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The Korea issue which sparked Saigô's departure from the government would remain a key element of geopolitical tensions for Japan for nearly the entire remainder of the Meiji period. As the Western powers continued to expand their colonial holdings around the world, Japanese leaders worried that the British, French, or Russians would colonize Korea, thus not only denying Japan access to trade with Korea, but also placing Western imperialist armies (with Korea as base) far too close to Japan for comfort. After the government decided in 1873 against a full invasion of Korea, they then successfully put pressure on the Joseon court in [[1876]] to conclude a formal, modern-style, treaty with Japan. This 1876 [[Treaty of Ganghwa]] linked Japan and Korea within a modern/Western mode of international relations, as mutually independent, sovereign, nation-states, essentially severing, or at least ignoring, Korea's status as a [[tribute|tributary]] state under Chinese suzerainty. Just as Korea had been angered at the removal of its vassal, the Sô clan, the [[Qing Dynasty]] was now angered at this affront to their suzerain-tributary relationship with Korea. Tensions between China, Russia, Japan, and the Western powers over securing a sphere of influence in Korea were a key factor in causing the Sino-Japanese War. This ultimately led too to the [[Russo-Japanese War]] of [[1904]]-[[1905]], which ended in a Japanese victory, and Japanese acquisition of Korea as a colony.

The Korea issue which sparked Saigô's departure from the government would remain a key element of geopolitical tensions for Japan for nearly the entire remainder of the Meiji period. As the Western powers continued to expand their colonial holdings around the world, Japanese leaders worried that the British, French, or Russians would colonize Korea, thus not only denying Japan access to trade with Korea, but also placing Western imperialist armies (with Korea as base) far too close to Japan for comfort. After the government decided in 1873 against a full invasion of Korea, they then successfully put pressure on the Joseon court in [[1876]] to conclude a formal, modern-style, treaty with Japan. This 1876 [[Treaty of Ganghwa]] linked Japan and Korea within a modern/Western mode of international relations, as mutually independent, sovereign, nation-states, essentially severing, or at least ignoring, Korea's status as a [[tribute|tributary]] state under Chinese suzerainty. Just as Korea had been angered at the removal of its vassal, the Sô clan, the [[Qing Dynasty]] was now angered at this affront to their suzerain-tributary relationship with Korea. Tensions between China, Russia, Japan, and the Western powers over securing a sphere of influence in Korea were a key factor in causing the Sino-Japanese War. This ultimately led too to the [[Russo-Japanese War]] of [[1904]]-[[1905]], which ended in a Japanese victory, and Japanese acquisition of Korea as a colony.

The Emperor declared in [[1881]] that he would establish a national legislature in 1889. That same year, he received [[King Kalakaua]] of Hawaii, and Princes Albert and George of the United Kingdom as formal state guests, the first foreign royals to visit Japan in such a capacity. Through meetings with these and other heads of state, Meiji Japan began actively developing diplomatic ties with other countries. Before long, numerous countries were maintaining embassies or delegations in [[Yokohama]] or Tokyo.

The 1873 debate over invading Korea came during a decade in which Japan faced territorial and border concerns on nearly every front. In [[1871]], a group of [[Miyako Islands|Miyako Islanders]], returning home after a [[tribute]] mission to [[Shuri]] (capital, on [[Okinawa Island]], of the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]]), were thrown off-course by a storm, and were [[Taiwan Incident of 1871|killed]] by [[Taiwanese aborigines]]. As the Meiji government demanded reparations from the [[Qing Dynasty|Qing Court]], this quickly developed into a major diplomatic incident, throwing into question Chinese and Japanese claims to [[Taiwan]] and the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]]. The following year, Japan strengthened its position in the Ryukyus by declaring the Kingdom abolished, and absorbing it into the realm as [[Ryukyu han|Ryûkyû han]], with the former king, [[Sho Tai|Shô Tai]], as its lord. The ''Seikanron'', as already discussed, took place the year after that (1873), and in [[1874]] [[Saigo Tsugumichi|Saigô Tsugumichi]] led [[Taiwan Expedition of 1874|a punitive military campaign]] against the aboriginal Paiwan, or Botan, people in Taiwan. In [[1875]], Ryûkyû sent a tribute mission to [[Beijing]], as it had done for centuries. Tensions between China and Japan grew quite heated, culminating ultimately in [[1879]], when Japan unilaterally - and over Beijing's explicit objections - abolished the Ryûkyû Kingdom (now Ryûkyû han) entirely, annexing its territory as Okinawa prefecture, and appointing a governor, while the former king was to report to Tokyo and join the new peerage alongside (other) former ''daimyô''. That same year, [[Ulysses S. Grant]], having already completed his term as President of the United States in [[1877]], came to China and Japan as part of a private world tour vacation. The young Meiji Emperor reportedly eagerly asked Grant for advice on numerous aspects of how to build a modern, economically strong, and constitutionally democratic country. But Grant also served as mediator in this conflict over the Ryukyus, meeting with both [[Li Hongzhang|Chinese]] and Japanese officials, and ultimately securing a settlement in [[1880]] in which Japan would recognize Chinese sovereignty over the Miyako Islands and everything to their south, in exchange for China granting Japan "[[most favored nation]]" status. The Chinese initially agreed, but ultimately refused to sign, and so all of the Ryukyus, from the [[Amami Islands|Amami]] and [[Tokara Islands]] in the north (already annexed into [[Satsuma province|Satsuma]]/[[Kagoshima prefecture|Kagoshima]] territory centuries earlier) to [[Yonaguni Island]] in the south, remained Japanese territory. Tensions over Taiwan (and spheres of influence in [[Colonial Korea|Korea]]) were allayed for a time, but would later come to [[Sino-Japanese War|war with China]] in [[1894]]-[[1895]]; Japanese victory in that war made Taiwan a Japanese colony.

Former US President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] had visited two years prior to the Hawaiian and British visitors, in [[1879]], and helped advise the Emperor both in building a new, modern, democratic country, and also in diplomatic negotiations with China, successfully avoiding war at that time over control of [[Ryukyu Islands|Okinawa]] and [[Taiwan]]. These tensions, sparked by an [[1871]] [[Taiwan Incident of 1871|incident on Taiwan]], led to [[Taiwan Expedition of 1874|the deployment of Japanese troops to Taiwan]] in [[1874]], and ultimately to Japan unilaterally abolishing the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]] and annexing its territory as [[Okinawa prefecture]], over Beijing's objections, in 1879. Tensions over Taiwan (and influence in [[Colonial Korea|Korea]]) were allayed for a time, but would later come to [[Sino-Japanese War|war with China]] in [[1894]]-[[1895]]; Japanese victory in that war made Taiwan a Japanese colony.

Meanwhile, in the north, the [[1855]] [[Treaty of Shimoda]] had already established formal national boundaries between Japanese and Russian territory in the [[Kuril Islands]]; this was the first treaty to formally establish any Japanese national borders. However, this Treaty left the status of [[Sakhalin]] undetermined, and this continued to be a point of dispute between the two countries. The Meiji government formally annexed the island of Ezo in [[1869]], renaming it Hokkaidô, and asked the US to arbitrate the dispute over Sakhalin; however, Russia refused to have any third-party mediator. In [[1872]], both Russia and Japan refused to sell (their claims to) the island to the other. Finally, an agreement was reached in [[1875]] in which Japan renounced its claims to Sakhalin in exchange for Russia's recognition of the Kurils as Japanese territory.

 

The 1880s saw the further development of Japan's formal diplomatic ties with other nations around the world. The Meiji government continued to honor treaties signed by the shogunate in the 1850s, and foreign communities, including formal consuls and delegations, continued on in [[Kobe]], [[Yokohama]], [[Hakodate]], and a few other port cities. The Emperor received former US President Grant in 1879, as mentioned above, and in [[1881]], he received [[King Kalakaua]] of Hawaii, and Princes Albert and George of the United Kingdom as formal state guests, the first foreign royals to visit Japan in such a capacity.<ref>King [[Sho Nei|Shô Nei]] of the Ryûkyû Kingdom is very likely the only previous foreign royal to have visited Japan since the [[Asuka period|Asuka]] or [[Nara period]], doing so as a prisoner of war in [[1609]]-[[1611]], and thus not in a similar fashion as a diplomatic state guest.</ref> Through meetings with these and other heads of state, Meiji Japan began actively developing diplomatic ties with other countries.

[[File:Kenpohapu-chikanobu.jpg|center|750px|thumb|An ''[[ukiyo-e]]'' woodblock print triptych by [[Toyohara Chikanobu]] depicting the [[promulgation of the Meiji Constitution]] in a formal ceremony which took place in the Throne Room of the [[Tokyo Imperial Palace]].]]

[[File:Kenpohapu-chikanobu.jpg|center|750px|thumb|An ''[[ukiyo-e]]'' woodblock print triptych by [[Toyohara Chikanobu]] depicting the [[promulgation of the Meiji Constitution]] in a formal ceremony which took place in the Throne Room of the [[Tokyo Imperial Palace]].]]

After much discussion and debate, the first [[Meiji Constitution|Japanese Constitution]] was [[Promulgation of the Meiji Constitution|promulgated]] on February 11, 1889. The promulgation was accompanied by extensive ceremonies, beginning with very private rites performed by the Emperor alone deep within the palace, ostensibly continuing an ancient tradition, followed by a modern/Western-style political ceremony in which the Constitution was formally promulgated with many government officials and journalists in attendance; this was then followed in turn by a public procession and celebration in the streets of Tokyo. All three combined, as reported in newspapers, participated in by the public, and otherwise noted as a national holiday and significant historical moment, have been described as "Japan's first modern national ceremony." Fashioned after modern state ceremonies in the West, this displayed to the Japanese people and the world that Japan was a modern country, and it served as precedent and model for many national ceremonies later in the Meiji period, all the way down to the 1940s.<ref>Takashi Fujitani, ''Splendid Monarchy'', University of California Press (1996), 107-111.</ref>

Returning to the history of domestic matters, the Emperor declared in [[1881]] that he would establish a national legislature in 1889. After much discussion and debate, the first [[Meiji Constitution|Japanese Constitution]] was [[Promulgation of the Meiji Constitution|promulgated]] on February 11, 1889. The promulgation was accompanied by extensive ceremonies, beginning with very private rites performed by the Emperor alone deep within the palace, ostensibly continuing an ancient tradition, followed by a modern/Western-style political ceremony in which the Constitution was formally promulgated with many government officials and journalists in attendance; this was then followed in turn by a public procession and celebration in the streets of Tokyo. All three combined, as reported in newspapers, participated in by the public, and otherwise noted as a national holiday and significant historical moment, have been described as "Japan's first modern national ceremony." Fashioned after modern state ceremonies in the West, this displayed to the Japanese people and the world that Japan was a modern country, and it served as precedent and model for many national ceremonies later in the Meiji period, all the way down to the 1940s.<ref>Takashi Fujitani, ''Splendid Monarchy'', University of California Press (1996), 107-111.</ref>

Under this Constitution, which remained in force until 1945, the Emperor wielded ultimate sovereignty, and all political power and land ownership stemmed from him. The Emperor had the power to declare war, conclude treaties, make policy in a wide range of fields, to dissolve the legislature and call for new elections, and to veto the decisions of the legislature at his discretion. The [[Privy Council]] and Cabinet ministers, a group which included many ''[[genro|genrô]]'' ("senior statesmen," chiefly the architects of the Restoration and of the Constitution), were thus able to rule as oligarchs, making many decisions themselves, and simply seeking the Emperor's official approval. The only power reserved exclusively to the legislature was the power to approve the annual government budget; however, even this power was weakened by stipulations that if the legislature failed to approve a new budget, the current year's budget would simply be re-adopted for the next year.<ref name=schiro180>Schirokauer, et al, 180. </ref> The [[Imperial family]] themselves were not bound or governed by the terms of the Constitution, but rather by a separate document, the [[Imperial House Law]].<ref>Fujitani, 109.</ref>

Under this Constitution, which remained in force until 1945, the Emperor wielded ultimate sovereignty, and all political power and land ownership stemmed from him. The Emperor had the power to declare war, conclude treaties, make policy in a wide range of fields, to dissolve the legislature and call for new elections, and to veto the decisions of the legislature at his discretion. The [[Privy Council]] and Cabinet ministers, a group which included many ''[[genro|genrô]]'' ("senior statesmen," chiefly the architects of the Restoration and of the Constitution), were thus able to rule as oligarchs, making many decisions themselves, and simply seeking the Emperor's official approval. The only power reserved exclusively to the legislature was the power to approve the annual government budget; however, even this power was weakened by stipulations that if the legislature failed to approve a new budget, the current year's budget would simply be re-adopted for the next year.<ref name=schiro180>Schirokauer, et al, 180. </ref> The [[Imperial family]] themselves were not bound or governed by the terms of the Constitution, but rather by a separate document, the [[Imperial House Law]].<ref>Fujitani, 109.</ref>