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Roots
How A Resistance to Change Led to
a Return to Traditional Japanese
Worldview
The Westernization of
Japan
Many of the changes that took place in Japan can be put
under the broad title of Westernization. This meant the
adoption of western ways and ideas.
The Meiji government felt that the best way to change the
unequal treaties with the West was to win respect for
Japan by showing that it was a modern, civilized society.
They also believed that Westernization would result in a
Japan that was stronger and more competitive with
western powers.
Western Dress
The government urged Japanese
men to abandon their kimonos for
pants and suit coats. By the
1870s, all prominent Japanese
men, including the emperor, wore
short hair, some grew beards and
moustaches.
The Japanese military were
ordered to wear western-style
uniforms. The uniforms of police
officers and train conductors were
also changed to copy Western
Constitutional Government