Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Fifty Years of New Japan (Kaikoku Gojunen Shi), Vol. 1
The objects of this work are twofold. First, to preserve an authoritative account of the development of the Empire of Japan during the fifty years that have elapsed since the ratification of its first treaties with the outside world. Secondly, to make the present condition of the country more widely known and understood, both at home and abroad.
To this end the foremost contemporary authorities of the rejuvenated nation have contributed, each having written upon that department of which he has exceptional knowledge and experience. It is consequently a living history written by living men.
For a complete understanding of the matter, it has been in almost every instance necessary to trace the history of the past, and therefore, in so far as the work describes the characteristics of the people of Japan and the unfolding of their national destinies, this narrative of New Japan is also a concise and accurate resume of the five-and-twenty centuries that our nation has existed.
The work was published last year in Japan as a record of the fifty years subsequent to the opening of our country to foreign intercourse, namely from 1854 to 1904, and therefore most of the essays only brought their facts up to the time of the Russo-Japanese War. In the present English edition, however, the information is carried as near to date as public statistics enable it.
It is a most distinguished honour for me that His Britannic Majesty, King Edward the Seventh, Emperor of India, and our great Ally, whose influence with Japan has been most widespread and salutary, should have granted me permission to dedicate this humble compilation to His Majesty's illustrious name.
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