Let us now examine America’s conquest of Japan.
The Meiji Restoration was the 1868 political revolution in Japan that overthrew the feudal Tokugawa Shogunate and restored the Emperor’s power. It triggered a period of rapid, state-led modernization, Westernization, and industrialization, transforming Japan into a centralized world power.
Following the Meiji Restoration, Japan adopted superficial aspects of Western culture but failed to embrace its essence — constitutional democracy. For instance, the Western democratic principle of military non-interference in politics was never implemented in Japan. Until its surrender, the military controlled the government. There was no freedom of the press, nor voluntary associations organizing social reform movements.
Japan also lacked core elements of Western democracy, such as human rights and civil liberties. Women’s suffrage remained a mere formality, as political and social pressures hindered their participation in elections.
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