From "bunmei kaika" (civilization and enlightenment) to "fukoku kyohei" (rich nation, strong army)

Fukuzawa Yukichi, through his role as educator, editor, translater and writer, and often adviser to government officials, spread the ideas and values of Western civilization. Into the 1880s and 1890s, he leaned more toward those Western ideas that emphasized power and conquest. While nationalism was very important to Fukuzawa from the very beginning, in the later years, it appeared more in the form of imperial expansion and chauvinism. It was like saying "Japan has finally reached the level of the big powers, now let's behave like them and expand, It is a world where you either eat others or are eaten."

1.Japanese imperialism:

1. Japan's expansion was, similar to other changes taking place, the result of emulation of and conflict with the Western countries.
2. Japan's expansion was undertaken in an environment of imperialism of European countries. 

• Governments often used conquests to display their muscle.
• Imperialism was also often the flipside of nationalism.  

Traditional foreign relations:

Often informal, e.g. no clearly drawn national boundaries.  Same true with China that did not have an accurate map in the 1860s.

Historically, foreign relations among several Asian countries, centered around China, followed more or less the courtesies of a large family clan.  Hence foreign relations in China was conducted by the Board of Rites (rather than Foreign Ministry), and Korea and Vietnam were tributary states.  Japan did not follow the suit of its neighbor Korea, but for some centuries it treated China largely with deference in peacetime.  Although an active learner, Japan did not develop an active foreign policy in the Asian international milieu.

Japanese expansion in early 20th century:

• Expansion into Hokkaido in the Meiji era and cultural assimilation of the Ainu on Hokkaido, converting them from hunter-gatherers into agriculturalists. 
• Opening up Korea's ports for Japanese trade and extraterritoriality for Japan. (in reaction to Korea's initial refusal to accede to the new Meiji government).
• Subduing the Rhyukyuans (1879).
• Expansion into China.

Explanation of expansion:

• Korea: raw materials, farmland, and security.
• China: raw materials, market, farmland.
• Hokkaido: farmland, lumber, other resources.
• Okinawa: resources and security.

Volatilities of East Asian boundaries in the 19th century:

Japanese expansion in Asia was undertaken in an age of active Western expansion into China.  In particular, Russian expansion led to its takeover of large quantities of Chinese territories in the 19th century, including the acquisition of Vladivostok, and various other border regions between China and Russia.  The building of the Trans-Siberian railway from Moscow to Vladivostok (1890s) furthered Russian penetration into Manchuria.  Russian activities in China and Korea clashed with Japanese intentions to expand to these regions.

View map of imperialism in China

Expansion and imperialism:

Like European countries, many in the Japanese government turned expansion into a systematic goal, for security, national pride, resources for industrialization, settlement of overpopulation, and markets for manufactured goods.  These goals were often intertwined.

Q: Did Japanese imperialism differ from European imperialism in any way?

With many similarities to the West, Japanese imperialism differed from Western imperialism in that it was the first non-Western imperial power, and that it rose to imperial status after facing colonization by the West.  Like Western powers, Japanese expansion was fueled with Social Darwinism, and racism:

• Need to ruthlessly protect itself, which could mean siding with the Western powers and act as they did to the other Asian countries. (c.f. Fukuzawa Ukichi)  
• Despite Japan's civilization, Western countries, because of racism, treated it the same way as other Asian countries.
• Imperial expansion the last chance to win Western respect and ensure security and survival as a nation, and even bring civilization to other countries in Asia.

Outline of Japan's war with China (1894-5), and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5)

Causes:

• Russia's expansion in China:
• Impending trans-Siberian Railway in 1889 to Vladivostok.
• Russian activities in Manchuria, Mongolia, and Chinese Turkestan.
• In the face of Russian and European expansion in  general, Yamagata Aritomo, one of the leading statesmen, proposed establishing line of sovereignty (borders) and line of advantage (buffer zones): drawing borders with Korea, etc.
• Conflict between China and Japan over Korea and consequent war (1894-1895), and Japanese takeover of the Chinese Liaodong Peninsula
• Russia's refusal to accept Japanese takeover of Liaodong Peninsula and consequent takeover of the peninsula, infuriating the Japanese.
• The Russo-Japanese War for Japan to settle accounts with Russia over Chinese territory.

The two wars were both causes and results of Social Darwinism and racism:

The Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895)

• 1880s: conflict between conservative and progressive factions within the Korean court, ultimately mediation by China and Japan.
• In the 1890s, after China dispatched troops to Korea to dispel a peasant uprising, Japanese confrontation with China near the mouth of the Yalu River on the Yellow Sea.  The resulting treaty of Shimonoseki resembled the unequal treaties.
• Success on the military front for Japan was accompanied by greater Western recognition: 1894, abolition of Anglo-Japanese unequal treaties, and 1897, the other treaty powers, similar agreements that recognized Japan's tariff autonomy and promised complete equalization of all relations by 1911.

The Russo-Japanese War:

Causes:

• Russia's demand for return of Liaodong Peninsula to China, backed by France and Germany., after the success of Japan over China.
• Russia's taking over the Liaodong Peninsula (25 year lease), and building the Chinese Eastern Railway in Manchuria.  Also Russian military presence in Korea. 

Japanese decision for war:

• Takeover of Chinese territory because Russia refused to concede.
• Also to enhance Japan's prestige and standing among the Great Powers.

American mediation in 1905: Treaty of Portsmouth.

Fukuzawa Yukichi understood in his environment

Fukuzawa practiced, to quote Professor Tetsuo Najita, a "materialistic liberalism." (Hopper, 138) A nationalist throughout his life, he tried to grope for the most effective ways to help Japan at different points of time. He was a liberal, believing in individual independence, and it was this independence that won him status and fame--if he had bowed to offers to work in the government, he might never have ascended beyond a translator. He wanted to teach this independence,intellectual and financial, to the Japanese through his schools, writings, and newspaper. Social Darwinism had a deep impact on his nationalism, and for the sake of Japan's security and status in the world, he cheered for colonizing Korea and defeating China. He was unique in his ability to combine practice--publishing houses, newspapers, etc., with intellectual thought. This was why Hopper said Fukuzawa introduced to the modern Japanese the idea of entrepreneurship.