There were wide variety of ways how the movement took shapes within Japanese society, from the simple imitation of Western culture and customs, to the absorption of those elements as the model cases for fusing with traditional Japanese culture, or rearranging the traditional Japanese culture into Western styles; the movement became an enthusiastic trend during this transitional phase, received by wide variety of people among different social levels.
この中では単純に西洋の文化・風俗を模倣したものから、或いはそれら文化や風俗を手本としながら日本の既存文化との融合を図ったもの、更には既存文化を西洋風にアレンジしたものなど多岐に渡り、過渡期的には熱病の如き流行となって様々な社会階層に受け入れられていった。