Please write a 350-500 word posting about the legacy of the Tokugawa period to modern Japan. How do you think the polity of the Tokugawa Bakufu, despite the isolation of sakoku, set the stage for Japan's future modernization? What were some of the reforms initiated during the Tokugawa era? What were some of the benefits, problems, and consequences associated with these reforms?

Topic: Precursors to Modernity - Japan under the TokugawaReading :McClain, pp. 5-1121) The Tokugawa Polity, 2) Cities, Commerce and Lifestyles; 3) Self and SocietyHane, pp. 3-11Modernization and the Peasants (both editions), stop at The Meiji RestorationHuffman, pp.9-37: I don't have a copy of the First Edition, here in Japan, but in theSecond, this is Chapter 1: The Land of Shogun and Daimyo (A new Order, FreshUnderstands