“The Threat of Japan” and “Fifty Years of New Japan” Overview

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Table of Contents

The emphasis that has been brought out in the article
My personal opinion about the articles
Works cited

The Threat of Japanand Fifty Years of New Japan, 1907-08 are two pieces of literature that were written at almost the same time and their content had relevance to the perception of modernization. Fifty Years of New Japan was written in 1910. The first article fifty years of new Japan is all about the progress that had been experienced in Japan within fifty years. This progress covered a wide spectrum of areas. Form politics, business, culture, population, and military, the article exalted the strides made by Japan. These achievements according to the author of the article are a result of Japan’s intercourse with the western countries (Welzel & Inglehart, pp. 80-92). As a result, the author enumerates areas in which the country has transformed courtesy to the influence of the west. Military aspects of the transformation of Japan have been attributed to western influence. The article has thus mentioned Europe and America as key powers whose civilization had shaped the transformations of Japan. Later in the article, the author explores the previous interactions between Japan and the other countries’ civilization. It is at this point that he mentions China, India, and South Korea. Essentially the article talks about the role played by international intercourse in the developments of Japan. The threat of Japan is an article that features a letter by Theodore Roosevelt to Senator Knox. The major concern of Roosevelt as expressed in the letter was the huge threat posed by Japan to the United States. This was primarily due to the immigration of the Japanese to the United States. As a result, Roosevelt feared that the Japanese will become many and threaten western civilization. Therefore, to protect their civilization Roosevelt believed that the government should stop the immigration of Japan into the United States. In their place, Roosevelt suggested that the Europeans of whichever ancestry be brought to the United States since this would lead to the consolidation of their civilization. At the same time, Roosevelt talked extensively about the building of the American navy to deter Japan from attacking them. As much as he was not pessimistic, Roosevelt considered Japan as a very big threat not only to the United States but also to western civilization. His major concern with the immigration of Japanese was that they were Asians and therefore would not promote western civilization.

The emphasis that has been brought out in the article

The two articles are all about the modernization of Japan. After a series of interactions with western powers, Japan experienced huge development which led to a transformation in many aspects. As a result the country now boasted of many achievements that had been due to modernization. The influence of western powers was instrumental in the transformation of the country (Zhang, p. 108). However, the first article emphasizes the transformations of Japan in line with modernization. The second article on the other hand is all about the threat posed by the modernization of Japan. As much as the articles all explore the modernization of Japan, each article focuses on a different dimension of the same. Perceptions of modernization have different implications.

My personal opinion about the articles

In my opinion modernity in itself was not necessarily good or bad. It had its benefits as well as its demerits. At the same time, modernity which was inherently practiced and promoted by the west had hidden connotations. In my opinion, modernization was a means through which the west used to control the world. Through modernization, which was inherently western, the west established a global hegemony. Modernity through the western civilization was a selfish idea which only promoted and protected the interests of the west.

Works cited

Welzel, Christian & Inglehart, Ronald. Modernization, cultural change, and democracy: the human development sequence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Zhang, Wei-Bin. Taiwan’s modernization: Americanization and modernizing Confucian manifestations. Washington: World Scientific.2003.

Click Here To Order Now!

“The Threat of Japan” and “Fifty Years of New Japan” Overview

Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?

We have qualified writers to help you.

We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.

You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)