The reason Japan able to modernize its industry, military and government to the point that they could compete with the west, while the rest of Asia lagged behind

the reason why Japan was able to modernize its industry, military and government to the point where they were able to compete with the west, while the rest of Asia lagged behind was due to the fact that they were flexible. They realized that in order to become more powerful than the west they needed to modernize and get their technology, industry, military and government up to date so they could improve and become more …

…an intention of the Japanese to become a world power which eventually ended in war. The reason japan was able to compete with the west was because it recognized that western influences were slowly spreading around the globe and it chose to prepare itself to be able to compete with the West instead of those influences being out of their control. Ultimately Japan had to compromise the quality of life it was trying to protect.