Japanese History homework = Mei research

So I'm finding out all sorts of interesting things about Mei by doing
the reading for my History of Japan class. For example, her family was
opposed to (well, ended up being opposed to... worked with at one time)
Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was the ruling power before Tokugawa overthrew
him and changed everything. That would make it logical that her family
would have sided with the Tokugawa clan, and would have been one of the
samurai who lived under him.

Also,
Tokugawa put a strict prohibition on anyone travelling outside of
Japan, and the only traders that were allowed to come into the country
were the Dutch, and only at a small island port near Nagasaki. So Mei
would have had to jump one of those ships and taken it to Holland, and
then take another one to France. She'd have to do the same thing when
she came back to Japan, unless the ban on trade had been lifted by
then... which I don't think it was, since she returned before the
Bakamatsu and the reinstatment of the emperor.

No fun if it's not illegal, right, Mei?

Mei - Damn straight.