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Japan’s Modernisation Paper 2: Intermediate
Japan’s Modernisation Paper 2: Intermediate
Using ratios, year gaps and policy costs to handle land tax, schooling, retrenchment, stipends and expansion.
Direct answers Answers and explanations for all ten questions
01 Paper details (check answers afterwards)
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Questions | 10 |
| Suggested time | 20 |
| Difficulty mix | Foundation 3 · Intermediate 3 · Challenge 3 · Error redo 1 |
| Chapter | Chapter: DSE History Japan’s Modernisation |
| Level | Paper 2 (intermediate) |
02 Questions (10 items)
- FoundationThe land tax was set at 3 per cent of land value in cash and cut to 2.5 per cent in 1877. What was the reduction?
- FoundationSchool attendance rose from about 28 per cent in 1873 to about 98 per cent in 1912. How many percentage points is that?
- FoundationWhat are two representative early examples of promote industry?
- IntermediateWhat did the Matsukata retrenchment of 1881 aim at, and what did it cost?
- IntermediateHow were the 1876 stipend commutation and the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion connected?
- IntermediateTreaty revision: the 1894 Anglo-Japanese treaty ended extraterritoriality, and tariff autonomy came in 1911. How many years apart?
- ChallengeThe Treaty of Shimonoseki gave Japan 200 million taels plus 30 million for Liaodong. What is the total, and how many years of revenue is that if annual revenue was about 80 million taels?
- ChallengeWhat are the gaps between the Treaty of Ganghwa (1876), the annexation of Ryukyu (1879) and the war with China (1894)?
- ChallengeUnder the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth Japan gained the South Manchuria Railway and southern Sakhalin but no indemnity. How did the public react?
- Error redoError clinic: the claim that the restoration abolished the emperor and founded a republic. What is correct?
03 Answers and one-line notes
| # | Answer | One-line note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | a cut of 16.7 per cent, from 3 to 2.5 per cent of land value | A fixed cash rate stabilised revenue, yet farmers bore a heavier real burden when rice prices fell. |
| 2 | a rise of 70 percentage points | The 1872 school code introduced modern schooling, and six years of free compulsory education from 1907 pushed attendance up sharply. |
| 3 | the Tomioka silk mill in 1872, and the railway from Shimbashi to Yokohama in the same year | Model state factories for exports and railways for market integration started together. |
| 4 | it aimed to curb inflation, balance the budget and make notes convertible; it cost falling prices, ruined farmers and rural unrest | Retrenchment steadied the budget, but with a fixed cash land tax, farmers faced heavier burdens as rice prices fell. |
| 5 | commutation bought out samurai stipends with bonds; stipends lost, Satsuma samurai rose in 1877 | Privileges were abolished first and armed resistance crushed after, leaving the state with a monopoly of force. |
| 6 | 17 years apart | Revision came in stages, jurisdiction first and tariffs later, after decades of diplomacy. |
| 7 | 2.3 hundred million taels, about 2.87 years of revenue | The indemnity financed the gold standard and rearmament, which is why the war is treated as a turning point in industrialisation. |
| 8 | three years from Ganghwa to Ryukyu, fifteen years to the war, eighteen years in total | Opening Korea by treaty, annexing Ryukyu and then fighting China form one continuous line of expansion. |
| 9 | the Hibiya riots broke out in Tokyo against what was seen as a lenient peace, exposing the gap between war costs and public expectation | The war was debt-financed with heavy casualties, so no indemnity tightened finances and turned opinion against oligarchic diplomacy. |
| 10 | the emperor became head of state, and the 1889 constitution set up a constitutional monarchy under imperial sovereignty, not a republic | The Charter Oath and the constitution centred on the throne, with the Diet and cabinet deriving powers from it. |
04 What to do after marking
- After marking, redo only the wrong items and write down which step went wrong (formula, unit, or misread number).
- Repeat the same item two days later; move to the next paper only when both attempts are correct.
- Parents only need the answer and note columns; there is no need to explain every item.
For every reform ask who paid; the answer is usually farmers and samurai.Tutor Registration →
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