1. Part Two: The arrival of the black ships 1853-54
East meets West: Japan
Part Two: The arrival of the black ships

3. Review: the Tokugawa era
Power was in Edo (Tokyo), the home of the Tokugawa family
Emperor lived in Kyoto
Isolation from the West but Perry forces Japan to open up ports
Samurai the elite but becoming administrators
Daimyo lords rule regions (han) but are becoming more independent

4. Baku-han system – decentralised power
Over 250 Daimyos have great autonomy
Many are ignoring directions from Edo
Do you know other countries where politics is decentralised?
Advantages and disadvantages of decentralisation?

5. Threats to the system
Russia, Britain, France apply pressure for trade treaties
Financial strain on Samurai and Daimyo
Ronin
Conflict between Daimyo and Shogun
Identify the threats above that are internal to Japan and those that are external

6. Cracks in the class system
Samurai had status but lacked a clear role
Merchants were becoming increasingly wealthy but had little status and power
But the classes were now mixing
Rich merchants could buy into lower ranks of samurai

7. Can they stay cut off from the world?
Seclusion or Sakoku helped social stability
But is it realistic?
Write 3 disadvantages in bullet point form

8. Commodore Mathew Perry
Arrived in Edo 1853 – told to go to Nagasaki
He refused – threatened Edo with bombardment
Presented letter from the US President Fillmore demanding a trade treaty
Returned in 1854 with double the fleet – gunboat diplomacy

9. What Did the U. S. Want?? Coaling stations. More trading partners.
A haven for ship-wrecked sailors.

10. Read Letter from President Filmore

11. Perry’s “Black Ships”

12. 1853-54 – Commodore Matthew Perry “Opens Up” Japan to Western Trade!

13. An Unequal Treaty? Convention of Kanagawa 1854 – diplomatic relations
Five years later – treaties with most European nations
Some Samurai deeply resented (hated) these “unequal” (unfair) treaties forced on Japan

14. The Treaty of Kanagawa - 1854

15. March 31, 1854: Treaty of Kanagawa Terms?
Peace and friendship between the United States and Japan.
2. Opening of two ports to American ships
3. Help for any American ships wrecked on the Japanese coast and protection for shipwrecked persons
4. Permission for American ships to buy supplies, coal, water, and other necessary provisions in Japanese ports.

16. What are some reasons?
“Why do you think the Shogun agreed to sign the Kanagawa Treaty in 1854?”

17. After Perry: foreign traders and the Yokohama Treaty
After the Tokugawa treaties opened Japanese ports to European powers, many ronin become xenophobic - the result of feelings of:
threat,
lost culture,
fierce pride,
social change, and / or
new commercial values

18. Great number of foreigners arrived to Yokohama, their arrogance and independent behaviour gave rise to trouble with the samurai
Murders of foreigners and collaborative Japanese occurred

19. Japan learns from China
In 1862, Tokugawa sent officials and scholars to China to study the situation there.
A Japanese recorded in his diary when in Shanghai…
“The Chinese have become servants to the foreigners. Sovereignty may belong to China but in fact it's no more than a colony of Great Britain and France.”

20. China’s “Unequal Treaties”
After the Opium Wars many in the Shogun’s government were convinced that it had to open up to the West or face the fate of China