Assess the extent to which Japan's development into a modern world power was due to its contact with western nations.

Up until the 1650s Japan had been isolated from the rest of the world where its government and society were rigidly hierarchical. Moreover, its emergence as a modern world power from 1867 to 1914 was to a certain (large?) extent due to its contact with Western nations, among other factors. These other factors included Japan's own willingness to adopt western ideas and technologies, its success in wars against China and Russia, as well as its strong centralized …

…victorious. The continual success aided in Japan's own confidence as a nation, and its recognition and emergence as a powerful Asian nation. In conclusion, Japan's upsurge to power was contributed by a range of factors, but the idea still stands strong, that the most influential factor was its contacts with the Western nations. The other factors may have been significant, yet however, each of these factors are each somehow related back to the Western nations .