In short, Commodore Perry wanted to trade with Japan. Being isolationist they declined. So Perry believed they would have to be persuaded by force. He launched a barrage of cannons while anchored in Tokyo Bay. Supposedly they were just gunpowder explosions celebrating US Independence Day, but it was likely a show of force that eventually persuaded the Japanese to open trade relations.
If this were in the US or UK, Perry would likely be hated for whatever and his statue torn down. In Japan, they have multiple statues and celebrate Perry’s opening of trade relations every year with the Black Ship festival in Shimoda, Japan. The festival includes food stalls and even a parade. I’ve gone a few times, it’s nothing particularly interesting but a good experience overall.
What boggles my mind is that less than 100 years after this happened, the Imperial Japanese Navy was able to give the US Navy a serious run for their money. The rapid industrial and technological development of Japan is hard to comprehend. Medieval feudalism to an industrial powerhouse in just a few decades.
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History (episode 1: https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-62-supern...) recently did a great series "Supernova in the East" on the modernization of Japan and the internal politics. If you've got some time (drive or such), it's well worth the listen and there's a great diversity of sources.
Not to mention giving China and Russia a run for their territory, first in the 1894 Sino-Japanese war, only some 40 odd years after opening up to world trade and rapidly industrializing.
IIRC, Japan had a very robust banking system by the time this happened so were able to finance a lot of the capital intensive developments and industrialization necessary for them to quickly catch up.
> the Imperial Japanese Navy was able to give the US Navy a serious run for their money.
Sure, but not before taking out half the US Navy's battle fleet and leaving them out of commission for nearly half a year. Eventually, most damaged vessels were returned to service, but with escorts needed in the Atlantic, the Fleet was spread thin facing an opponent with more battleships with better torpedos, more carriers with better trained pilots flying (in a lot of ways) superior aircraft. Against the advice and strong objection of many high ranking naval officers, President Roosevelt's "eggs in one basket"-strategy ordering the Fleet to and to remain at Pearl Harbor as a show of force was a disastrous blunder that ultimately ensured the US would be dragged into the War under-prepared. Had Roosevelt not subsequently ordered Yamamoto taken out in 1943, the Pacific may very well have been lost.
The Japanese navy was pretty weak which was the main reason for this sneaky Pearl Harbor attack. In a direct conflict they'd have had no chance and they tried to take out as much of the fleet off the board as they could.
Of course they failed miserably by hitting the legacy battleships and missing the carriers which fit better with modern doctrine.
I’m from Bangladesh. If it wasn’t for British colonialism, both of us would be subsistence farmers right now instead of on HN.
That’s not any knock on the people of the subcontinent. It’s just math. The transition from subsistence agriculture to industrial society is an inflection point, like a lightning strike, and there’s no reason to believe it would’ve happened in India any time near when it happened in Britain out of thousands and thousands of years of history.
The British themselves were colonized repeatedly, by the Romans, by the French. You don’t see them tearing down statutes or rejecting that history.
The Meiji restoration, as this was called, removed the Shogunate (=top dog warlord) which had ruled for a good couple hundred of years and re-inserted imperial rule (i.e. the Japanese emperor was again the ruler). This was done by the Japanese themselves (a bit of civil war took place for this to happen[0]). There was no external rule forced on Japan after Perry's black ships. No colonialism or external imperialism involved, so it's not really comparable to anything else.
One major difference is that Japan managed to open to trade while keeping control of their country, benefitting from the former and using it to rapidly develop and modernize, while not losing autonomy and sovereignty, across the entire colonial era, at least up until they lost WWII. India obviously had a very different experience with colonialism.
As an Indian, I find the mention of the Gateway of India in this context odd, since it's the least egregious of the lot. Nor has there been any mainstream demand to tear it down. Locals don't treat the site with any tangible connection to the British Raj, and are at best indifferent to it. There is the plaque, but nobody seems to care.
Contrast with the Victoria Memorial, the largest memorial to any monarch anywhere, the site is replete with statues of British monarchs and Governors. Bengal as a province has the longest history of British colonialism, and probably had suffered the most of any Indian region the ills of colonialism. Despite that, there hasn't been any mainstream demand to tear the place down, or even the statues. The locals are very knowledgeable about their colonial history, but seem fine with the statues and enjoy it as a place to hang out.
If the statutes of british monarchs were raised during their reign, or shortly after, those statues now represent history. A bad bit of history, but history none the less. If they were erected way later, they celebrate this bad pit of history and can be torn down.
History does not have to be celebrated, it definitely has to be remembered so.
I am Indian and I want them to stay. I would go so far as to say that colonial era structures are the only beautiful buildings that have been built in India in the last 100-200 years.
Interestingly, during the isolation there was not a complete informational blockade. The progressive Japanese knew what is going on in Europe and how China/Asia is suffering from European colonization.
So to preempt being colonized they worked on the Japan's opening and planned a rapid industrialization. (The Meiji Revolution)
The Perry's conquering of Japan is a concession to the West by Japanese.
> If this were in the US or UK, Perry would likely be hated...
The context you are missing is that the forcible opening of Japan led to the overthrow of the Shogunate and advent of the Meiji era, which was/is seen by most Japanese as a very good thing.
The Japan-American Society of RI has a complementary Black Ships festival in Newport & Bristol; not a huge show but there's usually a formal dinner & taiko concert with representatives from the City of Yokohama and the JMSDF.
> If this were in the US or UK, Perry would likely be hated for whatever and his statue torn down
I'm not much of a history buff, but the UK has been subject to invasions/colonialism multiple tines in tbeir history, and there are statues and events to commemotate these events.
I haven't much time, but here is an example, commemorating the Battle of Hastings:
>If this were in the US or UK, Perry would likely be hated for whatever and his statue torn down.
You're being ridiculous, @notadev. While I realize that by engaging, I'm falling into the trap of wrestling with a pig, no one's torn down any statues of Matthew Perry in the US.
I think the gp meant that if some foreign figure had forced their way into to the US or UK with martial threats, they would not be celebrated today the way he is in Japan - though I also wonder how enthusiastic this celebration is, as opposed to politely commemorating it.
An American journalist named Bayard Taylor was in Shanghai in 1853 when Perry stopped there on his way to Japan. Taylor enlisted in the U.S. Navy so that he could join Perry’s expedition as a clerk [1], and the notes he kept were later incorporated into the official U.S. report of the expedition [2]. Taylor’s own later account of their arrival in Japan makes good reading [3].
More Western writing about Japan in the 19th and early 20th centuries is collected in my Japan As They Saw It [4].
I almost know how they felt because the first time I saw a US aircraft carrier up close I felt a similar sense of awe and curiosity at this immense machine and it's operation.
It's really fascinating to think about isolation and what that does to a culture. The almost two hundred years in which Japan implemented self ordered isolation is important to consider when comparing their modern culture to other, especially Asian, nations.
I feel like Brazil, being the only country in South America that speaks Portuguese, is a similar case study.
Being different and not following the herd is a strength.
> I feel like Brazil, being the only country in South America that speaks Portuguese, is a similar case study.
I find it hard to understand why this would isolate Brazil. Portuguese and Spanish are very similar as far languages go. I’d presume natural barriers would play a much higher role.
IMHO Brazil has a thriving tech scene that outperforms other Latin American countries. It's a complicated country for sure, but I think it is a success. As they say, "Brazil is the country of the future and always will be."
You can go sit under the (regrowth of) the original tree that these treaties were signed next to near Yamashita park in Yokohama.
Also the wifi password for a public event venue on the waterfront there is something like Perry1854
Actually the wifi password is 'perry0602' which seems to correspond to "June 2 Fleet moves from Shimoda to Naha." .. so its commemorating the the day Perry left the mainland X'D
Dozens of different kawaraban were published after Perry’s fleet arrived, with each one said to have run to around 1,000 copies. This is a tiny number compared to newspaper circulation today, but the total printed in a short period was unprecedented in the Edo period (1603–1868), and they gave people a detailed picture of the treaty negotiations.
I found the section about the kawaraban especially interesting. The above detail captures some sense of how newsworthy these events were and the scope of the impact it had on Japan.
Obligatory quote from Asimov's "The Gods Themselves":
about two and a half centuries ago, the American naval commander Matthew Perry led a flotilla into Tokyo harbor. The Japanese, till then isolated,found themselves faced with a technology considerably beyond their own and decided it was unwise to risk resistance. An entire warlike nation of millions was helpless in the face of a few ships from across the sea.Did that prove that Americans were more intelligent than the Japanese were, or merely that Western culture had taken a different turning? Clearly the latter, for within half a century, the Japanese successfully imitated Western technology and within another half a century were a major industrial power despite the fact that they were disastrously beaten in one of the wars of the time.
Readit News
If this were in the US or UK, Perry would likely be hated for whatever and his statue torn down. In Japan, they have multiple statues and celebrate Perry’s opening of trade relations every year with the Black Ship festival in Shimoda, Japan. The festival includes food stalls and even a parade. I’ve gone a few times, it’s nothing particularly interesting but a good experience overall.
Sure, but not before taking out half the US Navy's battle fleet and leaving them out of commission for nearly half a year. Eventually, most damaged vessels were returned to service, but with escorts needed in the Atlantic, the Fleet was spread thin facing an opponent with more battleships with better torpedos, more carriers with better trained pilots flying (in a lot of ways) superior aircraft. Against the advice and strong objection of many high ranking naval officers, President Roosevelt's "eggs in one basket"-strategy ordering the Fleet to and to remain at Pearl Harbor as a show of force was a disastrous blunder that ultimately ensured the US would be dragged into the War under-prepared. Had Roosevelt not subsequently ordered Yamamoto taken out in 1943, the Pacific may very well have been lost.
Of course they failed miserably by hitting the legacy battleships and missing the carriers which fit better with modern doctrine.
I am originally from India. There are still monuments commemorating British kings ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_of_India) personally I want them to be torn down.
I am not comparing Japan with Colonial India but I know that in 2023 colonialism and imperialism should not be celebrated.
That’s not any knock on the people of the subcontinent. It’s just math. The transition from subsistence agriculture to industrial society is an inflection point, like a lightning strike, and there’s no reason to believe it would’ve happened in India any time near when it happened in Britain out of thousands and thousands of years of history.
The British themselves were colonized repeatedly, by the Romans, by the French. You don’t see them tearing down statutes or rejecting that history.
[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boshin_War
Contrast with the Victoria Memorial, the largest memorial to any monarch anywhere, the site is replete with statues of British monarchs and Governors. Bengal as a province has the longest history of British colonialism, and probably had suffered the most of any Indian region the ills of colonialism. Despite that, there hasn't been any mainstream demand to tear the place down, or even the statues. The locals are very knowledgeable about their colonial history, but seem fine with the statues and enjoy it as a place to hang out.
History does not have to be celebrated, it definitely has to be remembered so.
People know that beating closed Tokugawa shogunate and pre-WW2 regime were finally somewhat good thing so they don't blame them so much.
So to preempt being colonized they worked on the Japan's opening and planned a rapid industrialization. (The Meiji Revolution)
The Perry's conquering of Japan is a concession to the West by Japanese.
The context you are missing is that the forcible opening of Japan led to the overthrow of the Shogunate and advent of the Meiji era, which was/is seen by most Japanese as a very good thing.
I'm not much of a history buff, but the UK has been subject to invasions/colonialism multiple tines in tbeir history, and there are statues and events to commemotate these events.
I haven't much time, but here is an example, commemorating the Battle of Hastings:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-37649912
I'm sure there are many other and better examples to be found.
(Edit: had -> has. flippin’ phone)
You're being ridiculous, @notadev. While I realize that by engaging, I'm falling into the trap of wrestling with a pig, no one's torn down any statues of Matthew Perry in the US.
>"Who taught you how to do this?"
>"You, dad! I learned it from watching you!"
More Western writing about Japan in the 19th and early 20th centuries is collected in my Japan As They Saw It [4].
[1] https://archive.org/details/cu31924031232360/page/360/mode/2...
[2] https://archive.org/details/narrativeofexped00perr/page/n5/m...
[3] https://archive.org/details/cu31924031232360/page/410/mode/2...
[4] https://www.gally.net/jatsi/index.html
I feel like Brazil, being the only country in South America that speaks Portuguese, is a similar case study.
Being different and not following the herd is a strength.
_Almost_ isolation. They traded with the Portuguese and, later, the Dutch at Dejima (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dejima)
Reading that article, I also think it was almost 300 years, from 1570 to 1854.
They also traded with China and Korea.
I find it hard to understand why this would isolate Brazil. Portuguese and Spanish are very similar as far languages go. I’d presume natural barriers would play a much higher role.
I found the section about the kawaraban especially interesting. The above detail captures some sense of how newsworthy these events were and the scope of the impact it had on Japan.
about two and a half centuries ago, the American naval commander Matthew Perry led a flotilla into Tokyo harbor. The Japanese, till then isolated,found themselves faced with a technology considerably beyond their own and decided it was unwise to risk resistance. An entire warlike nation of millions was helpless in the face of a few ships from across the sea.Did that prove that Americans were more intelligent than the Japanese were, or merely that Western culture had taken a different turning? Clearly the latter, for within half a century, the Japanese successfully imitated Western technology and within another half a century were a major industrial power despite the fact that they were disastrously beaten in one of the wars of the time.