Meiji Restoration Living Conditions Essay - 995 words

The Meiji Restorations Affect on the Peasant and Working Class The Meiji Restoration, despite all the good it created, negatively affected the lives of peasants and laborers in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries. The restoration is characterized by modernization, a term that symbolizes the use of present day ideals over ancient times and holding progressive opinions over earlier ones. In Japan, modernization was defined as an increase in industry to meet the demanding needs of the nation and foreigners. In addition, modernization also included Japans desire to build a stronger centralized unit through government and military that could be attained through the restoration. In order to achieve this, Japan needed to build an immense working class to supply all the goods demanded. The Japanese went after those with the least amount of power: the lower class and peasants.


In order for Japan to become modernized, the laborers and lower class would have to suffer and endure hard times for the good of the country. To ensure that they did not resist or rebel, a strong sense of nationalism needed to be built up; fortunately for Japan, it was already an extremely nationalistic country based on the ideals of Confucianism. The work and cooperation of the peasants and laborers were vital elements in Japans reformation process. There is little doubt of the lowered standard of living for the peasant and working class as a result of the Meiji Restoration. Business owners and elites, with pressures from the government, sought out cheap labor in small communities and villages largely composed of peasant families. The living conditions and quality of life of these village families deteriorated as the need for mass production of goods increased.


Workers in labor intensive fields such as agriculture, silk production, and mining all suffered; areas of life that were affected included diet, clothing, health, housing, and general living conditions. The diet of the average peasant lacked nutrition and usually consisted of rice with millet. In the film, Ah, Nomugi Toge the female workers actually left home in order to be better fed at the factories. Clothing consisted of ragged, patched up clothes handed down from family members. The health and sanitary conditions of the peasants were far below substandard.


Contaminated water, infected by human and animal feces, caused unsanitary conditions leading to a number of infectious and communicable diseases. Housing, although improving slightly after the Meiji Restoration, still remained largely primitive. As a result of these poor living conditions, families sought to send their family members where the demand of workers was needed, including the silk and coal industry. As the film Ah, Nomugi Toge depicted, life in the factory was no better if not worse than at home. The journey through the snowy mountains was difficult and treacherous. Once at the factories, the silk spinners worked long hours of monotonous ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Essay Tags: living conditions, meiji restoration, lower class, working class, family members

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