Chapter VII

Some talk on superstition--A remark on earrings--Japanese troops after the war; no fear of Chauvinism--Generals and officers--How the system of the hereditary military service was abolished and the new system was introduced--Its history--Japan after the war--Views given to the American press--Mr. Seppings-Wright and his views on the Japanese character--The Japanese navy and its history--Origin of the shipbuilding yards--The difficulty of a thorough reform in China and Russia--How Japan managed to bring about the consummation of the great reform--The feudal system was a great help--Explanation of the Japanese feudal system and the clans--The re-shuffling of the feudatories under the Tokugawa régime--Difference of grandeur of the feudatories--Exceptional formation of the Satsuma clan--Financial system of the Shogunate --Finance of the Imperial Government at the beginning of the Great Change--How the affairs of the governments of the feudatories were wound up--The old system of taxation--Thorough reform--The old notion of land tenure