Politics and Society in Japan's Meiji Restoration

1. Identify the central internal problems, as well as the most important proposals for change, in Japan during the 1850s and 1860s. How and why did those issues and ideas lead to instability in Japan and the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate? 2. How and why was interaction with the outside world, on multiple fronts, a major concern for both government officials and reformers within the Meiji Restoration (1860-1872) and with what effect?