Difficult Decision Making Strategies “Meiji Restoration”

We make new decisions every day. Most of the decisions we make are simple decisions. If the decision we make is to change the next part of our lives or affect the lives of tens of people, then we need to apply the strategy of making difficult decisions

This will also be reflected in your behavior if you feel pressure and tension when making a decision. Stuttering while speaking, crying or laughing for no reason, inability to see where he is looking, accelerated heartbeat, dry mouth, neck pain and diarrhea indicate that you are experiencing one of the difficult decision-making stages.

In difficult times, physical comfort is required to make the right decision. For the establishment of physical comfort, the right decision-making environment must be prepared. In this article, we will focus on establishing the right decision-making environment in difficult situations. How can we make successful decisions, we will try to find the answer to the question. As we always do, we will try to take the procedures of those who do this job well.

Over the centuries, people from many different cultures took serious responsibilities and struggled with difficult problems. As a result, successful decisions have been made throughout human history and beautiful paintings have emerged. One of them was Japan, which received appreciation with its technology.

Japan had begun to change slowly from the mid-18th century under the influence of the West. American warships’ arrival to Japan under the trade guise was a sign that the end of the Shogun administration was nearing. Because the Shogun administration could not find any solution to the increasing Western threat in Asian waters.

On November 6, 1868, at the time when Emperor Mutsuhito, 16, took over, one of the worst periods in the history of the country was experienced. Internal confusion was gone, and the national unity was destroyed. The empire was squeezed in the capital, Kyoto, and the country was actually administered by the Tokugawa Shogunate (military administration).

In such an environment, what important decisions would Mutsuhito / Meiji make, so that after a while Japan’s modernization process could begin? The period in which the strategy for making difficult decisions is taken and successfully applied in Japan is called “Meiji Restoration”. Let’s remember this period briefly in order to learn good lessons for our decision-making strategy.

Meiji Restoration
Management had to be addressed before the restoration could begin. Meiji ended the duties of the statesmen in the palace as the first job. Good jobs could not be done with bad government staff. The emperor built himself a core staff. While these were happening, army commander Keiki attacked with a large army. Inexperienced Mutsuhito was in a difficult situation. All the military power of the empire was gathered on the opposite side. But something that no one had expected; No matter how hard Keiki’s army tried, he failed to overcome the imperial forces, and the huge army they lost after the war was lost.

The young Emperor captured a new city every day with his post-victory forces. Mutsuhito was met with enthusiasm in every city he went to; In Japan’s eyes, he was a hero.

Management was seized, but the difficult period was not over immediately. As the technology of Japan cannot be mentioned, even its military power and economic size were at the level of absence. Over the years, a population that did not produce but was consuming too much appeared in the capital. In the country dominated by the feudal land order reminiscent of medieval Europe, the burden of extravagance in the capital was placed on the back of the poor farmer.
The basis of the Meiji Restoration was based on the import of culture and technology from other states. Meiji sent many top statesmen on an 18-month trip to America and Europe. The purpose of this trip was to draw up state structuring and organizational charts in the West. The delegation examined and prepared reports on many Western institutions such as schools, factories, museums, harbors, railroads, palaces, from Boston to Berlin.

The new administration had a difficult “change” slope ahead. Therefore, it is seen that they adopt modernization step by step as a general strategy. They first started by editing the geopolitical map of Japan. This was followed by the reorganization of the social structure, the abandonment of the feudal system, the leveling in the military field and new tax regulations.

The biggest problem encountered at the beginning of the new period was the planning of a city suitable for the accepted new industry, trade and education system and the construction of buildings that could keep pace with the changing situation. The name of the city was replaced by Tokyo, which means ‘eastern capital’ when the headquarters moved from Kyoto, Kyoto, to the headquarters of Edo. Thus, Tokyo became the symbol of the modernization movement of the Meiji Period.