On the day of his departure from Hokkaido on April 16, 1877, at the end of his tenure as the first president of what later became Hokkaido University, William Smith Clark left his charges, and Japan, with a parting message: "Boys, be ambitious." For the next century plus, Japan was ambitious, creating the advanced, prosperous nation we all know today.
Sadly, while Clark's words are still well-known, their significance has been largely forgotten.
There was little reason to expect much from Japan in 1877. It was poor, lacking in natural resources, still emerging from centuries of isolation, and hemmed in by the great powers of Europe and America. But, as Clark sensed, the Japanese people could achieve great things if they were ambitious and believed in themselves.