could japan have westernised in the 19th century And if so how would that effect Asian history afterwards. We know at the time the islands of Japan were culturaly united and had high literacy rate that eclipsed many Europe states, could they have curbed the British domination of of the china seas and the subsequent seizures of the Chinese maritime cities by the other European powers, it may have been a miracle japan was not colonised like Korea or Siam but is it ASB for them to reach western industrial standards in the couple of decades before the end of the century.