The Satsuma domain has become closer to the British, despite the bombardment of Kagoshima in 1863, and is pursuing the modernization of its army and navy with their support.

The Scottish dealer Thomas Blake Glover sells quantities of warships and guns to the southern domains.

American and British military experts, usually former officers, may have been directly involved in this military effort.

The British ambassador Harry Smith Parkes supported the anti-Shogunate forces in a drive to establish a legitimate, unified Imperial rule in Japan, and to counter French influence with the Shogunate.

During this period, southern Japanese leaders such as Saigō Takamori of Satsuma, or ...

...Itō Hirobumi and Inoue Kaoru of Chōshū cultivate personal connections with British diplomats, notably Ernest Mason Satow.

The Shogunate also is preparing for further conflict by modernizing its forces.

In line with Parkes' designs, the British, heretofore the Shogunate's primary partner, prove reluctant to provide assistance.

The Tokugawa thus comes to rely mainly on French expertise, comforted by the military prestige of Napoleon III at this time, acquired through his successes in the Crimean War and the War of Italy.

The Shogunate takes major steps towards the construction of a modern and powerful military: a navy with a core of eight steam warships has been built over several years and is already the strongest in Asia.

In 1865, Japan's first modern naval arsenal is built in Yokosuka by the French engineer Léonce Verny.

Japanese government institutions have developed rapidly in the Meiji period in response to the Freedom and People's Rights Movement, a grassroots campaign demanding greater popular participation in politics.

The leaders of this movement include Itagaki Taisuke and Ōkuma Shigenobu.

Itō Hirobumi, the first Prime Minister of Japan, responds by writing the Meiji Constitution, which is promulgated on February 11, 1889.

The new constitution establishes an elected lower house, the House of Representatives, but its powers are restricted.

Only two percent of the population are eligible to vote, and legislation proposed in the House requires the support of the unelected upper house, the House of Peers.

Both the cabinet of Japan and the Japanese military are directly responsible not to the elected legislature but to the Emperor.

Concurrently, the Japanese government has also developed a form of Japanese nationalism under which Shinto has become the state religion and the Emperor is declared a living god.

Schools nationwide instill patriotic values and loyalty to the Emperor.