Meiji Restoration

2 posts tagged with this keyword.

Delegates of Japan and Qing China at the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki on 17 April 1895.

The Dwarf That Won

Apr 17, 2026 • By Andy Barca

On 17 April 1895, China signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki and surrendered Korea, Taiwan, and 200 million taels of silver to Japan. Eight months of unbroken defeats confirmed what the Self-Strengthening Movement had spent thirty years denying: Japan had transformed itself. China had not.

Ratification of the Japan–United States treaty (21 February 1855)

The Black Ships

Mar 31, 2026 • By Andy Barca

On 31 March 1854, Commodore Matthew Perry forced the Tokugawa Shogunate to sign the Convention of Kanagawa, ending 220 years of Japanese isolation. The treaty was designed to keep Japan dependent. Japan had other ideas.