he new, civilization.
They conceive the old tree of civilization to have been cut down and
cast into the fire, and a new tree to have been imported from the West
and planted in Japanese soil. New Japan is, from this view-point, the
new tree.

Not many months ago I heard of a wealthy family in Kyoto which did not
take kindly to the so-called improvements imported from abroad, and
which consequently persisted in using the instruments of the older
civilization. Even such a convenience as the kerosene lamp, now
universally adopted throughout the land of the Rising Sun, this family
refused to admit into its home, preferring the old-style andon with
its vegetable oil, dim light, and flickering flame. Recently, however,
an electric-light company was organized in that city, and this
brilliant illuminant was introduced not only into the streets and
stores, but into many private houses. Shortly after its introduction,
the family was converted to the superiority of the new method of
illumination, and passed at one leap from the old-style lantern to the
latest product of the nineteenth century. This incident is considered
typical of the transformations characteristic of modern Japan. It is
supposed that New Japan is in no proper sense the legitimate product
through evolution of Old Japan.

In important ways, therefore, Japan seems to be contradicting our
theories of national growth. We have thought that no "heathen" nation
could possibly gain, much less wield, unaided by Westerners, the
forces of civilized Christendom. We have likewise held that national
growth is a slow process, a gradual evolution, extending over scores
and centuries of years. In both respects our theories seem to be at
fault. This "little nation of little people," which we have been so
ready to condemn as "heathen" and "uncivilized," and thus to despise,
or to ignore, has in a single generation leaped into the forefront of
the world's attention.

Are our theories wrong? Is Japan an exception? Are our facts correct?
We instinctively feel that something is at fault. We are not satisfied
with the usual explanation of the recent history of Japan. We are
perhaps ready to concede that "the rejection of the old and the
adoption of Western civilization" is the best statement whereby to
account for the new power of Japan and her new position among the
nations, but when we stop to think, we ask whether we have thus
explained that for which we are seeking an explanatio