Reprogramming Japan Marie Anchordoguy

As in the Meiji period (1868-1912), the state would emphasize developing technological and industrial capabilities to promote self-reliance (36) Meiji period, when Japan first recognized the importance of technological self-sufficiency and economic development (67) Communications was a core component of the nations drive to catch up with the West o When Commodore Matthew C. Perry first arrived in the mid-19th century, it was his cannons that forced Japan to open up its economy o On his second trip, however, Perry demonstrated something equally powerful, a primitive telegraph machine Leaders were quick to realize that to avoid succumbing to a Western power, they would have to become both militarily and economically powerful and that developing such power would require technological sophistication It would have been cheaper to Japan to hire a foreign firm to build its communications system. However, the goal of the new leaders was not to provide telegraph and telephone services at the lowest cost. It was to build the capacity to absorb and accumulate foreign knowledge. They desired national autonomy (68) This started what would become a customary practice of fighting foreign power with foreign power Once again, as in the Meiji period, the state and corporate sector needed foreign advisers and technology to catch up, and they relied on their earlier ideology to do so: use foreigners and their investment and products only when necessary and maintain domestic control over first and the industry (73) o This mentality was summed up in a rallying cry of ichi go yunyu, ni go kokusan (import the first one, make the second one domestically) The nations broader strategy of investing scarce resources in industrial infrastru cture, education, and training to bolster absorption capacity and cumulative knowledge in science and technology clearly buttressed efforts to target technologically advanced industries such as communications (94)

Constructive Influence of modern education on Indian society Eighteenth century onwards, modern education led to social awakening, gave impetus to social progress and brought many reforms. It had influenced substantially the working style and thinking of missionaries, reformers, educationists and many Indians, especially those belonging to elite and intellectual sections of society. Some of the positive effects of modern education on Indian society were as follows Opened up the doors of the knowledge Modern education opened up the doors of the knowledge flourished in Europe after Renaissance movement of Middle Ages. It had widened the mental horizons of Indian intelligentsia. Highlighted evil practices Modern education had highlighted the weaknesses and real issues, which had developed in the system like rigidity and harshness of social customs and practices prevalent at that time for the weaker sections of the society i.e. women and lower strata of society. Attracted attention of social reformers Modern education had attracted the attention of social reformers towards social evils developed into the system because of ignorance, superstitions or irrationality like mumbo-jumbo of rituals and superstitions created by some selfish people to entangle the ignorant and poor masses, un-touch-ability and inhuman treatment to women, Sati, Polygamy, child marriage etc. etc. prevalent at that time. Modern education also highlighted the weaknesses, rigidity and harshness of caste system towards weaker sections of the society. Realization of the worth of liberty and freedom Indians realized the worth of liberty and freedom. They got exposure to the philosophies of thinkers like Locke, Mill, Rousseau, Voltaire, Spencer and Burke etc. They came to know about the reasons and impact of English, French, American revolutions. It equipped national leaders with the intellectual tools, with which they fought the oppressive British Raj.

Opened doors of education for all - During second half of the nineteenth century, British government in India gave access to education to all sections of Indian society irrespective of caste or creed. Given birth to National movement Modern education awakened the national leaders and Indian masses and equipped them with the intellectual tools, with which they fought the oppressive British Raj. The discriminatory and repressive policies and practices of British rulers alarmed the national leaders. Racial discrimination in the areas of education and jobs and their repressive policies elsewhere; Economic loot; political subjugation; assertion of lordly superiority over the subject on the ground of race; assumption of a haughty exclusiveness; persistent insulting and supercilious behavior towards all Indians; exclusion of Indians from all places of honor, authority and responsibility; and denial of their capacity for self-governance united Indians against British rule. The destructive character of repressive policies of British rulers lit the fire and gave birth to national movement.

The reactionary and destructive character was seen in the economic and social sphere. The growth of casteism had a close connection with these developments. Its result on Indian society was Large population of Illiterates and unskilled work-force Education for all and employment for all is still a dream. Lack of proper education and training systems combined with illiteracy and lack of skills amongst a large number of people has turned the visions of national development into empty dreams. Only 64.84 people are literate according to 2001 census, (Males 75.26% and Females 53.67%). In absolute number, the figure is alarming. No nation can afford to have a large number of its population to remain illiterate, ignorant and unskilled. Not only the number of illiterates and unskilled is a matter of concern, but also quality and insufficient resources of education and training are the matter of great concern. Population explosion has put a heavy pressure on available infrastructure of education and training. Complex in the minds of many educated Indians about their social values Modern education has developed a complex in the minds of many educated Indians about the primitiveness of Indian society and about efficacy of its value systems. Many educated Indians have lost faith in social customs and practices altogether. Some Indians consider Hindu philosophies and its way of life impractical, or its social practices indefensible. Apathy towards their values and systems Apathy towards their value systems has made a large number of intelligentsia alien in their own country. It has disassociated them from their own way of living, classical roots and traditional knowledge. With it; are fading steadily Indian value-system, philosophies and traditions. Usually a person becomes miserable, when he is cut off from his source of life his own roots. A large number of educated Indians have lost faith in the traditional values, principles and way of life. They have lost faith not only in their fellow-beings, but also in themselves.

Consider the institution of education as an agency of cultural change o The direction and tactics used to be taken by Japanese education in meeting the challenge of changing values in Japanese society Modern men: those individuals, within any given country, who are better educated, more urbanized, more engaged in industry and related non-traditional occupations, and more exposed to the new media of mass communication (Inkeles & Smith 1976 p.302) Miyanaga (1982) wrote about the Dutch Tokugawa students mission in 1862 as follows: In viewing students who studied in Holland, since both samurai class students and chonin class students who gained Western knowledge, culture, and technology successfully performed their role of pioneers in order to construct new Japan, this plan of study abroad will be regarded as a great success (p. 238) Another view which might be evaluated as accomplishing the anticipated goal is that returned students helped the government reduce the budget for Western assistance by replacing foreigners with their own nationals The activities of Yukichi Fukuzawa who was founder of Keio University, has been regarded as a great contributor to the introduction of Western organizations, education, politics, economics, and philosophy o He had assessed that these activities represented an attempt to transfer ideas from the enlightenment movement being experienced in the West to Japan

Varley (1984, p. 212) wrote, It was their [political leaders] purpose to enlighten the people, not to make them politically active but to enrich the country and thereby strengthen it vis--vis the nations of the West

Utility of acquired knowledge the nations position in the world today is due in part to the ambitious young leaders of the Meiji period (might deal with the future too much) their programs pulled Japan from the fate of colonization, and plunged them into a world of international recognition and power Japanese had realized from the start that the only defense against the West was to adopt its superior military and economic technology and thus to "expel the barbarians" in the modified sense of achieving security from the West and political equality with it Men knowledgeable about Western technology through their study of Dutch learning were helpful in this attempt o The Tokugawa shogunate showed great interest in learning even from foreign countries, although the shogunate strongly opposed anything related to Christianity o The shogunate supported Dutch studies (rangaku), which included the translation and study of Western works on science, geography, medicine, military science, and other subjects o These studies allow Japanese to be exposed to Western technology and ideas, which facilitated the transition of Japan to a modern country in the Meiji period Meiji leaders understood that in order to save Japan from being colonized and to be accepted by the West, they had to modernize o Leaders were all young, western educated and idealistic Impressed by the power of the West felt Japan could follow suit Rich Nation, Strong Army the goal as to achieve equality with the West no longer could the Japanese rulers pretend that Japan was superior to all other nations, and the shock of this realization paved way for the Meiji reformers Meiji Charter Oath1868 Knowledge shall be sought throughout Not only did the Japanese adopt many outward aspects of Western civilization (such as ballroom dancing, men cutting their hair, beef eating, etc,.), they also adopted many Western ideas and institutions as the Meiji oligarchs pursued a policy of Rich Nation, Strong Army to catch up with Western countries and to gain national strength and wea lth Equality of opportunity meant everyone suddenly had an incentive to improve their own lives by modernizing Japan To a country which still kept time by the sun, the clock was a powerful symbol of modernization The Japanese really saw education as the route to personal betterment and a way to even out and equalize and open opportunity to everybody Students were sent to Europe and the United States to study modern science and technology, while foreign experts were hired to help establish factories and educational institutions The appearance of superior Western technologyin the form of steam-powered naval vesselsforced the leaders of imperial Japan to abandon their policies of isolation In the first half of the nineteenth century the Americans, British, and Russians repeatedly sent expeditions to Japan in efforts to persuade the Japanese to open their ports to foreign ships, and the Dutch urged the Tokugawa to accede to these demands. But Edo stood firm on its old policy. A few students of "Dutch learning" bravely advocated the opening of Japan, but the vast majority of the people, long accustomed to isolation from the rest of the world, were bitterly opposed to allowing foreigners into their land.

The grievances of these warriors were in part grudges nursed by a centuries-old feudal vendetta between eastern and western barons and in part economic dissatisfactions bred of rising prices and falling incomes as the land economy, on which warrior wealth and position were based, gave way before commercial capitalism. There was nothing in either of these grievances that helps explain the revolutionary use low-ranking warriors made of power once they had it: why, for example, they swept away the feudal political structure by which warriors monopolized power to establish a modern bureaucratic state in its place. The answer I think is that the warrior's capitalist allies were not interested in substituting one group of feudal rulers for an other. They were for the most part rural industrialists and merchants who found feudal government, with its closed class system, its manifold restrictions on enterprise, and its bias in favor of tamed city guild-merchants, hateful. These men not only backed the Restoration movement with money; they gave it direction, turning what might otherwise have been a struggle to reorganize the feudal system into a movement to destroy it. Rationalist thought, which an educational system dedicated to the advancement of science and technology could not but promote, increasingly called into question the Japanese political myth. Modern industry gave rise to new and harsher class antagonisms that made the familial ideal of society harder to cherish. The authority of the family and the power of its symbols declined as the family lost economic functions to the market and as the difference in outlook between generations widened with accelerating change. Nevertheless, the primary old values throne and family did not collapse, for they were continuously reinforced by stronger and more efficient measures of indoctrination and thought control by the state

In addition, the people who had studied Western studies in Shogunate government organizations and Dutch learning schools were used by the Meiji government or contributed to the advancement of Western sciences and technologies as independent educators or writers. In this way, the age of Dutch Studies ended and was replaced by Western studies during the period from the opening of the country to the Meiji Restoration. However, the Netherlands was the only Western country with which Japan had relations during the Edo period, and the acquisition of Western scholarship, knowledge, and foreign information through the Dutch language and Dutchmen served as the foundation for modernization and preparation for the Westernization of Japan.
While other Eastern nations fell further behind Western powers in the changing world, Japan strode forward, maintaining its sovereignty and quickly catching up to the other major foreign powers As foreign nations began to approach Eastern shores more frequently, the Japanese grew increasingly aware of their lagging position in the changing world

Dutch influence on Japan extended far beyond trade. To the Japanese, the Dutch were sources of information from the outside world, and provided them with Western knowledge. Dutch studies were of great interest to Japanese scholars, and were superior to those of the Chinese in various fields. Despite its relative isolation, the Japanese were able to keep up with Western nations in terms of technology by consistently studying translations of Dutch books on science, medicine, geography, and armaments. To respond effectively to growing pressures from foreign powers, the Japanese found it necessary to increase and improve their development of weaponry, and had no alternative method but to do so through Dutch learning. Utilizing Dutch instruction and supervision, the Japanese were able to build establish successful iron, shipbuilding, and armaments industries. Japan, however, suffered from a weak economy at the time and thus lacked the finances necessary to fund such developments. Therefore, the Dutch provided the Japanese with great assistance not only in terms of technology, but financially as well.8 Dutch influence also had significant impact on Japanese political ideology at the time. Japanese scholars of Dutch studies, called rangakusha, understood the superiority of Western military science and knowledge, and were well aware of the weak position of Japan relative to the rest of the world at the time. These scholars, including the Lord of Satsuma, Shimazu

Nariakira, acknowledged Japans need to change in order to maintain its sovereignty from other nations. Dutch, or Western, studies were most highly developed in two locations in Japan, one of them being the Satsuma region.9 The Satsuma Domain, as one of the largest feudal domains during Tokugawa Japan, played a major role in the overthrow of the Tokugawa hegemony and the Meiji Restoration. While the Satsuma clan was a nationalist group, advocating expulsion of foreigners from Japan, they were also hug

In communication with each other, subjects from throughout the colonial and postcolonial world could hear ideals of Christian brotherhood, Wilsonian self-determination, or free market access and complain to each other that the West was failing to live up to its own rhetoric (5) Moreover, the reach and longevity of these concepts derives from precisely this type of ambiguity, and many of them matchwords that drove imperialism also retained their currency in postcolonial political discourse, even when it physically circumvented or opposed the west Yet, the globalization intiated by European imperialism did transform the world, and far more than discourse alone, the engine that powered what historian Marshall Hodgson called the great Western Transmutation of the world was technologies of practice o Colonial rule introduced new institutions of governance, such as public education, national consensus and national spirit that developed in tandem with them o What is most significant is that these technologies transcended the boundaries of power and outlived the retreat of formal imperialism o Japanese empire, directly emulated discourses and techniques of European imperialism (6) o When they did so, they equally adopted the logic inherent in these techniques Other types of structural change, each instigated new forms of scientific or social innovation, and each made an impact on the definition and practice

Emerging imperial power of Japan, demonstrating the degree of agency enjoyed by native actors to engage and shape the ideas and forms that accompanied Western scholarly discourse (7) Throughout Asia, the arrival of Western ideas was reflected in the transformation of language o New terms were coined, often by scholar-missionaries, for such Western uniquely concepts such as democracy, race, and religion, a fact that could easily be taken as the baldest proof both of the fundamental foreignness of these concepts and of the intellectual domination of those Asian languages that adopted them Rather than domination, the use of neologisms by native actors demonstrated an adaption of nationalist movements to use the ideological weapons of the Europeans against them apparent acceptance of Western academic institutions was not so much a matter of subjection, as a strategy to subvert the existing paradigm how these individuals understand and use these newly dominant categories of race and religion are beyond the control of the state (11) o thus produce their own interpretations often based, not surprisingly, around the new forms of create opportunities, and shape both ideas themselves and how the individual engages in those ideas explosion of ideas for the simple reason that even if people might consume information as individuals, they still interpret its content in groups opportunity to exploit the ideas these new practices implied were beyond the ability of any one party to monopolize and transformed the entire region The single storyonly makes sense as the confluence of numerous factorseconomic, political, social, and spiritual (15) we cannot begin to fully understand unless we grasp the relevant opposite or associated meanings and analyze the historical context in which the concept acquires its meaning

Education has always had a 'civilizing' function throughout history. Indeed, its principal purpose has been to make of the uninitiated--the "stranger" or "foreigner" to the society (and this includes the young native-born as well)--a "citizen" of the social group, well-schooled in and responsive to its traditions and values Schools, as institutions whose aims are expressly educational, are meant to serve the interests of the social group by which they are run. American Schools are intended to Americanize; Japanese schools must Japanize. It is clearly in the best interests of the society not to allow large pockets of its people to remain unacculturated, and the school is regarded as one of the most powerful means of effecting the socialization of "aliens." But there are rewards, to be sure, for the individual who submits to this socialization process. As the "foreigner"-whether actually foreign-born or not--is assimilated into the society, he develops a self-identity: a sense of who he is, why he is important, and how he relates to others in the society. Ideally he acquires a sense of security and well-being that identify himself as a bona fide member of his social group. Schools, then, offer not just information and skilltraining, but they hold out the promise of instilling in the marginal member of society a sense of belonging

Due to technological advancements in communication and increased education, a growing awareness of the issues and conflicts affecting the 3rd World have made it difficult to justify the new wave of expansion by the western world, similar to the triggering of decolonization after World War II. The Modernization Theory has been used as a reason for this recent expansion, but various faults in the theory made the original arguments in the 1950s to 1970s unrealistic and unaccomplishable.

The push from world leaders for capitalism and the globalization of raw materials is now being promoted through the idea of modernizing the 3rd World, which was widely talked about in the 1950s through to the 1970s. This movement claimed to promote "greater political and economical interaction among people and the growth of communication networks would break down peoples` 'parochial' identities with ethnic kindred and replace them with loyalties to larger communities like Canada or the European Community."(xxiii)

New developments in technology, specifically the internet would improve communications and allow people around the world to see the realities and consequences of what they do at home, without it being filtered and distorted in interest of lobbyists

The colonization scheme of things was not outcome of the Western democratic values to spread freedom, liberty and justice but ferocity of violence and killings of millions and millions of human lives for the Empires to be built on colored bloodbaths. The European crusaders crossed the channels and unknown time zones to subjugate the much divided Muslim people as part of their superior nationalism perception and values that Muslims were inferior to the European race and could be used as subjects without human identity and as raw material to build the new Empires The West and its scheme of political subjugation institutionalized the neo-colonial authoritarianism. Arabs and Muslim societies are devoid of public institutions for thinking, change and policy development. In the maderun politics of wars, Arabs-Muslims have no weight on the scale except being digits and numbers. While the rest of the so called Islamic world was complacent and coward, an International War Tribunal in Malaysia concluded the public proceedings and unanimously charged Tony Blair and George W. Bush as guilty of crimes against the humanity in Iraq

America and some of its hired European allied policy makers and military strategists seem to have exhausted their rational THINKING and failed miserably to understand or differentiate between the myth of power and realities on the ground that they cannot win any wars against Islam and Muslims If time and history could reawaken their conscience and give them a space for self-reflection, would they ever learn this compelling reality from the undeniable recorded history of the Nature of things?

The Making of Modern Japan Kenneth B. Pyle

Fukuzawa and the New Westernism (Ch.6 p 80) No one wrote more persuasively or with greater influence on behalf of the new disposition toward wholesale borrowing from Western culture than Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901) (80) o Japans submission to the challenge of the Perry mission and the subsequent demands for the forced opening of the ports was initially regarded as a political failure, for which the Tokugawa were blamed. As the magnitude of Western military superiority came to be understood, however, the failure was more often seen as a cultural one, requiring sweeping fundamental reforms. o Born into a family of lower samurai form the province of Buzen in northern Kyushu, Fukuzawa as a young man evidently chafed under the restrictions of the feudal hierarchy o In his autobiography he wrote: p 80 o And Fukuzawa went on, with typical modesty, in school I was the best student and no children made light of me there. But once out of the schoolroom, those children would give themselves airs as superiors to me; yet I was sure I was no inferior, not even in physical power. In all this, I could not free myself from discontent through I was still a child. His chance to leave Nakatsu came in 1854 when he was nineteen years old. It was the year after Perrys arrival, and Fukuzawa was sent to Nagasaki and then to Ogatas school in Osaka for the so-called Dutch studies Four years later he was sent to Edo by the han officials and ordered to establish a school for Dutch studies that other young samurai from his han could attendthe school that later grew into Keio University He soon learned English and in 1860 gained passage on a ship to San Francisco, which was part of the official mission going to the United States for ratification of the Harris Treaty (81) While in San Francisco it was not so much the technological achievements that impressed Fukuzawa, for his years of Dutch study had acquainted him with the scientific principles involved: What fascinated him far more were social practices and institutions, such as relations between sexes, family customs, life insurance, the postal and banking systems, hospitals, and lunatic asylums (82) On this and succeeding trips (to Europe in 1862 and to America against in 1867) he took copious notes on his observations o Fukuzawa first gained fame in 1866 with the publication of his book Seiyo jito (Conditiosn in the West), one of the more important books published in Japan in modern time It was immensely popular because it described the kinds of everyday social institutions in Western countries that the Japanese were most curious about. In short order he published a number of sequels and became an established authority of the West Fukuzawa took no active part in the Restoration. But when he realized that the new Meiji government was receptive to reform proposals, the whole tenor of his writings changed. o Instead of merely recording information about Western society, he began vigorously urging the adoption of Western values and institutions and the fundamental transformation of Japanese culture

o o

o o o

In his later books he went beyond the proposals of Sakuma Shozan and others who had advocated adoption of Western science while preserving traditional values and social practices Fukuzawa argued that one could not cling to Confucian ethics and acquire an understanding of Western science, because the former carried with it an attitude toward nature and society that was irreconcilable with scientific habits of thought The essence of modern civilization, he contended, was found in the cultivation of individual qualities of independence, initiative, and self-reliance Because he believed that the feudal system and Confucian values stunted those qualities, he made all-out attacks on traditional Japanese culture In one of his most important treatises, Gakumon no susume (An Encouragement of Learning), he began with words that became famous, Heaven did not create men above men, nor set men below men, and thus succinctly summarized the revolt against inflexible hereditary status that had been brewing throughout the latter half of the Tokugawa Period He went on to explain that a young mans position in society should be determined by his grasp of utilitarian knowledge. He therefore, throughout his writings, attacked Confucianism, traditional education, and authoritarian government As an educator, newspaper editor, and advisor to politicians, he exercised immense influence over the generation of Japanese that opened the country and rebuilt its institutions

Women, Family, and the Limits of Reform (Ch.6 p 82) The extent to which Fukuzawa carried his radical critique of the old society is illustrated by his views on women and the family (82) o In Bummei-ron no gairyaku (An Outline of Civilization), he located the fundamental flaw of Japanese culture in its basic institutionthe family By inculcating values of absolute power on the one hand and unquestioning deference on the other, the Japanese family suppressed the spirit of independence that had formed Western civilization (83) Fukuzawa and other early Meiji reformers blamed the family for the absence of values on which modern scientific civilization depended They said that it provided the foundation for authoritarian government The reformers frequently expressed hope of replacing the extended hierarchal family groups with independent nuclear households consisting of only parents and children and marked by elevation of women to a new status o Fukuzawas best-known essay in this regard was a critique for the seventeen-century Confucian tract The Great Learning for Women, which had been used in the Tokugawa Period to instruct samurai wives and daughters in their roles and behavior The tract instructed them that the great lifelong duty of a woman is obedience; and that the five infirmities (indocility, discontent, slander, jealousy, and silliness) found in seven or eight of every ten women arise from and exacerbate the inferiority of women to men A woman should cure these maladies through introspection, self-reproach, and by learning to look to her husband as though he were heaven itself o In his essay A New Great Learning for Women (1899), Fukuzawa advocated modern education for women and the right to inherit property o Fukuzawas fellow reformer, Mori Arinori, who had served as Japans first envoy to America (1870 -1872), wrote in Essay on Wives that marriages should have greater equality; and when he subsequently married he insisted that the union be governed by a Western-style contractFukuzawa was a witnessto demonstrate the equality of the partnership

In addition to the industrial and military power that adoption of Western technology promised, another important motivation for Japanese cultural borrowing was the drive for national equality (87) o Okuma Shigenobu, one of the prominent Meiji leaders, later wrote that to attain an equal footing w ith the other powers has been the impulse underlying all the national changes that have taken place (87)

From 1868 to 1894 the prime goal of Japanese foreign policy was revision of the unequal treaties, so as to stand on equal footing with Western countries and escape the semicolonial status to which extraterritoriality and tariff control had relegated Japan Leaders of the government concluded from discussions with Western diplomatic representatives that revision of the treaties depended not only on the development of national power but on legal and administrative reforms that would make Japan a civilized country capable of proper treatment of foreign nationals The government moved quickly to plan such reforms Committees appointed to compile penal and civil codes took French law as a model and engaged the French jurist Gustave Emile Boissonade to advise them in compiling laws A German legal expert, Hermann Roseler, was entrusted with drafting a commercial code

A primary agent of the cultural revolution in the early Meiji Period was the new education system (88) o Education took on the burden of imparting a knowledge and understanding of Western culture and thereby preparing the young for occupations in an industrial society Let us sum up the dominant theme of influence exercised by Western culture during the period of civilization and enlightenment that held sway in the first two decades of the Meiji Period (92) o The full sweep of European enlightenment and the nineteenth-century liberal thought was introduced into Japan in a very short space of time o Western liberal civilization challenged Japans traditional beliefs, its traditional social organization, and its traditional system of government with such ceaseless persistence as to throw nearly every area of life into a state of turmoil 1. The first major theme of the Japanese enlightenment was that advocates of Western values were dominated by a negative new of Japans traditional institutions and the learning that underlay them Fukuzawa wrote of this sweeping rejection of his heritage: If we compared the knowledge of the Japanese and Westerners in letters, in techniques, in commerce, or in industry, form the smallest to the largest matterthere is not one thing which we excel.In Japans present condition there is nothing in which we may take pride vis--vis the West. All that Japan as to be proud ofis its scenery. 2. Second, despite this thorough rejection of Japanese civilization, the enlightenment advocates held almost limitless hope for the future 3. A third dominant theme of the Japanese enlightenment stressed the cultural example of the West Because universal laws of nature governed human behavior, Japan could, if it developed in accord with these laws, progress in the same way that Western nations had Progress, in other words, was unilinear; it was determined by universal forces of historic development rather than by the particular trends of national history Civilization in the West had progressed further along this universal path of development and therefore it could be looked to as an example Civilized development meant not only that people would use the same machines; they would also think and behave in similar ways, eat the same kinds of food, wear the same kinds of clothing, live in houses of similar architecture, and enjoy the same kinds of art o A Japanese cultural identity had no place here 4. A fourth dominate theme was a wholehearted commitment to science, technology, and utilitarian knowledge The classical curriculum in the schools must be replaced by a practical learning useful for daily life Fukuzawas well-known condemnation of Tokugawa scholars as rice-consuming dictionaries concluded that managing your household is learning, business is learning, seeking the trend of the times in learning 5. Fifth, the enlightenment promulgated a new view of humanity with revolutionary implications for society and the state It was necessary to foster a new set of values on which a more open, constitutional, and enlightened government could be founded

The Japanese enlightenment was by no means democratic in the twentieth-century sense of advocating universal suffrage or economic equality, but it did oppose old forms of social stratification and government by a closed elite It favored an open and mobile society in which economic rewards would be commensurate with individual talent and effort The enlightenment writers generally argued for a parliamentary government that would function through rational deliberation and enlightened legislation with responsible ministries and an impartial, law-abiding administration They espoused free trade ideals and put their faith in an emerging internationalism Fukuzawa saw little future for a narrow nationalism: A country is a gathering of people. Japan is a gathering of Japanese and England is a gathering of Englishmen. Japanese and Englishmen alike are members of a common humanity; they must respect each others rights (94) These enlightenment themes drew their support from the discrediting of the old society by social and economic change and by its incapacity to deal with the foreign crisis But the extreme adulation of the Western cultural model could not sustain itself once the vogue had passed; it was too destructive of Japanese pride Moreover, many of the new social values introduced during the enlightenment decades of the 1870s and 1880s ran counter to deeply ingrained mores of the Japanese people, and above all, were incompatible with the institutions of the countryside where the vast majority of the populace had its roots Finally, the Meiji leaders saw that the values of the enlightenment could not coexist with the formation of the strong national consciousness required to unite the hearts and loyalties of all the people in the struggle to industrialize