A new age dawns in Japan as the junior oligarchs achieve primacy. However, the call for freedom and liberty becomes impossible to ignore as two of the oligarchs establish the first political parties in the Land of the Rising Sun.

The following is a list of some of the Japanese names and terms that are used in this episode: Boshin, Satsuma, Saigo Takamori, Okubo Toshichimi, Choshu, Kido Koin, Kumamoto, Okuma Shigenobu, Itagaki Taisuke, Ito Hirobumi, Risshisha, Hokkaido, Ainu, Ryukyu.

Sources: The Meiji Restoration by W.G. Beasley, The Making of Modern Japan by Marius B. Jansen, A Modern History of Japan by Andrew Gordon