But now the emperor was able to take back the power from the shogun. The Meiji Restoration is perhaps even more important in that it took Japan from being a closed, feudal country, and in only a few decades, to a modern industrial imperial power. Here is some data that gives you a sense of this. 1875, 600,000 metric tons of coal produced. 1913, 21.3 million, so it's grown almost 40-fold. 1873, 26 steamships. 1913, 1,514 steamships.