Enviromental World History

Meiji Japan: Modernizationand the Ecology

Agenda

• Lecture
• Discussion: Marks,Chapter 4

1. Marks, Chapter 5
2. reading quiz #9 due nextWednesday at 11:59 pm
3. medium writing assignmentdue next Thursday October 31stat 11:59 pm
4. extra credit due next Friday,Nov 1stat 5 PM

Course Units

• Uploadassignment& extracredit
• MUST BEPDF orWord doc

DUE THURS OCT 31st@ 11:59 PM

DUE FRIDAY, NOV 1 @ 5 PM

1904-5: Russo-Japanese War

https://mfas3.s3.amazonaws.com/objects/SC131768.jpg

Dangers

• Japan in danger of colonization before 1868because:

• Few deposits of coal
• dwindling forest
• primarily agrarian society
• de-centralized political authority

Meiji Restoration

• For centuries Japan wasisolated
• Aggressive ‘Western’ contactin mid-1800s forcing opentrade

• shocked themsparkeddesire to reform

• new emperor on throne
• Invested heavily in newindustry, introducedcompulsory education,modern armytactics/equipment

Difficulties of Modernization

• mountainous terrain + heavyrainfall = large erosion to valleyriverbeds

• 17thC. miningpollution/byproducts caused farmerprotests

• Mining was prioritized under theMeiji:

• Deforestation to clear mines /runoff / washed hazardous productsaway
• Smelting ores and metals producednoxious gases
• Copper was worst–poisonousrunoff–killed off agricultural crops
• Mining coal: under fields–destabilized villages

Difficulties of Modernization

• Forests:increasingly dwindling in1500s/1600s
• Efforts to ‘preserve’ weresomewhat successful
• But POST-1868, modernizationrequired lumber

• Ships, docks, bridges, telegraph poles,railroad ties, mine timbers, buildingsof new factories

• State tried to set down new lawsto determine property rights oftrees

Difficulties: OverharvestingResources

• Fish used as fertilizer

• Traditional Coastal fishing–captured fish like herring formarkets
• Better nets = more fish caught(depleted fish population)

• Industrialization also pollutedwater and killed sea life(shellfish, seaweed, fish)
• Price of fish fertilizer increased

• Agriculture intensified: clearedforests for more cropland

• Farmed more marginal landused guano
• BUT introduced new crops andinnovated others (like rice thatwithstands cold better) esp. after1870

• Planted more mulberry treesto support silk industry
• As public health improved,sewage systems washed awaynight soil (no longer used foragriculture)

• Successfully modernizedbecause:

• State supported heavy industryand private companies
• The state owned lots of minesand harbors
• Military conquest of Manchurianlands provided access to iron ore
• Hierarchical society = easy toimpose new industrial ethos oncountry

Analysis of Primary Sources

Crown Prince Yoshihito and PrincessKujōSadako

• When was this taken?
• Purpose?
• How would you describeit?
• What evidence makesyou draw theseconclusions?
• Does it change anythingto know this was awedding?
• Picture taken May 1900

Crown Prince Yoshihito and PrincessKujōSadako

• Describe what you see in thissecond picture.
• What do you think this secondpicture represents?
• What evidence do you have forthese conclusions?
• Why do you thinkpeople look thisway?
• How does it change knowing it is awedding reception for this couple?

Discussion: Marks Chapter 4

Broader questions

• What is the Biological Old Regime?

• What types of constraints limited food productionand thus population?

• Howand why did the Industrial Revolutionoccur?
• Whydid it happen in England and not in China?

• Discuss in terms of “land-saving” mechanisms (p. 115).
• Science and Technology?

• How does industrialization affect global relationsbetween Europe, India and China?
• What is the Anthropocene? Factors?

homework

1. Marks, Chapter 5
2. reading quiz #9 due next Wednesday at 11:59 pm
3. medium writing assignment due next Thursday October 31stat11:59 pm
4. extra credit due next Friday, Nov 1stat 5PM