The Edo Period began in 1603, after the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu consolidated power over all Japan and moved the capital to Edo (modern day Tokyo). Tokugawa also stopped the trade networks with the Dutch and the Portuguese that had been established in the sixteenth century, walling Japan off from the rest of the world at a time of global expansion. This state of affairs lasted until the U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Perry forced Japan to open up by force with a massive fleet in 1854, ending the long held power of the Tokugawa family and heralding a wave of modernization and militarization.

The Meiji Restoration occurred in 1868 in the country of Japan. The Meiji Restoration restored the Imperial government of Japan. It is often stated, particularly in American and European written histories of the time, that the Restoration occurred in order to strengthen Japan against the perceived threat of Western technology and Western economic expansion. The Meiji Restoration dramatically accelerated Japanese industrialization and lead to the country's emergence as an industrial and global power by the time of the Russo-Japanese war from 1904 to 1905. 

The Opium Wars were fought in the middle of the nineteenth century between the British Empire and the Qing Dynasty of China. The wars were ostensibly fought as a result of British introduction of opium into China and the subsequent destruction that caused; however, the more relevant causes were general competition over trading rights and regional hegemony.

The Samurai were a warrior caste of medieval Japan. They were governed by strict rules about how they ought to conduct themselves, and these rules placed great emphasis on loyalty, bravery, and honor. This code of conduct is called “Bushido."

The Taiping Rebellion is the name given to a massive Civil War that was waged in China from 1850 to 1864. The Heavenly Kingdom of Taiping was led by a man who believed himself to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ. He, along with his followers, wanted to replace the religions and traditions of China with Christianity. The rebels were also inspired by equal rights for women, shared property, and an overthrow of existing moral and legal traditions. The rebellion was eventually crushed by the Qing government of China with the help of the French and the British.

In the Tokugawa period (1603-1867), social groups were ranked by how useful its members were to society based on Confucian principles. Merchants were generally seen as the least useful, as they simply made money off selling goods. Peasant farmers helped produce food, and were therefore seen as more useful and ranked above the merchants. The samurai (knights), daimyo (feudal lords), and shogun (national military leader) were all ranked toward the top of society, as they governed, managed, and owned the country and its land and people.

The Taiping rebellion of 1851-64, led by a Christian movement against the Qing dynasty and seeking to create a Christian kingdom in southern China, killed tens of millions of people, engulfed much of China (especially the south), required British and French help to defeat, and significantly weakened Qing power due to the devastation it caused and the rise of stronger provincial armies to crush the revolt. The two Opium Wars did involve European powers and contribute to the decline of the Qing dynasty, but they did not have nearly as devastating immediate effects on the Chinese population as the Taiping rebellion. The Boxer rebellion and First Sino-Japanese War also contributed to the Qing dynasty's decline, but were both events of the 1890s that had casualties in the thousands, as opposed to tens of millions, and were fought in northern China and the waters around China, and were not concentrated in Southern China.

The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 saw Japan defeat Russia to become the dominant power in East Asia. The First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 saw Japan defeat China and emerge as one of the major powers in the region, but not the dominant one. World War I was fought after Japan had emerged as a major world power. The Boxer Rebellion of 1899-1901 was simply an internal conflict in China in which foreign nations, including Japan, intervened, and did not have any direct major effect on Japan's status. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945 was fought long after Japan emerged as a major world power, and in fact became part of the larger conflict of World War II, in which Japan was totally defeated. 

Japan was opened to foreign trade in the 1850s, before the Meiji Restoration period of 1867-1912. This period saw the restoration of imperial rule and the end of the shogunate, and a number of sweeping political, economic, and social reforms that included the abolition of the feudal social system that existed under the shogunate. The restored imperial regime oversaw relatively rapid modernization of Japan, and this included industrialization of the economy. These changes also allowed Japan to develop a modern military that enabled it to defeat both China and Russia in wars in this period, and emerge as the dominant power in East Asia.

The Meiji Restoration refers to the moment in 1868 when the authority of the Emperor of Japan was renewed over the authority of the Shogunate, which had effectively ruled Japan since 1603. Due to authoritarian disputes with lesser nobles, the Shogun was pushed out of a position of power. In the process of taking back power, the Meiji Emperor also sought to rapidly industrialize and modernize the nation, creating a western style industry, military, and government.