Here are two American sailors dancing on a beach in Shimoda. The artist of the scroll, not knowing any words to American songs, wrote in words to a Japanese folk song about a man far away from his sweetheart. The Japanese were probably amused by such scenes, and sympathetic to the Americans who were far from home and family. In fact, members of the Perry expedition often said that while the samurai were cool and aloof, the common people were usually warm and courteous.

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