The Opening of Japan, 1853–1855

Abstract

Sub-titled A comparative study of the American, British, Dutch and Russian naval expeditions to compel the Tokugawa shogunate to conclude treaties and open ports to their ships, this highly informed and widely researched study provides for the first time a more complete picture of the competition and cooperation, distrust and open hostility of the four protagonists involved in this joint Western enterprise. In 1852, the news of the US government's plan to send a large naval expedition to Japan to demand the opening of its ports to American ships excited public interest and elicited differing responses among the European powers. For Russia, Japan was a neighbouring empire to whose ports it had itself long sought access; now, its jealousy aroused, and its own strategic interests seemingly under threat, Russia could not permit the United States to possibly exclude it from Japanese ports. In the wake of the Opium war, the Dutch king had urged the shogun to peacefully open its ports to the other Western powers; now the king and his ministers feared that the US expedition would take an overly aggressive approach that might involve the Netherlands in a war with Japan. Having previously opened Chinese ports to the West, Britain was occupied there, and willing to take 'a wait and see' attitude, temporarily conceding a leading role to the United States in Japan. (France had also previously made approaches to Japan, and in case of a successful outcome, would not lag far behind in sending its own warships to make arrangements with Japan.) Thus, the stage was set for the race between America and Russia to open 'Closed Japan' and the surrounding seas, while the Netherlands worked quietly behind the scenes, and Britain and France waited in the wings. This volume documents in detail the plans and outcomes of each of the four powers’ negotiations with Japan, lists the clauses of the resulting treaties and offers a comparative analysis of their merits and demerits; at the same time it provides a fascinating commentary on the way business was done by the Japanese with each country and its representatives.

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