And in place of Bokufu, Japan created one of the most modern nation-states in the world. After some trial and error, the Meiji leaders created a European-style cabinet system of government with a prime minister, and in 1889 promulgated a constitution that even contained a deliberative assembly, the Diet, although the cabinet ministers weren't responsible to it. The Japanese were incorporated into this system as bureaucrats, and their stipends were gradually taken away, and soon the Japanese government developed into, like, something of a meritocracy. Japan also created a new conscript army. Beginning in 1873, all Japanese men were required to spend three years in the military. The program was initially very unpopular. There were more than a dozen riots in 1873 and 1874, in which crowds attacked military registration centers.