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Japan’s Modernisation Paper 3: Challenge
Japan’s Modernisation Paper 3: Challenge
Handling comparison, institutional gaps, social costs and the historiographical question of revolution versus reform.
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 3 (challenge) |
02 Questions (10 items)
- FoundationThe Chinese Self-Strengthening Movement began in 1861 and the Meiji Restoration in 1868. How many years apart, and which came first?
- FoundationIto Hirobumi toured Europe in 1882 to study constitutions. Which model did he mainly adopt and what marks it?
- FoundationWhat did the independence of supreme command mean under the Meiji Constitution?
- IntermediateHow does a fixed cash land tax affect farmers differently in inflation and deflation? What does the Chichibu incident of 1884 show?
- IntermediateIn the 1880s the state sold its model enterprises to private buyers. What was the long-term effect on industrial structure?
- IntermediateHow did the 1890 Imperial Rescript on Education differ in aim from the 1872 school code?
- ChallengeComparing the Meiji Restoration with Self-Strengthening, why was Japan better able to carry out nationwide institutional reform? Consider power structure and finance.
- ChallengeWhat social costs did the Meiji transformation carry?
- ChallengeHow many days and years lie between the Treaty of Ganghwa (26 February 1876) and the annexation of Korea (22 August 1910)?
- Error redoError clinic: the claim that the restoration was a purely bottom-up revolution by the people against the old order. How should it be corrected?
03 Answers and one-line notes
| # | Answer | One-line note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 years apart, with Self-Strengthening first | China started earlier but achieved less, and the difference lies in central coordination, fiscal base and depth of institutional change. |
| 2 | the Prussian model: imperial sovereignty, a cabinet answerable to the throne and a Diet with enumerated powers | Prussia rather than Britain was chosen to keep crown authority while adopting constitutional forms. |
| 3 | command of the armed forces belonged to the emperor directly, outside cabinet and Diet control, letting the military bypass civilian government | This institutional gap later let the military expand: budgets could be checked, operations and mobilisation could not. |
| 4 | inflation eased the burden, while deflation in the 1880s left the tax fixed as rice prices fell, raising the real burden; Chichibu shows farmers answering with debt and protest | The same institution works in opposite ways under different price conditions, a condition any evaluation must state. |
| 5 | cheap transfers to merchants close to government produced the zaibatsu such as Mitsui and Mitsubishi, shifting industrialisation from state to conglomerate leadership | Model plants left after demonstrating viability, at the price of market concentration and business-government entanglement. |
| 6 | the school code stressed literacy and practical skills, the rescript stressed loyalty and patriotism as moral training for the imperial state | Instrumental schooling gave way to ideological integration as the restoration moved from catching up to state building. |
| 7 | abolishing the domains centralised authority and the land tax gave a unified cash revenue, whereas Qing projects depended on provincial governors with limited central fiscal and personnel control | Facing the same pressure, turning reform into state action depended on central control of local resources and appointments. |
| 8 | samurai lost stipends and rebelled, farmers bore heavier burdens and rioted, factory women and workers faced harsh conditions, and empire brought colonial rule and war | Gains and costs were unevenly distributed, so evaluation must name who benefited and who paid. |
| 9 | 12595 days, about thirty-four years | Over those decades the process moved from opening ports to garrisons, protectorate and annexation step by step. |
| 10 | it was a reform driven by lower samurai and imposed from above: samurai groups planned the overthrow and the new government legislated the changes | Whether to call it revolution or reform depends on how power changed hands and how far society was remade; here both elements appear, but elite restructuring dominates. |
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.
Balance both sides: institutional and industrial gains against samurai, farmers and empire.Tutor Registration →
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