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Origins of Japanese Wealth and Power: Reconciling Confucianism and Capitalism, 1830-1885

Origins of Japanese Wealth and Power: Reconciling Confucianism and Capitalism, 1830-1885

Description

This book focuses on the trans-Meiji Restoration story of the ideological transformation that made modern capitalism possible in Japan. To illustrate this transformation, the book looks at four key architects of Meiji Japan's capitalist institutions: Okubo Toshimichi, Godai Tomoatsu, Matsukata Masayoshi and Maeda Masana.

ISBN

9781403971111

Publication Date

2006

Publisher

Palgrave Macmillan

City

New York

Disciplines

Asian Studies | History | International Economics

Comments

Description, cover image, and reviews courtesy of Palgrave Macmillan.

Subject Areas

Japan -- Economic conditions -- 19th century; Japan -- Economic policy -- 19th century; Capitalism -- Japan -- Religious aspects -- Confucianism -- History -- 19th century

Author/Editor Bio

John H. Sagers is Associate Professor of East Asian History at Linfield College. He holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Washington, an M.A. in Pacific International Affairs from the University of California at San Diego, and a B.A. in History from the University of California at Berkeley.

Reviews

"[A] useful exploration of the development strategies pursued by nineteenth-century Satsuma and the early Meiji state." —Tom Havens, Journal of Japanese Studies

"Up to now, historians have asked about the origins of Japan's distinctive state-led economic system. John Sagers turns the question around and in a lucid, thought-provoking account asks how it was that samurai bureaucrats from the most feudalistic and command-oriented of regions, Satsuma, built a market-oriented economy. A great read!" —Mark Metzler, University of Texas at Austin, author of Lever of Empire: The International Gold Standard and the Crisis of Liberalism in Prewar Japan

"The first book-length study in English of official economic concepts and practices across the Meiji Restoration of 1868, this work makes a signal contribution to our understanding of Japan's transition to a modern capitalist economy. By documenting the indigenous sources of Meiji economic thinking, the author offers an important corrective to the standard view that after 1868 Japanese leaders drew inspiration almost exclusively from Western economic ideas and models. A welcome addition to the new wave of studies dealing with Japan's experience in the nineteenth century as a whole." —Steven Ericson, Dartmouth College

Origins of Japanese Wealth and Power: Reconciling Confucianism and Capitalism, 1830-1885

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