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Continuity And Change In The Japanese Period

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The Meiji Restoration of 1868 propelled Japan onto the world stage. During the period between 1868 to 1912, a rapid modernisation process occurred which saw Japanese society transformed drastically on a social and psychological level. The changes that occurred were mainly selectively borrowed from various European nations which Hirakawa (1998: 63-64) stated: "The Japanese modelled themselves after England for industrial and navel development; Prussia, which defeated France in 1871, provided a model for military organisation; France offered the model of its centralised police system and educational and legal patterns…" Though Europe presented the Japanese with many modern institutions and ideologies, these European structures, however, had a

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