During the Meiji Restoration that started in 1868, the Japanese government implemented policies to increase the economic growth of the country in the context of modernizing Japan and building a modern nation-state.
Since the mid-1800s the Japanese believed it was important for them to become a state like others in the world to prevent threats such as American imperialist expansion. Since the arrival of the American fleet with steamships on the Japan coast, the Japanese were looking for ways to prevent American expansionism.
The 1800s were the years of growing nationalism and of the formation of the nation-states as we know until today. Meiji Japan belongs to this historical context. American pressure for Japan to open its markets for American goods was an important extern element for the creation of the Japanese modern nation-state.
Thus competition with the West, fear of Western imperialism and the resulting need to modernize the country were the causes for the Japanese Meiji government's introduction of tax reforms.
