Political Cartoon - Japan

A year ago I was taking a class on 'History of East Asian Civilizations,' and one day we took a look at a collection of political cartoons drawn by seventh-graders, of which each depicted China as having "Failed" and Japan at having "Succeeded" in regards to meeting the West and being Westernized. I thought this was quite simplistic, and started thinking about how all China and Japan had done was react in different ways... as if China was an Earthbender, and Japan a Waterbender.

That's how this cartoon came to be.

In this (in case I didn't make it clear), Sakura (Cherry Blossom), here representing Japan, has frozen herself, but at the approach of Western powers, realizes she must move. She uses the sword that is the samurai class, while at the same time destroying it. And she finds herself in high demand from all the Western powers (here America, Britain, and the slightly sneaky-looking one is Germany).

To see China's political cartoon (Ci Xi), see [[link]] here.