American Historical Review (Feb. 2007) Vol. 112 Issue 1, p. 101-130.

Abstract

The article discusses the experience of the Russian populist and international revolutionary leader Lev Mechnikov in the Meiji Ishin, or Meiji Restoration, of Japan in 1874. Mechnikov’s participation in the Ishin is discussed in regards to kaikoku, or the "Opening of the Nation" to the West, one aspect of the birth of modern Japan. The author suggests that an examination of Mechnikov’s encounter makes it possible to redefine the meaning of kaikoku and discuss the associated vision of cooperatist anarchist civilization and progress.