In the late nineteenth century the Japanese embarked upon a swift
ideological transition that enabled them to accept a considerable influx of
Western ideas and systems. A key to their successful adoption of the values
of ostensibly different cultures has often been attributed by observers of
Japan to the receptivity and adaptability of the Japanese to new, alien
elements. Yet, the receptivity of the Japanese to alien elements as the key
is inherently connected to their recognition of affinities found in
different cultures. Valuable insights on the process of Meiji acculturation
will be gathered from a case study based on the examination of the early
years of the Sapporo Agricultural College, established to accelerate
modernization, and the impact on the students of the values inculcated by
the New Englander staff. A study of their interaction suggests that it was
the affinities the Japanese found between Japanese syncretic, revisionist,
thought development and values of different cultures that formed the
foundation for successful assimilation of elements of Western culture, a
process that also helped the Japanese to reinvestigate and remould their
own cultural tradition.