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Commodore Matthew Perry and Trade with Japan Essay

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Japan was an isolated country for over two hundred years. This led the United States to send Commodore Matthew Perry overseas in hopes to convince Japan to be more accessible. Commodore Matthew Perry knew that his task would be challenging because of Japan’s reluctance to interact with other countries and its belief that it was the greatest country of all. As a result of Perry’s mission, Japan changed politically, socially, and economically. Commodore Perry and his squadron of ships arrived in Japan’s waters on July 8, 1853. He was eager to deliver a letter from President Millard Fillmore, seeking friendship and a trade agreement. After seeing Perry’s ships, however, the Japanese went into a state of panic. As Blumberg notes, …show more content…

He expects a reply of some sort in a few days, and he will receive such reply nowhere but in this neighborhood.”6 The following day, July 13, Kayama retuned with a letter of his own from “His Highness Today, Prince of Izu, first counselor of the Empire,” giving him the authority to receive the President’s letter.7 On July 14, 1853, Commodore Perry and his officers came ashore to deliver the letter from President Fillmore. They were most surprised to see that the Japanese had created a very formal setting with thousands of soldiers. The people of the village were eager to get a look at Perry and his men since they had never seen men this large or with these colors of hair. The President’s letter was encased in a beautiful rosewood box with locks and hinges made of gold.8 Perry then received an unexpected written reply that noted that the letter would be delivered to the Emperor. Perry and his men departed, not knowing if the Japanese would accept the President’s offer to open up an agreement of trade, but Perry was proud that he had accomplished something that no European had previously done in peace. It was a date the changed Japan forever. The visit opened up a new conflict for Japan, perhaps causing a civil war. The core of Japanese values, their rulers, was built upon a philosophy of dependence to Confucian rules. Bowing to foreign pressure, viewed as barbarians corrupting Japanese beliefs, would mean abandoning the

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