Why the Meiji Restoration Was Pivotal for Japan

In the 15 years that followed Commodore Matthew Perry's naval venture, the grip of the military dictatorship in Tokyo declined. Civil war erupted. When the smoke cleared in the first few days of January 1868, the shogunate was gone and a coup d'etat ushered in a new era of dramatic change. We call it the Reform Period, or the era of the Meiji Restoration.