Doc Recap: 1854 Anglo-Japanese Treaty

Great Britain and Japan signed a treaty of friendship in Nagasaki just months after Perry left the Islands. It established the relation between the two countries and secured the opening of Japan for resupply. Explore the contents of the convention.

Sir James Sterling

Perry's Gunboat Diplomacy in Japan

In 1853, the Japanese were surprised by news of foreign “black ships” anchoring in Uraga Bay. What they witnessed was the beginning of a classic gunboat diplomacy.

Dejima Island: The Window to Japan

Dejima Island

As European incursion to Asia increase during the 16th century, many areas fell to become colonies of the west. Japan, an archipelago in East Asia was under the rule of the Tokugawa Bakufu or shogunate. Under the early Tokugawa Shoguns, Japan had trade relations with many Europeans. From the Spanish, to Portuguese, and the Dutch, Japanese goods were sold and imported goods brought. However, as volume of trade increase, so as the fear of the Shoguns of the consequence of the economic relation. They feared that rising trade meant the rising influence of the foreigners to Japan. As a result, the Tokugawa closed the country and expelled all foreigners from all European nations except for one. The Dutch, via the Dutch East India Company, were allowed to stay but only in a tiny island off of Nagasaki - the island of Dejima.