Meiji Restoration: why did Japan decide to 'modernise' their country, and how effective was this program in the fifty year period from 1854 to 1904?

Japan decided to modernise due to a number of factors including domestic problems under the shogunate rule, the fact she was nervous of foreign threats after China's defeat by Britain in the First Opium War which made Japan aware of Western strength, Japan's isolation from the Western world had ended after she submitted to foreign demands and signed treaties in 1854. These factors allowed the Meiji Restoration to occur, where the political revolution overthrew the military …

… Fewster / Tony Gorton, Japan from Shogun to Superstate, (Paul Norbury Publications, 1988), p. 9 5 Stuart Fewster / Tony Gorton, Japan from Shogun to Superstate, (Paul Norbury Publications, 1988), p. 8 BIBLIOGRAPHY: http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/japan/japanworkbook/modernhist/meiji.html www.bartleby.com/65/me/meijires.html www.ox.compsoc.net/~gemini/simons/historyweb/meiji-resto.html www.marxists.de/fareast/barker Meiji Restoration, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99 Stuart Fewster / Tony Gorton, Japan from Shogun to Superstate, England: Paul Norbury Publications, 1988