Review Guide for Test on “Legacy of Early Japan,” “Emergence of Modern Japan”
and “You Gotta Have Wa.”
Study the reading questions:
“Legacy of Early Japan,”
1. How did its location near China shape Japan's history?
2. In what significant ways was Japan different from China?
3. How hierarchical and stratified was Japanese society?
4. How did Japanese society change from the 1400's to the early 1800's?
“Emergence of Modern Japan” 53-68
1. What effect did the arrival of Matthew Perry and the black ships have on the Shogun?
2. What were the provisions of the 1858 treaty with the US? Compare this treaty to the
treaty of Nanking that ended the Opium War.
3. How and why was the Shogun overthrown?
4. What changes did the Meiji reformers make to Japan? Be very specific.
5. Compare the political changes during the Meiji period to the changes in France during the
Revolution.
6. What steps did the reformers take to ensure that in spite of the drastic westernization
program Japan retained its distinct identity?
7. Describe Japan's military adventures in the years between 1890-1920. What accounts for
their success?
And “You Gotta Have Wa.”
Homework = Read pages 27-51 of "You Gotta Have Wa" and answer the following
questions:
1. Describe how the Japanese felt about Sports before the Meiji Period.
2. Describe how the Japanese infused baseball with their traditional values. What are those
traditional Japanese values?
3. Describe the Imbrie incident? How did it intersect with international diplomacy?
4 Based on this reading, how good do you think Japanese baseball was before World War II.
Why do you think that?
5. What did General Nogi think about baseball? Why?
6. Explain Tobita's philosophy of baseball. Was it borrowed or native Japanese?
7. What were the highlights of the US/Japanese games of the 1930's?
8. The author argues that baseball suits the Japanese national character. How so?
Also, know these vocabulary words. Most are in the text of
Bushido
Kami
Samurai
Shogun
Vassal
Kami
Kamikazi
Daimyo
Seppuku
Feudalism
Edo (Tokyo)
Commodore Perry
Black Ships
Tokugawa Shogunate
Unequal Treaties
Extraterritoriality
Genro
Meiji
Tariffs
Saigo Takamori
Morals Classes
Sino (Chinese) Japanese War of 1895
Russo Japanese War
21 Demands
Wa