This film supports some of the ideas of the poem, the “White Man’s Burden” to try and modernise and civilise the undeveloped world, in this case, 19th century which was opened up for trade by the US in the mid 1800s after 200 years of isolation from the world. Western influences is apparent in this film from the government structure, to the military, to the social customs and the suppression of traditional classes like the Samurai. However, unlike most countries conquered by western civilations during this time, Japan embraced modernisation instead of reject it, as before the US arrived to Japan, the nation had a prosperous economy and had a steady diplomatic government and therefore were able to hire many European and American technical experts to catch up with rest of the developed world.