The Meiji reformers actively copied the western Europeans and Americans because
those lands had always treated the Japanese with equality and respect.
Japan had already been divided up into spheres of influence and they wanted to find a way to push the
Europeans and Americans out.
the Chinese refused to share their technology with the Japanese.
they understood the danger of those two groups and wanted to find a way to avoid commercial and/or
imperial domination by either one.
of their desire to make Japan a democratic republic.