In the mid-19th century, while the Industrial Revolution was in full swing, Japan was still an agrarian feudal society.

By the end of the 19th century, Japan had become one of the leaning industrialized countries of the world.

What happened between those two points was countries of the world.

What happened between those two points was one of the most radical, social, and economic

transformations that any country had ever gone through in history.

Learn more about the Meiji Restoration and the creation of modern Japan on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Before we can understand what happened with the Meiji Restoration, we have to understand the state of Japan in the mid-19th century.

For the previous 250 years, Japan had existed under what was called the Tokagawa Shogunate, which was also known

as the Edo period in Japanese history.

The Tokagawa Shogunate began in 1603 with the end of a period of civil war in the country,

and the first Shogun was the

Tokagawa Ieyasu. The Shogun was basically a military dictator who ruled

Japan. The Emperor was still around but he was a figurehead during this period

when the Shogun's actually ruled the country.

The local administration of Japan was divided between various Daimos, who were samurai that were the equivalent of feudal lords.

The reason why this is known as the Edo period is that the

show gun reigned from the Edo castle in the city of Edo which is today called

Tokyo. The imperial capital of Japan during this time was still in Kyoto.

Japan during this period was a very insular country. Foreign trade was limited to only a

few port cities and foreign religion such as Christianity were heavily restricted.

In 1635, the closed country edict prohibited any Japanese person from leaving the country,

and anyone who did leave was forbidden from returning.

Eventually all foreign trade was limited to just the city of Nagasaki,

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