Final answer:
The Japanese attitudes toward the West evolved from resistance to embrace, reflected in slogans like "Expel Barbarians" and "Civilization and Enlightenment". The Meiji Restoration marked rapid modernization, adopting Western ways while also fostering resentment and later aggression, as Japan sought to dominate East Asia and challenge Western influence.
Step-by-step explanation:
The changing attitudes of the Japanese towards the West are reflected in the slogans "Expel Barbarians", indicating a period of resistance to foreign influence, and "Civilization and Enlightenment", which represents Japan's rapid westernization during the Meiji Restoration. Initially, the American naval admiral Matthew Perry initiated contact with Japan through gunboat diplomacy in 1853, disrupting the centuries-old political order. Consequently, the turn of events led to the Meiji Restoration in 1868, where Japan embraced Western technology, governance, and military strategies.
Japan aimed to safeguard its independence from foreign imperialism through rapid modernization in technology and industry. This intention was manifest in the Meiji officials' actions to send scholars overseas to learn and bring Western advisors to Japan. However, despite Japanese advancements and having contributed to the Allied victory in World War I, Western countries, particularly the United States, imposed immigration restrictions on the Japanese, which fueled resentment among the Japanese.
Claims of Japanese aggression and the intention to liberate Asian nations from Western colonialism became prevalent as Japan expanded its empire, including the Korean peninsula, and eventually involved military confrontations with Russia and China. The rise of ultra-nationalist viewpoints within the Japanese military aligns with the sentiments of "Asia for the Asians". Furthermore, Japan's dissatisfaction with the treatment by Western powers post World War I amplified the nationalistic and expansionistic drives that would later culminate in Japan's role during World War II.