明治维新是日本近代化的开端。当时,向西方学习,引进和消化西方近代文化已成燃眉之急,因而,作为学习西方的一条重要途径——向西方各国派遣留学生大受重视,很多有志青年被选送国外深造。 然而,“我们如果把注意力仅仅局限于明治时期,那就不可能理解明治时期日本近代化的秘密。……明治时期日本的发展只有立足于过去日本的遗产之上才有可能”。实际上,在幕末时期就已随处可见日本走向近代化的萌芽,向西方学习已成为幕末志士的共同要求,到外国去 Meiji Restoration is the Beginning of Japan’s Modernization. At that time, it was an urgent matter to learn, introduce and digest the modern Western culture to the West. Therefore, as an important way to learn from the West, sending students abroad to the West is attaching great importance. Many aspiring young people were sent abroad for further studies. However, “if we focus only on the Meiji period, it is impossible to understand the secret of Japan’s modernization in the Meiji era ... Japan’s development during the Meiji period was only possible on the basis of the past Japanese heritage.” Actually, in the late period of the Bakumatsu, the sprout of Japan’s modernization has been seen everywhere. Studying in the West has become the common request of the bakuchichi and went abroad