A man born in 1868 could have lived through the brief but dramatic period which covered the rise and fall of the modern Japanese Empire (1868-1945). His birth would have coincided with the birth of modern Japan, when she turned to the West for ideas, the techniques, the money and the experts whom she welcomed to make Japan strong in economic wealth and in military efficiency. He would have seen the Japanese move out from their island home to build a massive Empire in China, the Pacific Islands, Malaya, Indo-China and Burma.