astonished
the world by trouncing Tsar Nicholas 11's Russia in a modern
East Asian war. Imperial Japan had made its entrance onto the
world stage.
Nobody should have been surprised. After 1889, when the Meiii Constitution established a solid nolitical foundation at home, Japan's leaders had immediately turned their attention overseas. Beginning with the brief 1894-95 Sino-Japanese War, Tokyo embarked on a program of military and economic expan- sion, first to secure its gains against the Western...