The image here on the left is from a Taisho Era Magazine. While we now usually associate Manga with flying maids, wide eyed Shojo, and macho men's comics, it is worth remembering that much of the earliest work in Manga emulated European social-criticism type comics. This particular image shows people abandoning their villages to flow into the factory workforce in the city. Here in one image, then, is encapsulated over 50 years of early modern Japanese history...