>это как бы их мнение. Ну, могу показать мэйл-переписку, но это Вас вряд ли устроит - меня бы не устроило. Впрочем, я буду рад если Вы укажете адекватный опровергающий источник - тогда уже я поспорю с этими мужчинами и, может быть, доложу о результатах здесь.
The Restoration government took things a step at a time. The first measure, in 1869, was to consolidate all samurai into two ranks, where before there had been many levels. In 1872 the lower rank was abolished, and its holders declared commoners. In 1873 the government began taxing stipends, and in 1874 it allowed stipends to be converted into government bonds. Two years later the conversion was mandatory; the samurai rank was abolished, and the right to wear the two swords taken away. Aside from getting rid of the monetary drain, the government needed the samurai for other duties, which their new ordinary status allowed. Now it was no longer illegal, but indeed desirable, for a samurai to earn his living, and the new state needed their literacy. Japan had never developed a class of information professionals such as the clerks of Europe or the scholars of China. The samurai were to be repurposed as government and business managers, officers in the armed forces, public works engineers, instructors in the schools, and all the other gray- and white-collar employees needed in a modern society. Without the samurai turned manager, teacher, or lawyer, Japan could never have modernized so quickly.
O'Connell, Kevin. Pearl Harbor: The Missing Motive (p. 91). . Kindle Edition.
