The Japanese are a diligent people, constantly working to ensure institutional success. The Japanese have an innate ability to copy foreigners. In their effort to build a strong country, the Japanese sought knowledge from abroad; and perfected these learnings in order to effect rapid national development. In their quest for progress, the Japanese have cherished the trait of national self-reliance.

Until the Jeiji Restoration, Japan had pursued a national policy of seclusion that forbade almost all contact with the outside world. The nineteenth century was one of exploration and...