ABSTRACT
I t is not yet known when the term naichi zakkyo was used for the first time but it appears in a memorandum written by Iwakura Tomomi in September 1871 (In6, 1992: 4), perceived by the conservative forces as synonymous with the imminent foreign pressure.1 On the other hand, the commoners do not seem to have reacted in the same way as the leaders did: the masses gave the expression a meaning with a positive connotation, that is, something civilized, Western, refined, certainly synonyms of bummei, 'civilization', and kaika, 'enlightenment'. For instance, a Western restaurant in a busy area of Asakusa was called Zakkyoya.
