Hundreds of years ago, the nation of Japan was very different. Trade was uninhibited but, piracy and banditry were common, and after the Sengoku (literally the “Warring States Period”) a fragile peace was threatened by foreign interference. As such, the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, boldly closed the nation of Japan off from the world. Leaving and entering the nation without authorization could lead to death, and with very few exceptions (mostly the Dutch, Koreans, and native Ainu peoples) foreigners were not seen in Japan for almost two-hundred and sixty-four years.
The United States, and by extension the European powers, had long seen Japan as a fertile untapped trading partner, but most attempts to negotiate a treaty of any kind had been rebuffed. In 1852, President Millard Fillmore sent Commodore Matthew C. Perry on an expedition to Asia, meant to provide information about the Pacific nations, and to see if diplomatic relations could be established. Perry arrived outside of Tokyo with three large gunboats. Dubbed “The Black Ships” for their appearance and the black smoke billowing out of their engines, much of the Japanese population was terrified by what they saw. Perry put on a show of force and demanded that Japan be opened for trade. He told the Japanese he would return in a year and continued his expedition to China.
Japanese leaders saw with Perry just how technologically far behind their country had fallen. It was agreed that Japan’s ports be opened, first with the United States and then later with other nations. On this day in 1854, the Treaty of Kanagawa was signed cementing the relationship between Japan and the U.S. As a result, Japan became flush with new advancements, but the move to modernization also led to a rupture in Japanese society. Perry’s Black Ships were to be the catalyst for the eventual overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate, and the restoration of the Emperor.
(Pictured below is a Japanese depiction of one of Perry’s ships, and the official photo of Commodore Perry).