| On This Day in American History |
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On July 8, 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry leads a squadron of U.S. Navy ships into Tokyo Bay, which led to an end to centuries of near isolation for the island nation of Japan. While the Japanese were not responsive at first, they did finally agree to accept letters from President Millard Fillmore, which eventually led to the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Prior to Perry’s arrival all of Japan’s foreign trade was restricted to Holland and China and was conducted on an island near the city of Nagasaki. Perry would return to Japan a year later and officially sign the Treaty of Kanagawa, which opened ports and allowed for diplomatic missions. In 1860, Japanese diplomats visited the U.S., the first time a delegation had visited a foreign country in nearly 200 years. Relations with the U.S. had a domino effect, and soon, many other countries signed treaties with Japan, eventually leading to the fall of the shogunate and rapid modernization. |
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