This is fascinating! I never heard of it and always wondered how Japan managed to avoid colonization when much of the non-Western world succumbed to it.
The second article in the series will explain how the tengutori system came into being. It touches lightly upon how Japan avoided colonization.
Mainly by a) enthusiastically adopting the latest technology from abroad for b) selective industrialization and modernization, c) funding it domestically, and d) coming up with creative and effective solutions—like tengutori—for areas where funds and technology were not available.
I wonder if this applies in any way to the challenges Japan is facing now? I wonder if young Japanese people have the “ guts” that their forebears had?
I think they have the guts and inventiveness, but they are not as desperate as the people in the article. These harbor workers lived in extreme poverty and were ready to do anything just to survive.
This is fascinating! I never heard of it and always wondered how Japan managed to avoid colonization when much of the non-Western world succumbed to it.
Thank you, Kristin.
The second article in the series will explain how the tengutori system came into being. It touches lightly upon how Japan avoided colonization.
Mainly by a) enthusiastically adopting the latest technology from abroad for b) selective industrialization and modernization, c) funding it domestically, and d) coming up with creative and effective solutions—like tengutori—for areas where funds and technology were not available.
I wonder if this applies in any way to the challenges Japan is facing now? I wonder if young Japanese people have the “ guts” that their forebears had?
I think they have the guts and inventiveness, but they are not as desperate as the people in the article. These harbor workers lived in extreme poverty and were ready to do anything just to survive.