Foreign Reaction to the New Japan
The foreign reaction to the Japanese Civil War was one of surprise, especially after the Bakufu’s unexpected surrender. As the new regime settled in, the powers that looked at the Pacific with interest made their moves to feel out this new force on the scene.
Korea:
The Land of Morning Calm had thrown its lot in behind the Tohokai’s mad attempt to establish democracy in East Asia. Honestly, King Heonjong had expected the rebels to be defeated. He had hoped that their defeat would be so bloody and devastating that it would delay Japan for years before it could turn its attention on Korea. So when the Tohokai actually managed to overthrow the Japanese government, he was profoundly shocked. Thoughts about the American Revolution and its effects on France, a subject his new French friends had enlightened him about some years past, filled his head as Heonjong feared he had set his own kingdom on the path of rebellion. But he had already opened Pandora’s Box, he couldn’t simply undo it no matter how much he wanted to.
Heonjong’s first concern was that the Tohokai would not attempt to spread their democratic ideas to Korea. He dispatched an embassy to Osaka in February 1868 aboard the Korean Navy to request an audience with the new government. While the presence of ironclads outside of Osaka was quite the threatening stance, newly appointed Prime Minister Minagawa chose to overlook the blatant show of force and accepted the Korean diplomats. After being made aware of Heonjong’s fears and his request not to interfere in Korean internal politics, Minagawa told the diplomats that his government would not censor itself if it believed Korea was heading down a dangerous path, nor did it expect Korea to censor itself regarding Japan, but he did promise that Japan would not support any subversive groups or call for regime change. He also made a vague statement regarding Japan’s willingness to defend its shores against foreign attack, a reference to the Korean warships sitting in harbor. The Korean diplomats would have the good sense to avoid mentioning this last part to their king.
Heonjong’s response to Minagawa’s statement was extreme vexation. Although the Tohokai had relied on Korean naval support, humanitarian aid, and de facto subsidies to survive their civil war, they were now threatening to bite the hand that fed them. King Heonjong nearly decided that the new Japan was just as hostile as the last one when the diplomats gave him a letter directly from Minagawa.
It was an offer of alliance between Japan and Korea.
Heonjong was stunned by this. He had no clue whether it was a trick or not, and would spend several days convening with his advisors to try and determine the veracity of the offer and whether he should risk accepting it. In his mind, the fallout of the American Revolution weighed heavily and he didn’t want to end up at the business end of a guillotine. Finally, King Heonjong himself departed from Busan to Osaka to see Toshio Minagawa.
Heonjong arrived in Osaka on March 4th aboard a lightly armed vessel, a show of good faith after the last embassy had arrived armed to the teeth. Unlike the last Korean visit, this time the Japanese were aware of their coming, and PM Minagawa himself came out to greet King Heonjong. After rudimentary pleasantries, the two entered into negotiations about the proposed alliance between the two nations. After Minagawa agreed that as part of the alliance a Japanese force would be deployed along the Yalu, the front line in any war for Korea and turning the soldiers into de facto hostages, Heonjong accepted his offer. The Treaty of Alliance and Friendship between the Kingdom of Korea and Japan would be officially ratified by both nations’ governments on March 10th, 1868.
China:
China’s reaction to the Tohokai victory was mild disappointment. They had sunk money into the Tokugawa Shogunate in the hopes of gaining a new ally in the region, but instead had gained a new neighbor built on Western ideals. While the new Japan had yet to show any signs of bowing to foreign pressure, its wartime alliance with Korea worried the Qing. They had not taken the growth of Korean strength very well, and the prospect of a Korean-Japanese alliance was not one they wished to see. When the word of said alliance reached Beijing in early April, it was rapidly becoming imperative to many in the Qing court that Korea be brought to heel before Japan was ready to support it in any significant fashion. Although Chinese armies would not be given the order to march, China began preparing itself for what it viewed as an inevitable conflict for control over the Korean peninsula.
The Russian Empire:
Russia’s reaction to the end of the Japanese Civil War was incredibly muted. While they would officially state that they wished for the continuation of good relations with Japan, in reality St. Petersburg cared very little for what happened on a group of islands that had until recently shut themselves off from the outside world. While some of this sentiment was lingering embarrassment over the failed 1818 expedition and an attempt to enact damnatio memoriae, a significant amount of it came from Europe, Central Asia, and China being seen as far more important. Prussia, now the North German Confederation, was making moves to completely upend the balance of power in Europe by uniting Germany, Central Asia was in the process of being conquered, and the newly-acquired territories in Amur had to be secured. Compared to this, Japan was but a mere sideshow. Its alliance with Korea drew some interest, but St. Petersburg itself would remain neutral on the whole matter.
The United Kingdom:
The UK’s response to the Tohokai victory was one of vocal support. With the threat of Bakufu retaliation gone, Britain was more than happy to shower the new democracy with praise. In particular, it praised the use of an Englishman’s book to decide what type of government it should be. The flattery was laid on so thick that Queen Victoria herself would write a letter of congratulations to Toshio Minagawa.
Beneath all the flattery, however, was the ruthlessly pragmatic reasoning that underpinned the British Empire. Britain wished to bring this new Japan into its sphere of influence and turn it either into an ally or a chess piece in the Great Game with Russia. If giving the Japs a pat on the back for letting the peasants vote got them what they wanted, who cared if they resorted to flattery?
For their part, the Japanese would thank the British for their support and assured them that Japan was not about to shut them out. They did, however, make it clear that they had no intention of allowing European goods to flood into Japan and crash the economy. Such an occurrence had played a significant role in the radicalization of the peasantry, and a government born out of a revolt by said peasants for said peasants wasn’t going to allow history to repeat itself. The British were none too pleased about this, but the arrival of American diplomats helped convince them to back down.
France:
The Second French Empire under Napoleon III had expanded its influence in the Far East tremendously through its deals with Korea, conquering Vietnam and Cambodia, and intervening in China. When Napoleon III heard about the new regime in the Far East, he immediately ordered his diplomats to see if they could extend his influence even further.
French diplomats arrived in Japan in early January from Korea. After sitting in on several sessions of the Osaka Convention, they proceeded to mingle and attempt to establish ties with what looked to be Japan’s new political class. Their efforts were an abject failure, as only a handful of delegates cared enough about foreign relations to entertain them. While France would be able to wrangle out a Treaty of Friendship later in the year, it was nothing more than pretty words. For the time being at least, French influence in Japan was essentially dead in the water.
The United States:
The United States welcomed the rise of Japanese democracy with thunderous applause. Their very own freedom fighter Toshio Minagawa (Minagawa’s lengthy stay in the US had made many Americans see him as “their” man, a viewpoint that Minagawa was less than enthusiastic about) had managed to overthrow tyranny and establish a new free state. Coming on the heels of America’s own civil war and during the tumultuous times at the beginning of Reconstruction, it was a breath of fresh air for the American people.
Owing to Minagawa’s fondness for the United States, he made sure to push through a Treaty of Friendship with them and to begin the negotiation of trade deals with the United States. Although he would face accusations of favoritism from his own government, Minagawa insisted that positive relations with the United States would only do the nation good. In order to minimize criticism, Minagawa turned over negotiations with the Americans to a specifically prepared committee on August 19, 1868.
The committee, conveniently chaired mainly by Tohokai members, drafted a rather extensive trade agreement with the United States, with both nations giving the other favorable tariff rates and Japan agreeing to favor the United States for arms contracts for the next ten years. For the Tohokai, it was hoped that by drawing close to the United States, they could gain a powerful ally to keep the French and British off their backs.
Although neither side had expected it, Japanese cultural products would flood into the United States as a wave of Japanophilia swept the nation. It would become fashionable in the 1870s to have a part of your house set aside for a simplified version of the Japanese tea ceremony to be held while many rich men and women would show up to parties wearing an Americanized kimono and yukata. The Japanese reaction to this was one of confusion, but they merely shrugged and accepted the commercial advantages of catering to American demand.
The Kingdom of Hawaii:
The Kingdom of Hawaii was the second nation in the entire world to recognize the Tohokai government, with Korea being the first. Due to the personal friendship between King Kamehameha IV and Minagawa, Hawaii had made sure to recognize his authority in mid 1866 in the aftermath of the Second Battle of Hamamatsu to raise rebel morale. It was a bold move that had brought on fierce condemnation from both the Bakufu and National Protection Army, and indeed from within the King’s own court, but it endeared Hawaii to the Tohokai.
The Tohokai victory in the civil war was met with celebrations by Kamehameha, who sent a ship laden with gifts, including some of Minagawa’s possessions he had left in Hawaii when he returned to Japan, to congratulate the new government. Kamehameha would personally visit Japan in late 1868 to once again extend congratulations and to establish friendly ties between Japan and Hawaii. When informed that his hopes of being the first foreign sovereign to visit Japan had been dashed by Korea’s King Heonjong, Kamehameha is reported to have said “One of these days I’m going to wake up and find that the Koreans have beaten me to my breakfast as well!” Apparently nobody had remembered the Ryukyu Kingdom’s own kings had visited Japan many times, often not at their own discretion.
After attending a session of the Interim Diet, Kamehameha bid farewell to Japan and returned home with a Treaty of Friendship and promises of future cooperation in the future.
The Kingdom of Ryukyu:
The Kingdom of Ryukyu held a unique place in Japan. It was an independent state that was, until before the civil war, beholden to a vassal of a foreign power. It was simultaneously a Chinese tributary state and a subject of the Satsuma Domain. It was simultaneously free, yet not.
Confusion over Ryukyu’s new status erupted on the island as soon as word reached them of the formation of the National Protection Army in Japan. While they had followed the Japanese Civil War intently, before then it was considered something that would not likely fundamentally reshape their status. With the formation of the National Protection Army, however, it meant that Satsuma was in open rebellion against the Bakufu as part of an Imperial restoration attempt. No matter who won, the Satsuma’s control over Ryukyu was likely to be abolished.
The Tohokai victory, when it came, was then seen as a blessing and a curse. It meant the dissolution of their overlord, but it had created a state that might give the peasants… ideas. In order to ascertain their status, a delegation from Ryukyu would arrive in Osaka in late 1868.
The delegation first met with PM Minagawa, who had insisted upon overseeing the matter personally. During their initial meeting, the Ryukyuans delivered a point blank question that got to the heart of matters: Do you consider us your vassals? Minagawa’s response came in the form of two questions that were just as clear cut: Do you want to be? Would you like to be part of our new Japan? The delegates had no answer, and would leave the room soon after.
The Ryukyuans had set off a firestorm in the Interim Diet soon after they arrived. Despite being granted far greater powers than he would have had four years down the line, Minagawa’s aggressive control over foreign policy had begun to rub the Diet the wrong way. Eager to put him in his place, the Diet demanded control over the situation. Realizing that this wasn’t a fight worth taking, Minagawa acquiesced to their wishes.
But now the matter was in the Diet’s court, and they didn’t have a plan. Many of them hadn’t the faintest clue about the relationship between Ryukyu and Satsuma, let alone whether or not Ryukyu should be part of Japan. This lack of preparation would become a warning to the Diet that they couldn’t just take on tasks simply because they could and felt slighted and served to humble them as they were forced to ask Minagawa to intervene.
Unfortunately for them, Minagawa was also ill versed in matters of Ryukyu. He had a basic understanding of the situation, but nuances he lacked. Like many in the Diet, he had no idea about how Ryukyu should be approached. They weren’t culturally similar enough to the Japanese to be deemed a wayward province simply being unified, yet their status as vassals of a Japanese warlord surely meant that his government, as the Imperially recognized successor to the Bakufu, had some claim to it, right? Yet even if it did, was it morally right to forcibly annex Ryukyu (by this point, any thought of allowing the Ryukyuans to continue existing as vassals had left his mind) into Japan?
The matter was also complicated by another type of politics: geopolitics. The navy wished to see Ryukyu annexed so they could use it as a base to extend their power projection ability while the army viewed it as a good springboard for operations against Taiwan or the Philippines, should either become necessary. Although Minagawa did not wish to act like the imperialists who had threatened his country, there was a very real argument to be made that refusing to do so could place Japan at even more risk than simply going ahead with the action. After all, if Ryukyu wasn’t in Japanese hands, wouldn’t someone else simply snap it up?
Eventually Minagawa came to a decision: kick it back to the Diet. He submitted a plan to the Diet in which Japan would formally swear to protect the independence of Ryukyu, de jure recognizing it as an independent and sovereign kingdom, but that it would also allow for the people and government of Ryukyu to join Japan should they ever wish to. The Diet, eager to get this confusing matter over with, rapidly agreed and ratified the Statute on the Status of the Kingdom of Ryukyu. The Ryukyuans would leave Osaka very confused and with a copy of the recently passed legislation that had, at least for the time being, secured their kingdom’s independence.
Within a month, the Ryukyuans were back in Osaka. King Sho Tai had sent them back to feel out just how serious the Japanese were about their new situation. After the Interim Diet once again confirmed the Statute and Ryukyu’s independence, the Ryukyuans began discussing renewing economic ties with Japan. Centuries of Satsuma exploitation had tied their economy to Japan’s, and they were afraid that the already poor islands would become even poorer without trade with Japan. After several days of negotiations, the Japanese signed an economic treaty with Ryukyu in which Ryukyu renounced its tributary status with China and would be allowed to trade with Japan as if it was part of the nation. Pre-empting Chinese anger, Japan dispatched a frigate to protect the islands and show their determination to defend them. Although Japan’s actual ability to protect Ryukyu against China was unknown, its willingness to continue protecting the Kingdom convinced Ryukyu to put its faith in its new alliance with Japan.
