Why Japan managed to become a strong world power again Starting in the early 17th century, Japan went from being one of the driving forces of technological and military power in the modern era world to become obsolete, old due to lack of technological innovation. From this Japan managed to survive the difficult times, once again becoming a technological power. This is because, as stated in the book “The Lexus and the Olive Tree” by author Thomas L. Friedman, they managed to find a happy medium between the Lexus and the olive tree, in other words, new ideas and technologies, while maintaining the traditional values ​​of culture and race, both politically and socially. Japan was able to recover and regain political, social, and economic stability and thrive in each after decades of internal conflict and unrest because, unlike similar contemporary non-Western civilizations, they focused on balancing new reforms with older and more historic governmental traditions. , a once prosperous country, was one of the leading countries in terms of technological, economic and social status until the early 1600s, becomes a victim of many forced and unequal trades by Western countries, similar to other advanced non-Western empires such as China and the Ottoman Empire. The failure of reform attempts by the shogun's chief advisor, Mizuno Tadakuni, led to the downfall of his reign in office. In 1844, Western countries, Great Britain, France and the United States of America, pushed Japan to establish political and economic trade relations with other countries. This persistence continued until 1854, when a United States commodore, Mathew Perry, forcibly forced Japan to accept the Treaty of Kanawaga,...... middle of paper......because they , unlike similar contemporary Western non-civilizations, focused on balancing new reforms with older, more historic governmental traditions. This profound adjustment represented a great change in the life of Japan compared to times past, thus demonstrating that the reason why Japan regained its overall stability was the ability to balance the country's old traditions with new ideas, which hark back to Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, showing one of his assertions that there must be a combination of "Lexus" and "olive trees", linking them to one of Friedman's main examples. Works Cited http://www.iun.edu/~hisdcl /G369_2002/meijiconstitution.htmhttp://www.pbs.org/empires/japan/timeline_1800.htmlhttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes /japans-about-face/timeline-japanese-military-history /1168/http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2130.html