ABSTRACT
In any attempt at Rethinking Japan, it is necessary to re-examine various aspects of Japan’s history during the Meiji period. The truth is that many stereotypes which developed then require some further scrutiny. Nowhere is this more necessary than in the case of the new Japanese constitution which was handed down by the Emperor Meiji in a ceremony on 11 February 1889, Kigensetsu, the supposed anniversary of the accession of the Emperor Jimmu. The Japanese leaders of the Meiji period were adept at maintaining a balance between the powers or playing one off against the other. Certainly Ito Hirobumi was anxious to learn from Germany but he was also anxious to win Germany as a friend in the treaty revision struggle. The chapter argues that Japan in the Meiji period had a national genius for controlled assimilation of ideas from abroad.
