Japanese politics, economics and society had drastically changed during the century from the arrival of Commodore Perry in 1853 heading the US fleet at Uraga in Edo (Tokyo) Bay, to Japan's recovery of the independence in 1952 with the San Francisco Peace Treaty after the World War II.

This exhibition, which traces 100 years of Japanese modern history, consists of five chapters: 1. Initial Steps toward a Constitutional State; 2. Evolution of the Meiji State; 3. Taisho Democracy; 4. Crisis in Constitutional Politics; 5. Reconstruction of Japan. It shows digitized images and texts of about 150 primary historical materials including manuscripts, journals and letters kept in the Modern Japanese Political History Materials Room. They are accompanied by photos that reflect the mood of the time and commentaries on the background of each item. In addition, there are also columns that introduce behind-the-scenes episodes relating to the materials, as well as an introduction on how to read these historical sources by showing concrete examples. We hope that these additional contents will help you to enjoy the materials and the history behind them from different perspectives.

We will be happy if this exhibition gives as many people as possible an opportunity to see the precious materials held by the NDL.