In this episode, Dr. Steele questions narratives of the Meiji success story by reviewing modern Japanese history from the bottom-up.  We discuss how common people experienced and reacted to the events of the Restoration, locate lingering Edokko antipathy for the Meiji government along with sympathy for the Tokugawa, evaluate commoner agency in the Restoration, and finally review examples of resistance to Westernization. (Transcript here).