?Well who is available in the mid 1800's to pull a Meiji.?
China - Massive Imperial Bureaucracy Has to be swept aside before.
Korea --Vassal of China - Has the same Bureaucracy problems.
Tibet - under the control of the Dali Lama and His Theocracy.
Siam - Stuck between British Burma, and French Indo China
Ethiopia - Surrounded by European Client, or Muslim Religious states, with very few natural resources.
Japan - Succeeded OTL, but only by the skin of their teeth. Easy to see a scenario when they fail.
?Can anyone think of other candidates?
all the countries above except Tibet tried to pull Meijis - it's just that only Japan was successful.