Impact of the Memory of Kaikoku (Opening the Country to the World) on the Course of Industrialization in Early Meiji Japan

Abstract This chapter analyzes the impact and influence that the memory of kaikoku (opening the country to the world) forced by Western countries in the 1850s exerted on the course of industrialization in the early Meiji era. This era refers to the period from the Meiji restoration (1868) to the Sino–Japanese war (1894–1895). We use the comparative advantage theory, formulated by David Ricardo, as an analytical tool. As for the object of analysis, we take the arguments of major contemporary Japanese policymakers who tackled two tasks: enriching the country ( fukoku ) and strengthening the army ( kyohei ). Our conclusion is as follows: Early Meiji policymakers, on the basis of the collective memory of forced kaikoku , thought that to develop transportation-related industries was important because they would hasten the “movement” of men, goods, and information, the key to industrialization, modernization, and civilization in their view. The economic policy adopted by early Meiji policymakers generally adhered to comparative advantage theory; Their goal, however, was not the monoculturalization of existing comparative advantage goods, but the heavy industrialization necessary to avoid colonization, and development of transportation—related industries in particular.