jan 1, 1871 - Iwakura Mission

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1871 The Meiji government sends a few men to Europe and to the US, hoping to secure abolition of the Unequal Treaties and to examine Western technology, banking and agricultural techniques – the Iwakura Mission.

1873 Japan's mission to Europe and the United States returns hopeful that Japan can catch up with the West in modernization. The Meiji government declares religious freedom and ends Confucianism as official state ideology.

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