Foundry Of The Japanese National In Modern Times: From Meiji To Taisho

The most basic and crucial content of a nation state building is the construction of nations in the modern times. The inner attribute of a nation is a combination of the sense of rights, national identity, ethnic traits and the particularity of citizen. The rights of a nation, national belongings, and national identity together form the three pillars of the modern nations. The three forming conditions of modern nations are "de-regionalization",which is the elementary one, "de-serflization",which is the essential feature and "de-isolation",which is the ideal index.Essentially, the Japanese people were liege subjects in the position of politically ruled in Bakuhan System. The new Meiji government was facing the critical challenge of turning liege subjects into a modern nation. Fukuzawa Yukichi, Mori Arinori and others proposed a systematical blueprint of nation-building and their ideas and policies had greatly influenced the process of the Japanese nation founding.The aim of Meiji government was to build a nation, which should 1) has the sense of national identity,2) make the country prosperous and strong, and 3) outward expand itself. Hence, it adopted a compulsory top-down mode in practice. Through a series of institutional procedures and methods, the Meiji Government successfully created a Japanese characterized path of nationalization and catalyzed the Japanese nation's loyalty and identification to the country. The Sino-Japanese war of 1894 drastically changed the former nation development path, becoming an important milestone during the formulation of modern Japanese national characteristics.The lower class appealed to turn themselves into nations which had civic rights and freedom; therefore, it resisted the government's might autarchy from bottom up to stimulate the government offering civic rights. The movements of freedom and civil rights played a dominant role in the construction of the nation, and the "nation" characteristics could thereby be forged. The mass movements of Taisho period were the second wave of the people becoming the nation. After that, the "civic" feature of "nation" was further developed. The result of these two forces which competing each other in the process of nation-building was that the government overwhelmed the mass movements and the subsequent efforts of Democratic Party members in Taisho period. The democratic society of Taisho period flashed away and the spark of nation's "civic" feature was put out; and as a consequence, Japan went through a tragic regression, from nation to liege subject. At a great extent, the construction of the nation is reduced to liege subjects growth.From Meiji to Taisho, the main features of the Japanese nation formulation can be named as followed:1) interlacing periodically and geographically,2) oppressing during practical process,3) apparent interim and imbalance,4) strengthening the difference between Japan and the "others", and 4) resisting the lure of lucre. The main experiences of the successful nation building are the institutional security of modern times, the national uniform market, the quaternity integration mechanism of cultural education, and the leading class's pacing with the times and efficient guiding. The developed education system and existing market economy provided the substantial conditions of Japanese nation's molding. For the sake of empire expansion, the ruler suppressed the civic rights in the name of national rights, carried out a national tyranny under the name of nation independence, and implemented a worldwide oppression. All these eventually led the nation into the way of liege subject and also led the country to a catastrophe. This is the most valuable lesson learned from the construction of the modern Japanese nation. The immaturity of civil society of modern Japan is the important reason for the lessons.