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- Appearance
The people of the Meiji period enthusiastically imitated Western ways. To some extent, and perhaps it was true, they felt the only way to be accepted as equals was to make themselves over in the Westerner's image. Early in the Meiji period the slogan bummei kaika (Civilization and Enlightenment) was adopted. It encour�aged a new and exuberant spirit for modernization and the study of Western styles and manners. The Japanese began to borrow everything from top hats to suits and Western hairstyles, beards and moustaches. The emperor set the standard by cutting his traditional topknot. Businessmen and government officials soon followed his example. By the late 1880s there were only a few exceptions who continued to wear their hair the traditional way. By 1872 Western dress had become a requirement for attending court and official functions. The military also adopted Western military attire. Women's clothing was slower to change, but change it did and the well-to-do women were soon wearing some of the latest fashions from Europe. The imperial family and upper classes served as "enlightened" models of Western style and manners.
Western shoes quickly became popular with both sexes. They also assumed the Western custom of shaking hands. And in 1872 the Japanese adopted the solar Gregorian calendar, replacing the traditional lunar one.
The craze for Western customs reached its height in the 1880s when ballroom dancing, fancy dress balls and social clubs be�came fashionable in Japan. A departure from their regular diet, the eating of beef was encouraged as civilized and necessary to improve one's physique. Eating bread was also a new introduc�tion. Japanese men took up drinking beer, which later replaced sake as the national drink. Even American baseball became popular and eventually replaced Sumo wrestling as the national sport. Western pastimes were also adopted; some gentlemen and women began playing the piano or the violin; and ladies began studying foreign languages in their spare time. Moderniz�ation had become synonymous with Westernization.
The Japanese were attempting to give credence to their highly civilized accomplishments in the eyes of the Westerners. They were determined to indicate to the West that Japan no longer
held an inferior position and should not have to suffer the inequitable trade treaties imposed on them years earlier. By 1899 Japan had totally freed herself from the extraterritoriality forced on her by Western powers and by 1911 Japan had gained com�plete tariff autonomy.
With the assimilation of so many Western ways came a stern backlash, from those loyal to traditional Japan, against the un�discerning acceptance of all things Western. These ardent na�tionalists denounced the ludicrous attempts to imitate the West, considering them to be insulting to the national character, and made sport of the indiscriminate haste to look and behave like a foreigner. By the late 19th century there were calls for "Eastern Ethics and Western Science."
Education
Very early on the Meiji leaders recognized that educational reform would be one of the keys to their success. Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901) became one of the most influential educa�tional reformers and a disseminator of knowledge about the West in Meiji Japan. He established several important schools which later became universities. The Meiji regime began send�ing students abroad to acquire the knowledge necessary for economic development. They did so in order to master the technological advances of the West and return with new and progressive ideas. Diplomats, statesmen, businessmen, artists, scholars and writers were sent abroad to observe and acquire knowledge from the best in their field. In England they studied the navy and merchant marine; in France, the legal system; in Germany, the military and medicine; and in the United States, business practices.
The Ministry of Education was developed on the French model in 1871. In 1872 the Fundamental Law of Education was passed, which aimed at providing universal education. By 1880 three years of schooling was compulsory, and by 1901 it was six years. By the late Meiji period in 1905,95% of children attended school, and the Japanese literacy rates had become one of the highest in the contemporary world. Japan was the first Asian country to have a literate populace. Educational reform was a brilliant success in modernizing the country. However, it was
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