What has changed in relations between the state, society and the individual in Japan since 1800?

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What has changed in relations between the state, society and the individual in Japan since 1800?

State, Society and the Individual in the Non-Western World:

What has changed in relations between the state, society and the individual in Japan since 1800?

In the modern world of the Twentieth century, Japan is perceived as being one of the most thriving and prosperous democracies along with Britain and the United States of America. Most people considered them to be at the forefront of technological advancement but it is also viewed as having retained a long, esteemed and proud imperial history and many unique traditions and the people of Japan take great pride in this uniqueness. However, many of the ‘unique’ features of modern day Japan have been borrowed from the rest of the world over the last two millenniums and great changes have occurred over the last two hundred years in particular. From the end of the Tokugawa or Edo period in the early 1800’s up to the present day the lives of the Japanese population have changed in regard to the intellectual and religious trends of them as individuals and the economic and political development of Japan as a country. The changes regarding how the country is ruled, the function of religion and family, and the relationship between the individual and the state have all had a great impact on the Japanese society and changed the relationships of the different factors within the society.

It is important to understand the origins of Japan before we deal with what has changed. The origins of Japanese civilization are buried in legend and myth, with the first written records regarding the country being written in the 6th century A.D. These records were written after Japan had borrowed the Chinese writing system. Japan consists of the four main islands of Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu as well as many smaller islands within the Sea of Japan it has a rugged mountainous terrain and a varied climate throughout the different regions. In the past, when Japan was predominantly agriculturally based, the varied climate and insular geography helped limit foreign access and control. However, since the Second World War Japanese society has become overwhelmingly urban and so these features do not have as much effect. It is often thought that this shift of rural living to urbanisation is a cause for many of the changes in Japan.

The role of religion, family, government and women in Japanese life is where most changes have occurred. Whether these changes have been documented and implemented in law or have merely developed and changed with the growing and evolving Japanese world it is important that we recognise these changes and how they occurred and what impact this had on the role and relationship of the individual with the state and society. The changes have varied from huge events such as the writing of new constitutions to smaller less dramatic events. The change that these events have caused is what I will be focusing in this essay and exploring the changing and developing relationship between the state, society and individual.

The first area of change that I will be focusing on is religion and how it has changed and developed during the last two hundred years. There have been many changes that have occurred concerning what is viewed as being the main religion within Japan and this is where it is difficult to restrict the answer to what has occurred in the last two hundred years as the changes have occurred gradually over the last thousand years. If the West judged Japanese religiousness as a people based on Western own theories of religion they can not be defined as being particularly religious. Individual and regular worship as well as study of scriptures or religious materials does not occur much in Japan. However, it is a mistake to assume that the Japanese have no religious participation, as it is rare to find a Japanese person who has no involvement with either Shinto or Buddhism.

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In order to understand the different religions and the religious consciousness of the Japanese will begin by introducing the religions that have existed in Japan and explaining when they were popular and how this affected the individual within Japan.

The first religion that was worshipped in Japan was indigenous and was called Shinto. Shinto is usually translated as the ‘way of the gods’. It has evolved from the very beginnings of Japanese culture and it’s origins lie in the creation of Japan as a nation. Even to the modern day it remains philosophically and theologically unstructured compared to many ...

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