The Meiji Restoration in Japan deposed the Tokugawa from dominating Japanese politics. The Tokugawa were just one of many competing daimyo, other powerful ones included the Chosu and Satsuma, who combined to overthrow the Tokugawa. The daimyo donated their lands to the national government and their domains became local government. One of the benefits of abolishing the old Shogunates was that all the tolls and tariffs between them were removed; it enabled the free movement of goods and labor at a national level. (more)
Futures trading came out of Edo (Tokyo) at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. It was actually a response to over-taxation, and the daimyo's, in order to generate revenue, forward sold rice at a fixed price to the markets.
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The Five Articles Oath was the basis for political, social and economic modernisation of Japan. Prior to the Five Articles, Japan had been ruled by the Tokugawa Shogunate which repudiated technological change, and had been largely, though not perfectly, isolationist. (more)
