It may be repeated that it has ever been the ambition of the Japanese people to take rank with the Great Powers of the world, and to have a voice in the council of nations; they demand that they shall not be discriminated against because of the colour of their skin, but that they shall rather be judged by their deeds. With this aim, they have made great efforts: where charges brought against them have any foundation in fact, they have endeavoured to make reforms; where they are false or due to misunderstandings they have tried to live them down, trusting to time for their vindication. They are willing to be judged by the intelligent and impartial world: a fair field and no favour is what they claim, and think they have a right to claim, from the world. (K.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The latest edition of von Wemckstern's _Bibliography of the Japanese Empire_ contains the names of all important books and publications relating to Japan, which have now become very numerous. A general reference must suffice here to Captain F. Brinkley's _Japan_ (12 vols., 1904); the works of B. H. Chamberlain, _Things Japanese_ (5th ed., 1905, &c.); W. G. Aston, _Hist. of Jap. Literature, &c._, and Lafcadio Hearn, _Japan: an Interpretation_ (1904), &c., as the European authors with intimate knowledge of the country who have done most to give accurate and illuminating expression to its development. See also _Fifty Years of New Japan_, an encyclopaedic account of the national development in all its aspects, compiled by Count Shigenobu Okuma (2 vols., 1907, 1908; Eng. ed. by Marcus B. Huish, 1909). FOOTNOTES: [1] The Taira and the Minamoto both traced their descent from imperial princes; the Tokugawa were a branch of the Minamoto. [2] Daimyo ("great name") was the title given to a feudal chief. [3] Neither the Liberals nor the Progressists had a working majority in the house of representatives, nor could the ranks of either have furnished men qualified to fill all the administrative posts. [4] The following expression of the Japanese point of view, by a statesman of the writer's authority and experience, may well supplement the general account of the progress of Japan and its inclusion among the great civilized powers of the world.--(ED. _E. B._)