in 1467 the Ashikaga Shogun failed to control many of the fiefs and because of this a civil war raged in Japan.Footnote35 The centralization of power allowed the Meiji government to have taxing authority over all of Japan and pursue national projects.Footnote36 The unity of Japan also allowed the Meiji Oligarchs to focus on national and not local issues. The use of Confucianism and the Emperor also brought a degree of stability to Japan during the tumultuous Meiji years. The Emperor's mere presence on a train or in western clothes were enough to convince the public of the safety or goodness of the Meiji oligarchy's industrial policy. In one famous instance the Japanese Emperor appeared in a train car and after that riding trains became a common place activity in Japan. The behavior of the Imperial family was also critical to adoption of western cultural practices. Before 1873 most Japanese women of a high social position would shave their eyebrows and blacken their teeth to appear beautiful. But on March 3rd 1873 the Empress appeared in public wearing her own eyebrows and withunblackened teeth. Following that day most women in Tokyo and around Japan stopped shaving their eyebrows and blackening their teeth.Footnote37 The Imperial institution provided both a key tool to change Japanese culture and feelings about industrialization and it provided stability to Japan which was critical to allowing industrialists to invest in factories and increase exports and production.Footnote38 The symbols and the traditions the Meiji leaders inculcated Japanese society with helped the Meiji government maintain stability and pursue its economic policies but it also had severe limitations that limited the revolutionary scope of the Japanese government and helped bring about the downfall of the Meiji era. The use of Confucianism and the Emperor to bolster the Imperial restoration laid the foundation for a paradox of state affairs. The syst...
