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Tokugawa Shogunate
By 1800 the Tokugawa Shogunate had ruled he Japanese islands for 200 years, driven out foreign tradersand missionaries and isolated the country from virtually all contact with the outside world. The Tokugawa maintained formal relations only with Korea, and trading with the Dutch and Chinese merchants continued at Nagasaki -
Treaty of Kanagawa
In 1853 an American fleet of 4 warships under Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Edo Bay. Perry brought a letter from President Millard Fillmore. He asked for better treatment of sailor ships wrecked on the Japanese islands and requested the opening of foreign relations between Japan and the United States. Jan agreed to the Treaty of Kanagawa. This treaty provided the return of shipwrecked American Sailors, the opening of 2 ports to western traders. -
New Treaty
In 1858, U.S. consul Townsend Harris signed a more detailed treaty. It called for the opening of sev- eral new ports to U.S. trade and residence, as well as an exchange of ministers. Similar treaties were soon signed by Japan and several European nations. -
Sat-Cho Alliance
In 1863, the Sat-Cho alliance forced the shogun to promise to end relations with the West. -
Shogun Resign
The Sat-Cho leaders demanded that the shogun resign and restore the power of the emperor. In January 1868, their armies attacked the shogun’s palace in Kyoto and proclaimed that the authority of the emperor had been restored. After a few weeks, the sho- gun’s forces collapsed, ending the shogunate system. In 1868, the new leaders signed a Charter Oath, in which they promised to create a new legislative assembly within the framework of continued imperial rule. -
Tokyo School
In 1889, the Tokyo School of Fine Arts was established to pro- mote traditional Japanese art. Japanese artists searched for a new but truly Japanese means of expression. -
Surprise Attack
In 1904, Japan launched a sur- prise attack on the Russian naval base at Port Arthur, which Russia had taken from China in 1898. When Japanese forces moved into Manchuria and the Liaodong Peninsula, Russian troops proved to be no match for them. -
1905
n 1905, the United States recognized Japan’s role in Korea in return for Japanese recognition of American authority in the Philippines. -
1907
1907, President Theodore Roosevelt made a “gentlemen’s agreement” with Japan that essentially stopped Japanese immigration to the United States. -
1910
In 1910, Japan annexed Korea outright. Mutual suspicion between the two countries was growing, however. The Japanese resented U.S. efforts to restrict immigration
