In this episode, Dr. Phipps revisualizes the Meiji era through a global lens, complicating narratives of Meiji Japan "following" or "catching up" to the West and reinserting Japanese developments into global processes.  We discuss recent commemorations of the Meiji Restoration sesquicentennial around the world, rediscover commercial ties between Japanese special trading ports and the Asian mainland, and question when Japan officially "opened."