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Industrialization and Ambition in 19th-20th Century Japan

Fukuzawa was a Japanese author, translator, and educator who lived during the Meiji period in Japan, which was characterized by the country's rapid modernization and Westernization. In this excerpt, Fukuzawa compares Japanese navigation capabilities to Peter the Great's study of navigation in Holland.

As I consider all the other people of the Orient as they exist today, I feel convinced that there is no other nation which has the ability or the courage to navigate a steamship across the Pacific after a period of five years of experience in navigation and engineering. Not only in the Orient would this feat stand as an act of unprecedented skill and daring. Even Peter the Great of Russia, who went to Holland to study navigation, with all his attainments in the science could not have equaled this feat of the Japanese. Without doubt, the famous Emperor of Russia was a man of exceptional genius, but his people did not respond to his leadership in the practice of Science as did our Japanese in this great adventure.

The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa, 1897

Question 1

Short answer

Describe one economic trend in late 19th century Japan that influence the writing of this excerpt.

Question 2

Short answer

Identify one way the Japanese government promoted the technological trends described in this excerpt.

Question 3

Short answer

Explain one way that the technological trends described in the excerpt affected Japan's international standing between 1868 and 1900.

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