User:ThunderCloudSnacker/sandbox

Article Evaluation
The article that I have chosen is Foreign relations of Meiji Japan. When initially looking at the article I found it strange that they would say most foreign policy was dealt with by, "monks, scholars, and artists rather than diplomatic envoys" Then after stating this talking about the seclusion policy as something that only benefited those who put it into place, and wasn't for the best interest of the people. Also the author makes reference to Japan being defenseless against western military might, but then just after this says that foreign policy for japan was at a time of deciding whether to establish real relationships with the west, or expelling them from their country. I don't really see how they can be defenseless but still have the option of making westerners go away on the table. So it doesn't seem like much of a brain buster decision. I also thought that they really represented the policies, and struggles faced within the meiji reign. But I thought that the internal struggle was underrepresented between the Tokugawa and those pushing against them for a new era. I think this deserves more screen time because it really controls foreign policy from there. The article itself seems to be rated from low to mid class importance, and there are three separate wiki projects that are interested in it. I think that the only position that I felt any bias from was of the importance of expansion in regards to power. The article says, " for many leaders believed that national security depended on expansion and not merely a strong defense". But who were these leaders that believed that expansion was important? Were there any people in positions of power who opposed expansion? Also for Taiwan and Korea they had links to the original articles where they obtained their information from. But with their paragraphs that directly follow these two concerning China, Britain, and Russia. They did not have the same type of links for original articles where they got that information from. It was a little distracting because they just had two consecutive paragraphs with those links and then three without, that obviously followed the same type of descriptive information about foreign policy concerning those countries. There wasn't anyone in the talk page claiming a better way to represent the information.

Drafting things to add
I want to address a few things already stated in my earlier evaluation. However some new things I believe I could add to the article would be to expound a little bit on the military expansion and growth aspect. The article focuses heavily on the reversal of the unequal treaties and creating a better image in the eyes of westerners. But doesn't really expound at all on what Japan's personal gains would have been from something like this, or how they had to go about foreign policy within its own governmental system. I also think that we learned alot this week in Andrew Gordon's readings concerning foreign relations with Korea, Taiwan, and China that I could use to go in more detail with those paragraphs in the article. I really don't know how else to say this other than the article has a lot of examples of relations and treaties, but not a lot of content about how the officials of the Meiji empire came to draw these conclusions as a Diet or house of representatives.

Article Editing notes
Not only did the feudal lords fail to preserve what they had for so long, but they were also pressured into signing multiple treaties with the Americans known as, “The Uneaqual Treaties”. , “The victorious samurai from such powerful domains as Satsuma, Choshu, and Tosa, had already determined that they would base the new central authority on the Kyoto court as personified in the teenaged emperor” , “Propelled by both fear and discontent with the old regime, they generated an ambitious agenda, through a process of trial and error, aiming to build a new sort of national power”

One of the things that was brought forth was the Charter Oath, “The oath called for an assembly of daimyo in which decisions would be made after open discussion ; “the high and the low” ( samurai and commoners) to administer together financial affairs; both military and “common people” to be allowed to fulfill their goals without strife; past evil practices to be abandoned and accepted world precepts followed; and, finally, knowledge to be sought worldwide to strengthen the foundation of imperial rule” (Hopper Pg.57).

In 1890 the emperor and his aids had created a new document concerning how education was to be handled. This was called the, “Rescript on Education”. It had all of the things that were to be adhered to concerning education within it, and this rescript lasted all the way until WW2 was ending. It was composed as follows, “The rescript, which contained the fundamental principles for all elementary education, was based on Confucian morality redefined by late nineteenth-century official doctrine, which embraced the sacredness of the emperor.” ThunderCloudSnacker (talk) 20:47, 10 April 2018 (UTC)

Article Link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_Meiji_Japan