 Emperor Meiji emerged from the shadows stressing his zeal for modernization through the development of industry and cutting-edge modern technology by abolishing feudalism in the late 1860s.With a national conviction to not be overtaken by the Western World, Japan launched itself headlong into a militant drive to industrialize and modernize at a breakneck pace, established itself as the first modern East Asian power.The Meiji government endeavored to assimilate Western ideas and philosophies, science and technological advances and ways of military warfare integrated with their traditional Japanese philosophies to suit its growing needs for modernization.