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288 toward further progress in civilization. The only question is, What will be the record of Twentieth Century Japan?

The full answer to this question we must pass on to the man who one hundred years hence may write on "Japan in 1901 and 2001." But though we do not lay claim to any special gift of prophecy, we venture to indulge in some general predictions which no one, to-day at least, can challenge. We feel sure, for instance, that Twentieth Century Japan will keep apace with the progress of the world in material civilization. We doubt not that during this century the Japanese people, becoming better fitted, will gradually be admitted to a greater share in the administration of the government, local and national. We feel quite certain that the social conditions of Japan will be greatly ameliorated, and education become very widely diffused, so that an immense intellectual improvement will be attained during the next hundred years. We also dare to predict that by 2001 Shintō will have entirely disappeared as a religion, Buddhism will have lost its hold upon the people, and Japan will have become practically a Christian nation.