How Japan Became a Great Power in Only 40 Years (1865 - 1905) // Japanese History Documentary episode artwork

EPISODE · May 11, 2026 · 1H 9M

How Japan Became a Great Power in Only 40 Years (1865 - 1905) // Japanese History Documentary

from History's Living Voices: The Past, Told by Those Who Lived It · host HLV

Get your special offer for MagellanTV here: https://try.magellantv.com/voicesofthepast. It's an exclusive offer for our viewers! Start your free trial today. MagellanTV is a new kind of streaming service run by filmmakers with 3,000+ documentaries! Check out our personal recommendation and MagellanTV’s exclusive playlists: https://www.magellantv.com/explore/history -------------- 00:00 Introduction 04:20 The End of the Beginning 10:31 Japan Meets The World 18:00 Business Opportunities 20:33 Meat 24:57 Upgrading The Military 30:22 Rebellion 37:11 Big in the West 44:36 Climbing the Ladder 48:15 Tension with the West 52:58 The First Rank of Nations Written by Thomas Lockley. Check out his book on Yasuke: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Geoffrey-Girard/dp/1335044981/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=yasuke&qid=1615050333&sr=8-1 Edited and narrated by David Kelly. Art by Matthew Cartwright. — Music courtesy of:- Epidemic Sound Artlist.io Bibliography: Beasley, William. 1995. Japan Encounters the Barbarian. Japanese Travellers in America     and Europe. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Bird, Isabella. 2006. Unbeaten Tracks in Japan. Saitama: Japan and Stuff Press. Checkland, Olive. 2003. Japan and Britain after 1859 – Creating Cultural Bridges. London and New York: Routledge. Cwiertka, Katarzyna. 2006. Modern Japanese Cuisine. Food, Power and National Identity. London: Reaktion Books. De Coningh, Assendelft. 2012. A Pioneer in Yokohama. A Dutchman’s Adventures in the New Treaty Port. Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett Publishing. Downer, Lesley. 2003. Madame Sadayakko. The Geisha who Bewitched the West. New York: Gotham Books. Esposito, Gabriele. 2020. Japanese Armies 1868-1877. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. Fukuzawa, Yukichi and Kiyooka, Eiichi (tr.) 1966. The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa. New York: Columbia University Press. Gardiner, Michael. 2007. At the Edge of Empire. The Life of Thomas Blake Glover.     Edinburgh: Birlinn. Hillsborough, Romulus. 2005. Shinsengumi. The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps. Tokyo,     Rutland, and Singapore: Tuttle. Jacob, Frank. 2014. Japanism, Pan-Asianism and Terrorism. A Short History of the Amur     Society (The Black Dragons) 1901-1945. Bethesda, Dublin and Palo Alto:     Academica. Jansen, Marius. 1994. Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration. New York: Columbia      University Press. Jansen, Marius. 2000. The Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge, MA and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Koyama, Noboru. 2007. Japanese Tattooists and the British Royal Family during the Meiji     Period, in Britain and Japan Biographical Portraits Volume VI (Hugh Cortazzi ed.)     Folkestone: Global Oriental.  Kokaze, Hidemasa. 2011. ‘The Political Space of Meiji 22 (1889): The Promulgation of the Constitution and the Birth of the Nation.’ Japan Review, 23, 119-41.  Lloyd, Arthur. 1905. Admiral Togo. Tokyo: Kinkodo. McArthur, Ian. 2013. Henry Black. On Stage in Meiji Japan. Victoria: Monash University. Mihalopoulos, Bill. 2011. Sx in Japan’s Globalization, 1870-1930. London and New York: Routledge. Nakae, Chomin, and Tsuki, Nobuko (tr.) 1999. A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government. New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill. Nimura, Janice. 2015. Daughters of the Samurai. A Journey from East to West and Back. New York and London: W. W. Norton and Company.                   Swale, Alistair. 2000. The Political Thought of Mori Arinori. A Study in Meiji Conservatism.    Richmond: Japan Library. Wilson, George. 1992. Patriots and Redeemers in Japan. Motives in the Meiji Restoration. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Image credits: Treaty of Portsmouth By World Imaging - Own work, photographed at Japan Foreign Ministry archives, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12769311 Allegory of inflation PHGCOM, pre-1868 anonymous Japanese arti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get your special offer for MagellanTV here: https://try.magellantv.com/voicesofthepast. It's an exclusive offer for our viewers! Start your free trial today. MagellanTV is a new kind of streaming service run by filmmakers with 3,000+ documentaries! Check out our personal recommendation and MagellanTV’s exclusive playlists: https://www.magellantv.com/explore/history -------------- 00:00 Introduction 04:20 The End of the Beginning 10:31 Japan Meets The World 18:00 Business Opportunities 20:33 Meat 24:57 Upgrading The Military 30:22 Rebellion 37:11 Big in the West 44:36 Climbing the Ladder 48:15 Tension with the West 52:58 The First Rank of Nations Written by Thomas Lockley. Check out his book on Yasuke: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Geoffrey-Girard/dp/1335044981/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=yasuke&qid=1615050333&sr=8-1 Edited and narrated by David Kelly. Art by Matthew Cartwright. — Music courtesy of:- Epidemic Sound Artlist.io Bibliography: Beasley, William. 1995. Japan Encounters the Barbarian. Japanese Travellers in America     and Europe. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Bird, Isabella. 2006. Unbeaten Tracks in Japan. Saitama: Japan and Stuff Press. Checkland, Olive. 2003. Japan and Britain after 1859 – Creating Cultural Bridges. London and New York: Routledge. Cwiertka, Katarzyna. 2006. Modern Japanese Cuisine. Food, Power and National Identity. London: Reaktion Books. De Coningh, Assendelft. 2012. A Pioneer in Yokohama. A Dutchman’s Adventures in the New Treaty Port. Indianapolis and Cambridge: Hackett Publishing. Downer, Lesley. 2003. Madame Sadayakko. The Geisha who Bewitched the West. New York: Gotham Books. Esposito, Gabriele. 2020. Japanese Armies 1868-1877. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. Fukuzawa, Yukichi and Kiyooka, Eiichi (tr.) 1966. The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa. New York: Columbia University Press. Gardiner, Michael. 2007. At the Edge of Empire. The Life of Thomas Blake Glover.     Edinburgh: Birlinn. Hillsborough, Romulus. 2005. Shinsengumi. The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps. Tokyo,     Rutland, and Singapore: Tuttle. Jacob, Frank. 2014. Japanism, Pan-Asianism and Terrorism. A Short History of the Amur     Society (The Black Dragons) 1901-1945. Bethesda, Dublin and Palo Alto:     Academica. Jansen, Marius. 1994. Sakamoto Ryoma and the Meiji Restoration. New York: Columbia      University Press. Jansen, Marius. 2000. The Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge, MA and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Koyama, Noboru. 2007. Japanese Tattooists and the British Royal Family during the Meiji     Period, in Britain and Japan Biographical Portraits Volume VI (Hugh Cortazzi ed.)     Folkestone: Global Oriental.  Kokaze, Hidemasa. 2011. ‘The Political Space of Meiji 22 (1889): The Promulgation of the Constitution and the Birth of the Nation.’ Japan Review, 23, 119-41.  Lloyd, Arthur. 1905. Admiral Togo. Tokyo: Kinkodo. McArthur, Ian. 2013. Henry Black. On Stage in Meiji Japan. Victoria: Monash University. Mihalopoulos, Bill. 2011. Sx in Japan’s Globalization, 1870-1930. London and New York: Routledge. Nakae, Chomin, and Tsuki, Nobuko (tr.) 1999. A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government. New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill. Nimura, Janice. 2015. Daughters of the Samurai. A Journey from East to West and Back. New York and London: W. W. Norton and Company.                   Swale, Alistair. 2000. The Political Thought of Mori Arinori. A Study in Meiji Conservatism.    Richmond: Japan Library. Wilson, George. 1992. Patriots and Redeemers in Japan. Motives in the Meiji Restoration. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Image credits: Treaty of Portsmouth By World Imaging - Own work, photographed at Japan Foreign Ministry archives, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12769311 Allegory of inflation PHGCOM, pre-1868 anonymous Japanese arti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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How Japan Became a Great Power in Only 40 Years (1865 - 1905) // Japanese History Documentary

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This episode was published on May 11, 2026.

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