National Industrial Exhibitions

[2] Sponsored by Ōkubo Toshimichi, first head of the Home Ministry, it was inspired by Japan's participation in the 1873 Vienna World's Fair.

[2] Exhibits were judged based on their "materials, manufacturing methods, quality, adjustment, effectiveness, value and price".

[4] With the backing of Sano Tsunetami, it was initially planned as an Asian Exposition (アジア博覧会), but due to the opposition of Finance Minister Matsukata Masayoshi and others, it was eventually held as the Third National Industrial Exhibition, although a foreign flavour was retained, with invitations sent and attendees from abroad.

[5] Display of a painting of a nude, Kuroda Seiki's Morning Toilette (destroyed in the Second World War), occasioned a press furore, with scandalized critics condemning the decline in public standards of decency.

[8] Due to financial constraints after the Russo-Japanese War, a planned sixth National Industrial Exhibition was cancelled, and the next nation-wide initiative of this order was the 1970 Osaka Expo, Japan's first world's fair.