Meiji Japan's Industrial Transformation

After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Japan's new leaders set out to build a 'rich country, strong army'. They studied Western industry directly, most famously through the Iwakura Mission of 1871 to 1873, which visited factories in the United States and Europe. The government built model enterprises, such as the Tomioka Silk Mill, opened in 1872 with French machinery and expertise, and Japan's first railway, between Tokyo and Yokohama, also in 1872.

In the 1880s many state enterprises were sold to private businesses, helping create large family-controlled conglomerates called zaibatsu, such as Mitsui and Mitsubishi. Silk and later cotton textiles became major exports, often produced by young women who worked long hours in difficult conditions. Japan's state-owned Yawata Steel Works began production in 1901. Within half a century, Japan became the first non-Western nation to industrialize.