Japan’s isolation and official-national model drove its imperialist turn

Evidence

That this nationalism took on an aggressive imperialist character, even outside ruling circles, can best be accounted for by two factors: the legacy of Japan’s long isolation and the power of the official-national model. — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 373

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Meiji state-building bundled mass literacy, conscription, and centralized violence — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 370; Japan transformed into an imperial economic power after opening its ports in 1853. — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 1426

Related

• Japan’s official nationalism succeeded because a written script unified a linguistically fractured nation (similarity 0.80)
• Japan transformed into an imperial economic power after opening its ports in 1853. (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Japan transformed into an imperial economic power after opening its ports in 1853. #expands (0.80) — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 1426