he would have had more success if he had published his books in Germany
Japan should carefully choose which parts of European culture to adopt
Japanese fiction was too emotional to appeal to modern readers
Ogai Mori's first book was different from those of other Japanese writers in general in that it consisted mainly of biographies
138 ONE REASON TO VISIT AMERICA During 1831 and 1832, two Frenchmen, Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont, toured the United States. After their visit, each wrote a book. Beaumont's volume is about slavery, while Tocqueville's is the classic Democracy in America. Publication of the books obscured the original purpose of their visit: the two men had been sent to the United States as delegates from the French government to inspect the American prison system. They were among many Europeans who visited the United States with the same intention, because the modern prison system for the confinement of convicted criminals was invented in the United States in the 1790s. Places of confinement were not new. London had its Tower and Paris its Bastille. However, these were for confining political prisoners, not criminals in the ordinary sense. The common jail has existed since at least 1166, when England's King Henry II ordered jails built. Jails were then, as they are now, mainly for prisoners awaiting trial, but they also held petty offenders such as beggars and debtors. What was new about the American prison system was its purpose. It was designed more as a means of reforming the offender than as punishment for committing a crime.