<P> During 1850--1890, Sweden experienced a veritable explosion in export, dominated by crops, wood and steel . Sweden abolished most tariffs and other barriers to free trade in the 1850s and joined the gold standard in 1873 . </P> <P> During 1890--1930, Sweden experienced the second industrial revolution . New industries developed with their focus on the domestic market: mechanical engineering, power utilities, papermaking and textile . </P> <P> The industrial revolution began about 1870 as Meiji period leaders decided to catch up with the West . The government built railroads, improved roads, and inaugurated a land reform programme to prepare the country for further development . It inaugurated a new Western - based education system for all young people, sent thousands of students to the United States and Europe, and hired more than 3,000 Westerners to teach modern science, mathematics, technology, and foreign languages in Japan (Foreign government advisors in Meiji Japan). </P> <P> In 1871, a group of Japanese politicians known as the Iwakura Mission toured Europe and the United States to learn western ways . The result was a deliberate state - led industrialisation policy to enable Japan to quickly catch up . The Bank of Japan, founded in 1882, used taxes to fund model steel and textile factories . Education was expanded and Japanese students were sent to study in the west . </P>

When did the industrial revolution start in japan