After Meiji Restoration, the government took over bakufu's (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) and feudal clans' businesses such as dockyards and mines, and Kobusho (the Ministry of Industry) and other institutes established government-run factories to modernize Japan and make the transition to capitalism.
明治維新後、政府は幕府や諸藩の造船所や鉱山などの事業を引き継ぐとともに、工部省などが官営模範工場を新たに開設し、日本の近代化、資本主義化を図った。