Fifty years ago Japan was in the purely feudal stage. Her great native
Princes were called Daimios. Each had a strong castle and a private army
of his own. There were ceaseless feuds between these Princes and constant
fighting between their armies of samurai, as their followers were called.
Japan was like England at the time of our War of the Roses: family quarrels
were fought out in pitched battle. All that has now gone. The Daimios have
become private gentlemen; the armies of samurai have been disbanded, and
Japan is ruled and managed just like a European country, with judges, and
policemen, and law-courts, after the model of Western lands.
When the Japanese decided to come out and take their place among the great
nations of the world, they did not adopt any half-measures; they simply
came out once and for all. They threw themselves into the stream of modern
inventions and movements with a will. They have built railways and set up
telegraph and telephone lines. They have erected banks and warehouses,
mills and factories. They have built bridges and improved roads. They have
law-courts and a Parliament, to which the members are elected by the
people, and newspapers flourish everywhere.
Japan is a very beautiful country. It is full of fine mountains, with
rivers leaping down the steep slopes and dashing over the rocks in snowy
waterfalls. At the foot of the hills are rich plains and valleys, well
watered by the streams which rush down from the hills.
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