ABSTRACT
Japan in the mid-nineteenth century was what today one would call an “emerging nation.” After a long period of relative detachment it was beginning an active reengagement with the world on a large scale. The impetus for reengagement was partly involuntary. Japanese leaders had to contend with pressures from Britain, France and other countries during an era of “high imperialism.” “Imperialism” meant then and still refers to the “extension by one country of its authority over other lands by political, military or economic means.” 1 Japan avoided the full force of direct imperial domination by carrying out many internal reforms: industrialization, legal changes, economic restructuring, military expansion, and others. At the time, such reformism was not widely evident in other non-Western countries, so historians have debated what characteristics distinguished Japan from other countries that faced similar pressures.
