Modern Japan came about in less than 40 years. For history buffs, hold on while I tell you about the Meiji Restoration..

The precursors for change were several- the arrival of the US in the form of Commodore Matthew Perry (NOT the actor from Friends), Japan’s capitulation to America’s demands for trade, and the eventual signing of the Treaty of Kanagawa in 1854. But foreign trade brought with it problems that the ruling shogun of the time were unable to address. The Tokugawa Shogunate was weak before the introduction of Western change. Leading members of the Satsuma han seized the palace in the name of the Emperor and abolished the Shogun. As a result, Restoration of Imperial Rule was instituted on January 3rd, 1868. This marked the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the birth of a new centralised government with the Emperor as its symbolic head. The Emperor was moved from Kyoto to the city of Edo which was renamed Tokyo, meaning ‘eastern capital’. <a href="https://medium.com/@anette.cooper/modern-japan-came-about-in-less-than-40-years-2ba9004469ab">Read More</a>