Meiji Leaders

They were a remarkably able group that carried out an economic and social revolution. This revolution is sometimes called the Meiji Restoration but it is also called the Meiji Revolution. The period that followed is called the Meiji Era.

The Meiji Era leaders wanted economic development as a growth of Japan, but circumstances allowed them very little policy choice. The first problem to be solved was financing the national government financial plan. The national government also paid to the samurai, the samurai class lost its source of living in the land reforms and the creation of the conscription army of commoners. The total of the samurai salary was enormous and required one third of the income of the national government. Later the inflation benefited the farmers whose land tax was at fixed financial levels, they gained at the expense of the samurai and the city dwellers.

The national government created some programs, such as public education, by declaring that it must be done and leaving it to the villages to finance and arrange for its provision. The Meiji elite were great students.

The Meiji government was faced with unique circumstances and did not know how to make the country’s economy prosper. It had only some reformist ideas influenced by the West and the sense of crisis. The actions of the government were quick to respond to unique circumstances and led to series of mistakes and miscalculations. However, it learned from mistakes and had power and new legitimacy which could be used for mobilization of society in reform efforts.

The Meiji Restoration is the successful building of the nation-state with a new institutional framework, which changed the course of development. The Meiji Era policy of using private businesses to promote government policy objectives proved successful.

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