ABSTRACT
One day when I was passing the Shimbashi bridge, I observed on a pillar of the bridge, an inscription ‘Constructed in the 100th Year of Meiji’. Wondering at this, I looked at the bridge and found that it was not like that in the olden time, having glittering pillars of copper, and railings of iron: the houses in the surrounding streets were splendidly built and some of them three, and others five stories high; flags from every merchant's house were waving in the air; all kinds of precious articles were displayed in the shops and carriages and horses were incessantly passing to and fro. Indeed, a most flourishing state of trade was actually before my eyes.
