The Samurai clans were happy for a while, until they were stripped of their status, however, the lower ranking samurai didn't seem to mind at all. The imperial capital was moved from Kyoto to Edo, where the Emperor took over the old Shogunal palace. Edo was renamed Tokyo ("Eastern Capital"), and the emperor was restored to power, ready to revolutionise Japan forever.
The Meiji Restoration allowed Japan to regain complete control of its foreign trade and legal system and by fighting and winning two wars, The Sino - Japanese War in 1894, and The Russo - Japanese War 1904 - 1905, Japan had established full independence and equality in international affairs. In a little more than a generation, Japan had exceeded its goals, and in the process had changed its whole society. Japans success in modernisation has created great interest in why and how it was able to adopt Western political, social, and economic institutions in such a short time.
The political revolution "restored" power to the emperor, but he did not rule directly. He was expected to accept the advice of the group that had overthrown the shogun. These groups were the Choshu and Satsuma clans of the samurai. The ambitious, able, and patriotic young men from the lower ranks of the samurai then emerged and took control and established the new political system. In July 1869 the feudal lords had been requested to give up their domains, and in 1871 these domains were abolished and transformed into prefectures of a unified central state.
The feudal lords no longer owned any territories and were now offered a yearly stipend, which was later changed to a one-time payment in government bonds. The Samurai lost their class privileges, when the government declared a1l classes to be equal. By 1876 the government banned the wearing of the samurai's swords, and the former samurai cut off their topknots in favour of the Western - style haircuts and took up jobs in businesses and the professions.