Japan Before Perry's Arrival
In 1853, Japan had been closed off from the outside world for almost two hundred years. To most Americans, Japan was a far-off and mysterious land. Americans and other Westerners were not welcome in Japan, and almost no one in Europe or America had ever met a Japanese. Starting in about 1630, Japanese were not allowed to travel abroad. Even sailors who "drifted" across the Pacific, carried away from Japanese shores by typhoons, were not allowed to return on pain of death. American sailors who were shipwrecked in Japanese waters were badly treated. They were captured and sent directly to the port of Nagasaki to be shipped home. Nagasaki was the only place that Europeans, mostly Dutch, were allowed to live; here they lived in primitive conditions on a small island in Nagasaki harbor. Except for a few Chinese, who also traded at Nagasaki, and some Koreans, who came on official diplomatic missions, Japan was largely cut off from the outside world for more than two centuries.

Looking inward, the Japanese developed a highly sophisticated urban culture during the Tokugawa Era that lasted from 1600 to 1868. During this age Japan maintained a number of the world's largest cities, including the great city of Edo (today's Tokyo) of which Mathew Perry had heard much about Edo and wanted to see. As Japan absorbed itself in its own affairs, the world outside was changing. Two revolutions swept through Europe and America. The first was the scientific revolution. The second, made possible by the first, was the industrial revolution. With these two revolutions came dramatic change. Industrial nations such as Great Britain began to push outward and seek markets beyond their borders. The age of imperial expansion had begun. While Japan remained isolated, the rest of Asia was feeling the change. Britain came to dominate India, Burma, and, after the Opium War of 1840, China. France, Russia, Germany, and even the United States, were also interested in commercial expansion and pushed on to China. In 1600 the Japanese had enough military and technological power to reject the West and to close the country. But by 1850, Westerners were far ahead of Japan. The arrival of Commodore Mathew Perry with his fleet of modern warships, the "black ships," demonstrated only too clearly that Japan would have to change. As Perry's fleet of steam ships entered Edo Bay in 1853, Japan's era of isolation came to an end. Within two decades all of Japan would change. Perry's arrival in Japan was therefore ushered in the start of modern Japan.

Why the Perry Expedition Was Sent

Mathew Perry and the Perry Expedition

Black Ship Tour