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tors, society and the State. Japan's national ex-pansion has been the result of the daily endeavorsof her people in their respective walks of life.

II. IMPORTED CULTURE

The spirit of social service explained above hasalso developed in the Japanese the qualities ofmagnanimity and of flexibility in social relations,and these helped the people to assimilate culturesand institutions imported from the more advancedneighbors. Moreover, these same cultures andinstitutions, in turn, had the effect of cultivatingthe qualities of magnanimity and flexibility. It wasbecause of these mental qualities that made theassimilation of cultures imported from foreign coun-tries such as Korea, China, India and Persia inancient times and Western nations in modern times.

Of the various foreign cultures and institutionsimported into Japan, those from China and Indiahave exercised the greatest influence on the deve-lopment of Japanese national characteristics. FromChina were imported the ideas and doctrines ex-pounded by many thinkers in ancient China,especially during the Chow Dynasty and Chineseinstitutions based upon those ideas and doctrinesand developed during later periods, the Dynastiesof Sui and Tang, in particular. These basic Chinese