The book starts off with something I have not read elsewhere. Perry's trip to Japan was not the first attempt to open Japan to trade. Another attempt had been made seven years previously, but had failed.
The initial meeting between Perry and a minor official did not go well. The next day, humorously enough, Perry's ships saw a boatload of artisans doing paintings of the ships and the men, paintings which were reproduced and sold in shops. Some people found a way to immediate capitalize on what was going on.
The initial meeting of Perry and representatives is described, and then the book talks about the Dutch settlement that was already in Japan. The book describes the culture of Japan at the time and how the lives of Japanese were hemmed in by numerous rules running from the caste system to what kind of clothes a person could wear.
The book then moves on the Perry's return to Japan, and includes a number of appendices. This is a really interesting book, going more in depth about Perry's arrival then I have seen anywhere else.
Main Index
Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page
