The Meiji government exerted great effort to revise the treaties in order to regain sovereignty over the remaining settlements, but one nationalist faction began a movement to insist that on the contrary, Japanese tradition and culture would be best protected by continuing to confine foreigners to the settlements, rendering the situation still more complex.
このため明治政府は条約改正に努力したものの、逆に国粋主義者の一部には外国人を居留地に閉じ込めて、日本の伝統・文化を守るべきだと言う対外硬運動も起きて複雑な展開を見せることもあった。