Читать книгу A Gaijin's Guide to Japan: An alternative look at Japanese life, history and culture - Ben Stevens - Страница 11

In 1853, Japan was a country largely closed to the world. The foreign policy of the ruling Tokugawa Shogunate was sakoku—‘closed country’—and had been since 1639.

The only real exception to the rule that prevented the Japanese from leaving Japan, and the gaijin from entering, on pain of death, was in Nagasaki. Here there was Dejima, an artificial island that was the official trading post for the Dutch; Holland being one of four countries, along with Korea, China and the Ryukyu Islands, with whom the Tokugawa Shogunate consented to trade.

From 1837, three separate attempts were made by the Americans to ‘open up’ Japan trade-wise, both to themselves and, by implication, to the rest of the world. Effectively, the Americans were demanding that Japan put an end to its long period of self-imposed isolation.

‘Not on your Nelly,’ returned the Tokugawa Shogunate (or words to that effect), on a number of occasions actually opening fire on their unwelcome visitors.

Finally the Americans decided that they were gonna kick some ‘A’, or at least threaten to. Step forward Commodore Thomas Perry, who, in charge of a fearsome-looking squadron of steam frigates (this was the nineteenth century, remember), set sail from Norfolk, Virginia, reaching Uraga Harbour near Edo (now Tokyo) on 8 July 1853.

Slightly in awe of the steam-driven fleet’s obvious firepower, the Tokugawa Shogunate politely asked Perry if he wouldn’t mind sailing along to Nagasaki, which was, after all, the only place where gaijin sailing vessels were permitted to dock.

‘Actually, I would mind,’ said Perry, presumably through a translator. ‘I’m here to present a letter from President Fillmore of the United States of America, requesting that Japan ends its period of isolation,’

And by obvious implication, he added: And if you don’t accept this letter and at least start to consider therequest—which is actually more like a direct order from the most powerful nation on earth—then I’m going to use those nasty-looking cannons onboard my ships to start blasting the crud out of you.

‘Oh dear…’ muttered the Tokugawa Shogunate delegates.

‘As and when my boats and I return from a trip to China,’ continued Perry, ‘you’d be well advised to have a positive response to that letter.’

Perry wasn’t to be disappointed. When the black-hulled ships returned the following year, belching ominous clouds of smoke, the Tokugawa Shogunate signed a treaty committing it to ‘relations’ with the USA. This marked the beginning of the end for the feudalistic Shogunate, who would finally be overthrown by the Meiji Restoration in 1868.