I've been writing about the Japan Expedition for a while now - the momentous, famous and infamous actions of the U.S. to open up a safe haven agreement with Japan, that eventually opened up Japan from its isolationist policy of 250 years or so.
The Japan expedition is indeed a defining moment in the history of Japan. I would be interested in one day researching notes on what Japan, itself, thought about the whole event, but for now, all I have to work with is the U.S. version, and I acknowledge that the version may indeed be skewed.
You can read the preamble via old American newspapers here, via a concept sent to me by long-time reader and good friend Vinny (my e-mail IS fixed!) and through the archive of the www.readex.com:
Part 1 - Alexandria Gazette, September 13, 1852
Part 2 - Plattsburgh Republican, November 20, 1852
Part 3 - Charleston Courier, November 22, 1852
Part 4 - Weekly Herald, January 1, 1853
Part 5 - Alta California, May 16, 1853
Part 6 - Daily National Intelligencer, November 3, 1853
Part 7 - President Fillmore's Letter To Japan, November 13, 1852
Part 8 - List Of Presents From The US To Japan, July 14, 1853
Part 9 - National Aegis, November 9, 1853
Part 10 - Daily Democratic State Journal, December 7, 1853
Part 11 - Sandusky Register, April 6, 1854
Part 12 - Sandusky Register, April 15, 1854
Part 13 - London Times, June 17, 1854
Part 14 - Richmond Whig, November 8, 1853
Part 15 - Richmond Whig, November 8, 1853
Part 16 - Richmond Whig, November 8, 1853
Part 17 - Boston Recorder, June 22, 1854
despite Parts 14-16 seemingly being out of order, they do present a great look at how the whole kit and caboodle went down, and could be an excellent reference point for those of you not wishing to read the entire history lesson.
Here's an Op/Ed piece from the June 22, 1854 edition of the Wooster Republican newspaper of Wooster, Ohio, that American readers viewed about the Japan Expedition. It's short:
THE FINALE OF THE JAPAN EXPEDITION.—
—We lately stated that Commodore Perry had succeeded in obtaining from the Japanese the concessions he demanded.
It appears by the English papers, that in a year hence, three of the Japanese ports are to be opened to American trade.
This is substantially the same successions announced to the Russian commander.
The success of this negotiation is due solely to the course pursued by Commodore Perry on his first visit, which the present Secretary of the Navy took such especial pains to express his disapproval of, refusing the increased force asked by the Commodore to give effect to his movements.
However, as the Pacific's news denied, positively, that any treaty had been entered into with the Russians, it is probably that all will come out right yet, and the United States reap the profits of their negotiations.
This is interesting, only if for its brevity.
It notes that it expects the US to gain three ports from which to do business with the Japanese, but as history truly tells us, the March 31, 1854, the Convention of Kanagawa concluded between Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the United States Navy and the Tokugawa shogunate opened the Japanese ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to United States trade and guaranteed the safety of shipwrecked U.S. sailors - it was officially ratified on February 21, 1855.
Of course, there are still more stories from early North American newspapers on this topic, and I shall endeavor to present them shortly. The trick is finding the time to first read them all, determine their importance (subjective), and then again the time to decode and retype the documents to try and present an authentic feel to what the average American was hearing about theirs country's incursion into Asia.
Thanks to Vinny, I still have a lot of documents to peer through in e-mails I haven't even opened up yet! Thanks to my e-mail server screwing me for a week, I was unable to open up swathes of saved e-mails in my Inbox. That has since been resolved.
I'm going to have some popcorn and consider the next topic - regarding a previous blog entry of mine regarding gaijin and Japanese women - after a reader posed an interesting question to me.
Cheers
Andrew Joseph
The Japan expedition is indeed a defining moment in the history of Japan. I would be interested in one day researching notes on what Japan, itself, thought about the whole event, but for now, all I have to work with is the U.S. version, and I acknowledge that the version may indeed be skewed.
You can read the preamble via old American newspapers here, via a concept sent to me by long-time reader and good friend Vinny (my e-mail IS fixed!) and through the archive of the www.readex.com:
Part 1 - Alexandria Gazette, September 13, 1852
Part 2 - Plattsburgh Republican, November 20, 1852
Part 3 - Charleston Courier, November 22, 1852
Part 4 - Weekly Herald, January 1, 1853
Part 5 - Alta California, May 16, 1853
Part 6 - Daily National Intelligencer, November 3, 1853
Part 7 - President Fillmore's Letter To Japan, November 13, 1852
Part 8 - List Of Presents From The US To Japan, July 14, 1853
Part 9 - National Aegis, November 9, 1853
Part 10 - Daily Democratic State Journal, December 7, 1853
Part 11 - Sandusky Register, April 6, 1854
Part 12 - Sandusky Register, April 15, 1854
Part 13 - London Times, June 17, 1854
Part 14 - Richmond Whig, November 8, 1853
Part 15 - Richmond Whig, November 8, 1853
Part 16 - Richmond Whig, November 8, 1853
Part 17 - Boston Recorder, June 22, 1854
despite Parts 14-16 seemingly being out of order, they do present a great look at how the whole kit and caboodle went down, and could be an excellent reference point for those of you not wishing to read the entire history lesson.
Here's an Op/Ed piece from the June 22, 1854 edition of the Wooster Republican newspaper of Wooster, Ohio, that American readers viewed about the Japan Expedition. It's short:
THE FINALE OF THE JAPAN EXPEDITION.—
—We lately stated that Commodore Perry had succeeded in obtaining from the Japanese the concessions he demanded.
It appears by the English papers, that in a year hence, three of the Japanese ports are to be opened to American trade.
This is substantially the same successions announced to the Russian commander.
The success of this negotiation is due solely to the course pursued by Commodore Perry on his first visit, which the present Secretary of the Navy took such especial pains to express his disapproval of, refusing the increased force asked by the Commodore to give effect to his movements.
However, as the Pacific's news denied, positively, that any treaty had been entered into with the Russians, it is probably that all will come out right yet, and the United States reap the profits of their negotiations.
This is interesting, only if for its brevity.
It notes that it expects the US to gain three ports from which to do business with the Japanese, but as history truly tells us, the March 31, 1854, the Convention of Kanagawa concluded between Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the United States Navy and the Tokugawa shogunate opened the Japanese ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to United States trade and guaranteed the safety of shipwrecked U.S. sailors - it was officially ratified on February 21, 1855.
Of course, there are still more stories from early North American newspapers on this topic, and I shall endeavor to present them shortly. The trick is finding the time to first read them all, determine their importance (subjective), and then again the time to decode and retype the documents to try and present an authentic feel to what the average American was hearing about theirs country's incursion into Asia.
Thanks to Vinny, I still have a lot of documents to peer through in e-mails I haven't even opened up yet! Thanks to my e-mail server screwing me for a week, I was unable to open up swathes of saved e-mails in my Inbox. That has since been resolved.
I'm going to have some popcorn and consider the next topic - regarding a previous blog entry of mine regarding gaijin and Japanese women - after a reader posed an interesting question to me.
Cheers
Andrew Joseph
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