Why was Japan so willing to industrialize while many other non-western countries were not? Not only did China refuse, but pretty much every other regional powers expelled westerners out.
>>1265662
Because they were being helped along.
>>1265662
Kuso sure sageru
>>1265662
Japan feard western countries because China was defeated in The Opium War
>>1265662
Because they defeated everyone in Japan who opposed it. There were some factions in China and the Ottoman Empire for example who wanted to industrialize, but they were unable to silence reactionaries.
>>1265662
Because the US (and to an extent, other western powers) didn't give them a choice and instead of being butthurt and dragging their heels they decided to make the best of it - and boy did they ever.
besides Japan's relative stability, high levels of urbanization and good geography as a center of industry, this >>1266755
The unequal treaties were only unequal to the central government, it enabled clans like the Shimazu as well as multitudes of merchants and tradesmen to trade tax free with the westerners. Imports flooded into Japan changing the economy. By the time of the Meiji restoration and the return of tariffs and heavy taxes, Japan already had the infrastructure needed for an industrial revolution.
The problem is modern historians are institutional academics who have a bias towards federalism so naturally they viewed the übermensch individualists and wholesome noblesse oblige following Shimazu as the bad guys for wanting autonomy and selling out their country to colonial exploiters, which is a fanciful myth. Europeans who set foot on Japan could and were slaughtered in an instant.
At the same time this was going on, cavalry was still being used in the American civil war. Even though the Japanese lacked percussion caps and up to date artillery the westerners could only cuck them navally and they were in competition with each other and didn't want to lose trade to another western power by acting belligerently.
As much as colonialism is "greedy" and "selfish" and can be catastrophic for a country, Japan avoided most of it in this instance. Liberal professors of course don't want to admit this, they want their pet theories to apply everywhere all the time, they love centralized states and they don't really care what the truth was just memes.
>>1265662
China was never completely destroyed by the west, sure they had lost control of the sea and their port cities, but the emperor still held the mainland where traditionalist thinking of "muh middle kingdom" had deep roots
For Japan, having to be forced into trade was a major humiliation which not only embarrassed the Shogunate but empowered the figurehead Emperor who realized that he could actually be a real monarch , losing control of the coast in an island nation is losing everything and a catalyst for social upheaval
>>1265662
>Not only did China refuse
>Refuse
China tried
But with the Qing BTFO and a host of other internal problems, the Chinese were far more focused on removing the Qings as per tradition,
Those scholars you send abroad?
>Studying and meeting in groups to remove Qing.
Your businessmen?
>Selling shit/funding efforts to remove Qing.
Your modern armies and their generals?
>Planning how best to make your move and unite China under your rule- hopefully as new emperor- after the removal of Qing.
Good luck industrializing, faggot.
>>1265662
Because Japan has Saga domain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saga_Domain
>>1265662
That is actually a misconception. Turkey Thailand China and KOrea all attempted to industrialize with varying degrees of success.
>>1266845
On top of that, even those who DO come back and actually want to help have unhelpful advice:
In order to industrialize, China needs to completely restructure it's economy and system of governance, pissing off every who has power and influence in the country.
Japanese people was naturally /m/ as fuck. They always love technology. Even in Edo era people learned enthusiastically western science from Dutch. There are many Dutch science school Rangaku-Juku in Japan.
