February 22nd, 1873. Cloudy.

Leaving at nine o'clock in the morning, by train as usual, we headed south and passed through the city of Braine[-l'Alleud] before reaching the village of Courcelles, where we stopped to look at the manufacture of sheet-glass. This factory was planned five years ago, and it took three years to raise the necessary funds for construction, yet although it has been in operation for only two years, its rapid progress has defied all expectations.

Whenever plans for a new enterprise are drawn up, the people in the West are just the opposite of the Japanese in the degree of forethought and attention to detail they bring to the task. After they have carefully weighed the idea and consider the project to be feasible, they start by preparing models and charts, writing prospectuses, raising subscriptions and accumulating the necessary capital. Then they obtain a permit, put up a temporary workshop, install the machinery and gradually build up the enterprise over the course of two or three years. They will plan for the future, setting aside part of the profit for improvements in buildings and equipment, and it will take at least ten years of sustained effort before they can finally display their achievements to the world at large. People in Japan, however, assume profits will come easily even before they have made any money at all. They rush into plans for new firms and expand the business in such haste that within the space of a year, even as the fine premises they have built are still impressing people, their profits will be starting to dwindle.