Nick said 3/9...

Dear Ms Separ,
Today we started off class by discussing our homework from last night. That was the comparing of the Treaties of Nanking and Kanagawa. There were many differences and similarities that we mentioned but I won't get into them all. But some of the most important ones was that they were similar because they both opened up trade in previously isolated countries. Also they were different because of the fact that the Treaty of Nanking didn't involve the Chinese at all and the Treaty of Kanagawa was more of an agreement between Japan and the United States.
Now onto the lesson today. We stuck with Japan moving into Meiji Japan where they were much more supportive of the western ideas than the Tokogawa were. But even with the much larger support, there were still many people that opposed the idea of adopting western culture as shown by the picture we saw today with the bearded midget. I don't remember the name of it but whatever. After that we moved onto breaking up into groups and went over 11 documents about Meiji Japan and their more western and industrialized look. All 11 documents seemed to be pretty positive toward these changes. i mean besides the fact that some didn't really appreciate the western dress style, everything was positive. Some examples of this were how in document 9 when a Japanese army major stated his extreme pleasure in the new changes. The Japanese Emperor was also very supportive of the new culture as shown in document 4 where he is shown in a European style painting nothing like the usual paintings of the Japanese and probably done by a European. The new ways also helped Japan expand and grow outward and more inland then there off-coast country.
That's pretty much what we did today. I hope it helped and don't forget that we have the back of that worksheet due tomorrow and that our take home quiz thing is due on Friday. Next blogger gonna be David. pce