‘Westernisation’ and ‘Tradition’ Successive generations of Japanese intellectuals had different views on Japan’s relations with other countries. To some, the USA and western European countries were at the highest point of civilisation, to which Japan aspired. Fukuzawa Yukichi, a leading Meiji intellectual, expressed this by saying that Japan must ‘expel Asia’. He meant that Japan must shed its ‘Asian’ characteristics and become part of the West.
Fukuzawa Yukichi ( - ) Born in an impoverished samurai family, he studied in Nagasaki and Osaka learning Dutch and Western sciences and, later, English. In , he went as a translator for the first Japanese embassy to the USA. This provided material for a book on the West, written not in the classical but in the spoken style that became extremely popular. He established a school that is today the Keio University.
He was one of the core members of the Meirokusha, a society to promote Western learning. In The Encouragement to Learning ( Gakumon no susume, - ) he was very critical of Japanese knowledge: ‘All that Japan has to be proud of is its scenery’. He advocated not just modern factories and institutions but the cultural essence of the West – the spirit of civilisation. With this spirit it would be possible to build a new citizen.
His principle was: ‘Heaven did not create men above men, nor set men below men.’ The next generation questioned this total acceptance of Western ideas and urged that national pride be built on indigenous values. The philosopher Miyake Setsurei ( - ) argued that each nation must develop its special talents in the interest of world civilisation: ‘To devote oneself to one’s country is to devote oneself to the world.’ By contrast, many intellectuals were attracted to Western liberalism and wanted a Japan based not on the military but on democracy. Ueki Emori ( - ), a leader of the Popular Rights Movement, was demanding constitutional government, admired the French Revolution’s doctrine of the natural rights of man and of popular sovereignty, and spoke for a liberal education that would develop each individual: ‘Freedom is more precious than order.’ Others even advocated voting rights for women. This pressure led the government to announce a constitution.