alternatehistory.com

I recently watched a three part documenatry on the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, and the intricacies of Japanese society and politics between the rise of the first Tokugawa to the arrival of Commodore Perry. What I'm wondering is, if Japan hadn't fallen into anti-western isolation, or indeed, despite falling into isolation, is there a way Japan might have pursued a policy of aggressive expansion against its neighbours in order to spread their culture and give the declining samurai class something to do?

Japan didn't really expand until the First Sino-Japanese War in the late 19th Century. One could argue that before the Meiji Restoration, Japan was not as unified as it might have been later, but I'm not so sure as this is not my area of expertise.

Any thoughts? Could we see an earlier Japanese-ruled Korea? Taiwan? An earlier Japanese navy capable of exploring more of the Pacific? What were Japan's relations to its near neighbours (China, primarily) like in this period?
Top