4 International Exchange in the Fields of Science and Culture

Following the Meiji Restoration, Japan opened its doors welcoming international cultural exchange and immediately the attention of the Japanese people turned to foreign nations. To be sure, international exchange in Japan dates back to the dispatch of Japanese envoys to China during the Tang dynasty(618 - 907) and continued in some measure thereafter, but there was nothing historically to compare with the sudden burst of exchange in education, science, and culture in the early Meiji era.