate and trying to bring back the Emperor into the power. The anti-Shogunate faction finally could carry out an uprising and in 1868, Emperor Meiji was restored to power. This was called as Meiji Restoration.
After the Meiji Restoration, Japan followed rapid westernisation and militarization simultaneously. Modernisation was complemented with Japanese eagerness to learn from western knowledge and Emperor Meiji sent a group of scholars to study the various systems of U.S. and Europe. This was called as Iwakura Mission.
Education was emphasized and you would be surprised to know that primary education was made compulsory way back in 1892. At the same time, the government also sold heavy and chemical industrial units to private economic conglomerates (called Zaibatsu) in Japan so that efficient usage of the resources was possible. With this, within twenty five years after the Meiji Restoration and Opening of Japan to the West, Japan had already started progressing on the path of Modernisation.
I guess this much is enough for today. I will continue this series as i think everyone will be interested in Japanese History. It is really interesting to know how a small country like Japan could become a formidable threat to the various big giants of the world in the first half of the twentieth century.
Looking forward to your comments and suggestions...
P r a s a d....
posted by Prasad at 10:05 pm
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