The new Meiji Government replaced the Shogunate. Gone were the Shogun and Samurai.  Now replaced with young, forward thinking leaders desperately wanting to overcome the treaty humiliations caused by the previous government.  To do this they planned and executed an aggressive, comprehensive plan to modernize and westernize Japan.  They wanted the new nation to be taken seriously and be respected.  The Charter Oath, issued before the Meiji took control, set forth their goals and ideals.  Soon after the Meiji took control of Japan, they began an ambitious diplomatic mission, the Iwakura Mission, to visit many nations.  Its primary purpose was to renegotiate the treaties that had been left to the Japanese by the previous government, and to gain insight into foreign institutions.  Japan also reached out to its neighboring Asian nations.