It is alleged that the Meiji oligarchs abandoned the essence of what it meant to be a Japanese nation in their campaign to modernize and achieve similar achievements as Western powers, including property reform and social programs such as education and conscription. An important part of this question needs to be defined, which is what the essence of being a Japanese nation is. In this argument it will be defined as including history, tradition and values, and from this perspective it can be seen that these allegations are false, because they assume that the essence of a Japanese nation is to remain isolated, and to fail to adopt new approaches. Only a weak nation would need to be frozen in time to protect their essence in such a case.
The Tokugawa regime is considered the last traditional Japanese era, and one of its defining features is that it was a dictatorship of a feudal society. During the Meiji era of imperial Japan, many features of Western governments were introduced, such as a constitution in 1889, creating a more democratic state. This was not abandoning the essence of what it meant to be a Japanese nation, but rather it was defining it increasingly by including the population.
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It is not part of the essence of what is Japanese to be oppressed by a centralized power. Abandoning feudalism does not represent an abandonment of Japanese culture and values, even though it was a turning point in history. If anything, as Gordon devotes a chapter section to the idea that in fact it was an affirmation in Japanese identity and destiny. This was a different manifestation of the essence of what it meant to be a Japanese nation without having the burden of feudalism, with more of the population engaged in determining what that essence could be.
- Gordon, Andrew. A modern history of Japan: from Tokugawa times to the present. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
