What country did japan defeat in its first foreign war during the meiji period?

In 1894, china and japan went to war over Korea in the first sino-Japanese war the subsequent  treaty of shimonoseki of April 1895 force defeated china to recognize Korean Independence and later that year Japanese agents would assassinate Koreans anti-Japaneses queen Min.

the following best describes postwar era writers in their works:

progressive

many writers,authors,novelists,poets concentrated more on social art and social writing and stayed away from political writings.