Japan–United States relations
Based on Wikipedia: Japan–United States relations
In 1853, a black-hulled steam frigate appeared in Uraga Harbor near Edo, carrying a demand that would reshape Asia. Commodore Matthew C. Perry had arrived with four ships—Mississippi, Plymouth, Saratoga, and Susquebetta—and an ultimatum from President Millard Fillmore: open Japan's ports to American trade, or face the consequences of modern military technology. The Tokugawa shogunate's 220-year policy of isolation was about to crumble.
This moment marked the beginning of a relationship that would span centuries, transform two nations, and reshape the global order. But the story begins earlier—long before Perry's warships broke Japan's self-imposed seclusion.
In the early 1600s, Japan's ruling Tokugawa shogunate enacted a policy of national seervation known as sakoku—the literally translated \"chained country\"—which barred foreigners from Japanese soil. Christianity was banned. Catholic missionaries were expelled. Japanese citizens were forbidden to leave the island in most cases. The Dutch and Chinese maintained limited contact at Nagasaki, but the rest of the world was locked out.
Yet contacts occasionally flickered through. In 1785, a ship owned and commanded by Irishman John O'Donnell docked at Baltimore with what appeared to be ethnically Japanese sailors as part of its crew—an intriguing mystery that remains unresolved. In 1791, two American ships commanded by explorer John Kendrick stopped for eleven days on Kii Ōshima island, south of the Kii Peninsula. He is the first American to visit Japan, but there is no Japanese account of his visit—a haunting silence that characterizes much of early encounters.
By the early 1800s, American whaling vessels operating in the North Pacific routinely sought to land in Japan for firewood and fresh water. They were routinely turned away or driven off with cannon fire. The United States government increasingly cast its eyes toward Japan as a possible coaling station for the U.S. Navy and a stopping point for U.S. merchants engaged in the lucrative China trade.
In 1846, Commander James Biddle was dispatched to Japan by Washington with orders to open trade, anchoring himself in Tokyo Bay with two ships—one armed with seventy-two cannons. Japanese representatives refused to negotiate, and he returned home empty-handed.
Two years later, Captain James Glynn sailed to Nagasaki, leading to the first successful negotiation by an American with sakoku Japan. Glynn recommended to Congress that any negotiations to open up Japan should be backed by a demonstration of force—a prescient insight that paved the way for Perry's expedition.
The Black Ships
The Perry Expedition—known in Japan as Kurofune Raikō, \"Arrival of the Black Ships\"—lasted from 1853 to 1854. It was a significant diplomatic and military undertaking by the United States Navy toward the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Perry embarked from Norfolk, Virginia, in 1852, commanding a squadron tasked with negotiating a trade treaty. He arrived at Uraga Harbor on July 8, 1853, flying a black-hulled steam frigate. The Tokugawa representatives told him to proceed to Nagasaki, where sakoku laws allowed limited trade by the Dutch.
Perry refused to leave. He demanded permission to present a letter from President Fillmore, threatening force if denied. Japan had shunned modern technology for centuries; the Japanese military would not be able to Perry's ships. These \"Black Ships\" would later become a symbol of threatening Western technology in Japan—but also of modernity and progress.
The Dutch behind the scenes smoothed the American treaty process with the Tokugawa shogunate. Perry returned in March 1854 with twice as many ships, finding that delegates had prepared a treaty embodying virtually all demands in Fillmore's letter. On March 31, 1854, Perry signed the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Peace and Amity—a document that would transform both nations.
Perry had a missionary vision to bring an American presence to Japan. His goal was to open commerce and more profoundly to introduce Western morals and values. The treaty played a crucial role in establishing diplomatic relations between Japan and the western Great Powers, leading directly to the collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate and the restoration of the Emperor in the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
Japan's growing trade relationships with the world after the expedition resulted in Japonisme—a cultural trend where Japanese culture influenced art in Europe and America.
The Meiji Era and Cordial Relations
Following the Meiji Restoration, Japan and the United States maintained relatively cordial relations. Potential disputes were resolved through diplomatic negotiation. Japan acknowledged American control of Hawaii and the Philippines, and the United States reciprocated regarding Korea. Disagreements about Japanese immigration to the United States were resolved in 1907.
The two nations were allies against Germany in World War I, as Japan joined the Allied powers and Britain fought alongside the United States.
From as early as 1879 and continuing through most of the first four decades of the 20th century, influential Japanese statesmen such as Prince Iesato Tokugawa (1863–1940) and Baron Eiichi Shibusawa (1840–1931) led a major Japanese domestic and international movement advocating goodwill and mutual respect with the United States.
Their friendship with the U.S. included aligning with seven U.S. presidents—Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding, Hoover, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was only after the passing of this older generation of diplomats and humanitarians, along with evidence that many Americans believed all Asians to be alike—with President Calvin Coolidge's signing of the Immigration Act of 1924—that Japanese militarists were able to gain control and pressure Japan into joining the Axis powers in World War II.
The Road to War
Starting in 1931, tensions escalated dramatically. Japanese actions against China in 1931 and especially after 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War caused the United States to cut off the oil and steel Japan required for their military conquests. Japan responded with attacks on the Allies, including the attack on Pearl Harbor—which heavily damaged the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, opening the Pacific theater of World War II.
The United States made a massive investment in naval power and systematically destroyed Japan's offensive capabilities while island hopping across the Pacific. To force surrender, Americans systematically bombed Japanese cities, culminating in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
Japan surrendered unconditionally, subjected to seven years of military occupation by the United States. Under General Douglas MacArthur, the Americans eliminated militarism and rebuilt the country's economic and political systems—transforming Japan from an aggressive wartime power to a peaceful democratic ally.
The Alliance and Economic Miracle
In the 1950s and 1960s, Japan entered into a military alliance with the United States and experienced unprecedented economic growth by sheltering under the U.S. nuclear umbrella, taking full advantage of U.S.-backed free trade schemes, and supplying American wars in Korea and Vietnam.
Japanese exports to the United States dramatically expanded in the postwar period—with Japanese automobiles and consumer electronics being especially popular. Japan became the world's second largest economy after the United States. In 2010, it dropped to third place after China—but by then, the relationship had transformed into something far more profound than mere economic calculation.
From the late 20th century onwards, the United States and Japan have maintained firm and active political, economic, and military relationships. U.S. government officials generally consider Japan to be one of its closest allies and partners.
According to public opinion surveys, Japanese respondents have a generally favorable view of the United States, while Americans have an overwhelmingly positive view of Japan—a remarkable outcome given the history of conflict and occupation that once defined their relationship.
Today, what began with cannon-armed demands and threatened force has evolved into the most sophisticated bilateral partnership in Asia. The friendship that Prince Iesato Tokugawa and Baron Eiichi Shibusawa envisioned during the Meiji era—the one interrupted by militarism and war—has finally come to pass.**"} }