"Barbarians" open up Japan: Commodore Perry broke through Japan's secret world 150 years ago.

• Author: McCollum, Sean
• Position: Times past - How the U.S. and Japan opened relations

Kayama Yezaimon sized up the four black American warships that had anchored in Edo (Tokyo) Bay, menacing Japan's seat of power.

The squadron's two steam frigates were like nothing the Japanese had ever seen. They did not know that steamboats existed, and described the heavily-armed ships as "giant dragons puffing smoke."

Kayama, an aide to the local governor, had already asked the Americans to leave Japanese waters--and been politely turned down. A naval officer, Commodore Matthew C. Perry, carried a letter from the President of the United States, Millard Fillmore. Perry refused to leave until the letter was delivered to Japan's Emperor or other top official.

Kayama decided to seek further instructions from his superiors. Aboard one of the black ships, Perry plotted his next move. His strategy for penetrating the suspicious, self-isolated Japanese appeared to be working.

A CLOSED COUNTRY

Perry's arrival in 1853 came as the U.S. was eager to carve out an Asian foothold for its commercial and military shipping. It hoped Japan would open some of its ports to trade, and to provide coal and other supplies to New England's commercial whaling fleet.

The visit of the black ships, as it came to be known, was audacious. Japan, fearing the influence of outsiders, especially Christian missionaries, had jealously guarded its shores for 200 years. The Tokugawa shoguns, a warrior class that held more power than the Emperor and effectively controlled the country, barred foreigners from entering; shipwrecked sailors, landing by accident, were forbidden to leave, to preserve Japan's secrets. Except for tightly controlled contact with a few Chinese and Dutch traders, Japan blocked out the rest of the world.

But by the 1800s, explorers and traders were poking the prows of their ships into every potential port. In 1852, scholar Aizawa Seishisai grumbled:

Today the allen barbarians of the West ... are dashing about the seas, trampling other countries underfoot, and daring ... to override the noble nations. SHIPPING NEEDS

Across the Pacific, the U.S. was looking beyond its coastlines. The Americans had recently wrested a west coast from Mexico, adding California as its 31st state in 1850. Opening Japanese ports could make the economically expanding U.S. a major player in the Far East.

U.S. naval ships had twice visited Japan in the 1840s in hopes of establishing relations. Their goals, as outlined by President Fillmore, were to pursue "friendship, commerce, a...