In the history of Japan, there was a 265 years of peaceful time span, called the "Edo era". The government then was called the Edo Shogunate. The shogunate strictly limited international trade i.e. with only the Netherlands, via only Dejima, a small area in Nagasaki, which is known today as a victim city of the U.S.'s atomic bomb. The shogunate got global information through the Netherlands on one hand and stopped harmful people and Christianity from coming into Japan on the other hand.
Edo, which is today called Tokyo, had a population of a million and was the biggest city in the world. The security was incredibly good and the number of policemen was only twelve! Consequently, numerous cultural assets were born and developed into more sophisticated ones. Stage theater like Kabuki, Bunraku, Noh, lots of art crafts like ukiyo-e paintings, sculptures and cultural items like the tea ceremony, amusement trips, and so on. Was there any country in which a woman could enjoy a trip alone in this era? Practical education like arithmetics, writing and reading were offered even to ordinary people. A sense of morality was highly prized at the same time.
Around the same time in the world, numerous native Indians were slaughtered on the American Continent. In Europe lots of wars broke out. Many African and Asian countries were being turned into colonies of the European superpowers. The national isolation policy was really nice at least in this era.
However, the 19th century saw a rapid rise of seeing foreign ships around Japan. Threatened by their overwhelming military power, Japan had to enter into unfair treaties with the superpowers. These various incidents drove people in Japan to conduct the Meiji Restoration. What do you think was the driving power to proceed to the Meiji Restoration? It's my personal opinion, but it is the higher education.
After 40 years of struggling, during which Japan had to experience wars against China and Russia, Japan finally revised the unfair treaties and moreover built an alliance with Great Britain, which was the most powerful nation in the world at that time.
Also after the Greater East Asian war, Japan was restored from its complete devastation. Japan owes much of its current prosperity to education. I evoked such a feeling seeing the following picture, which shows two classes in 1945 and 2011.
(Vocabulary)
closed-door policy / national isolation policy 鎖国政策
turn into
1 turn into something ＜…＞になる, 変化する
These growths could turn into cancer. これらの腫瘍(しゅよう)はがんに変化するかもしれない．
2 turn sb/sth into sth ＜…＞を＜…＞に変える
Stein turned the garage into an artist's studio. スタインは車庫をアトリエに改造した．
3 turn into sth (魔法で) ＜…＞に変わる
4 turn sb/sth into sth (魔法で) ＜…＞を＜…＞に変える
5 days turned into weeks/months turned into years etc. 数日が数週間になり［数か月が数年になり］
enter into sth
1 enter into an agreement/a contract 契約を結ぶ
2 ＜問題など＞に取りかかる enter into discussions/negotiations 議論[交渉]に入る
3 ＜考慮・判断など＞に影響を及ぼす
Money didn't enter into my decision to leave the company. 会社を辞めたことと金銭的なことは関係なかった．
enter into the picture 考慮の対象となる
4 enter into the spirit of sth (さほど関心がなくても) ＜試合・パーティーなど＞の気分に浸る
owe sth to sth ＜成果・成功など＞は＜…＞のおかげである
The island owes much of its current prosperity to tourism. その島が今日繁栄しているのは主に観光のおかげだ．
Edo, which is today called Tokyo, had a population of a million and was the biggest city in the world. The security was incredibly good and the number of policemen was only twelve! Consequently, numerous cultural assets were born and developed into more sophisticated ones. Stage theater like Kabuki, Bunraku, Noh, lots of art crafts like ukiyo-e paintings, sculptures and cultural items like the tea ceremony, amusement trips, and so on. Was there any country in which a woman could enjoy a trip alone in this era? Practical education like arithmetics, writing and reading were offered even to ordinary people. A sense of morality was highly prized at the same time.
Around the same time in the world, numerous native Indians were slaughtered on the American Continent. In Europe lots of wars broke out. Many African and Asian countries were being turned into colonies of the European superpowers. The national isolation policy was really nice at least in this era.
However, the 19th century saw a rapid rise of seeing foreign ships around Japan. Threatened by their overwhelming military power, Japan had to enter into unfair treaties with the superpowers. These various incidents drove people in Japan to conduct the Meiji Restoration. What do you think was the driving power to proceed to the Meiji Restoration? It's my personal opinion, but it is the higher education.
After 40 years of struggling, during which Japan had to experience wars against China and Russia, Japan finally revised the unfair treaties and moreover built an alliance with Great Britain, which was the most powerful nation in the world at that time.
Also after the Greater East Asian war, Japan was restored from its complete devastation. Japan owes much of its current prosperity to education. I evoked such a feeling seeing the following picture, which shows two classes in 1945 and 2011.
(Vocabulary)
closed-door policy / national isolation policy 鎖国政策
turn into
1 turn into something ＜…＞になる, 変化する
These growths could turn into cancer. これらの腫瘍(しゅよう)はがんに変化するかもしれない．
2 turn sb/sth into sth ＜…＞を＜…＞に変える
Stein turned the garage into an artist's studio. スタインは車庫をアトリエに改造した．
3 turn into sth (魔法で) ＜…＞に変わる
4 turn sb/sth into sth (魔法で) ＜…＞を＜…＞に変える
5 days turned into weeks/months turned into years etc. 数日が数週間になり［数か月が数年になり］
enter into sth
1 enter into an agreement/a contract 契約を結ぶ
2 ＜問題など＞に取りかかる enter into discussions/negotiations 議論[交渉]に入る
3 ＜考慮・判断など＞に影響を及ぼす
Money didn't enter into my decision to leave the company. 会社を辞めたことと金銭的なことは関係なかった．
enter into the picture 考慮の対象となる
4 enter into the spirit of sth (さほど関心がなくても) ＜試合・パーティーなど＞の気分に浸る
owe sth to sth ＜成果・成功など＞は＜…＞のおかげである
The island owes much of its current prosperity to tourism. その島が今日繁栄しているのは主に観光のおかげだ．
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