The Era Of Isolation In Japan

Between the years 1636-1853 Japan was in a state of self-imposed isolation from the world. This foreign policy, known as Sakoku in Japanese or “closed country,” is used to represent this period of isolationism. Sakoku was set up by the Japanese Shogunate in order to remove the growing colonial and religious influences of European nations in Japan which were seen as a threat to stability and peace. This period of isolation remained nearly untouched for over 200 years until four American ships showed up in Tokyo harbour in 1853, demanding that the Japanese open up their ports for US trade. This historical event is considered an incredibly important moment in Japanese history as it represents the birth of modern day Japan. The forced opening of

Isolation gave the Japanese a false sense of security as they viewed themselves as strong enough to repel western advances. This sense of protection from imperialistic maneuvers was abandoned after Commodore Matthew C. Perry’s convoy of American ships singlehandedly brought Japan to its knees. When the Americans arrived in Japan, they came with a series of unfair and demanding trade demands. Consequently, these forced treaties placed on the Japanese gave the Americans, and later, other Western Nations special legal and economic rights such as the assurance that the Japanese would supply food, coal, water and other provisions for American sailors at the ports of Nagasaki, Shimoda and Hakodate . As a result of these treaties, many Japanese citizens felt as though Japan was on a similar path as China, who at the time was a weak and humiliated country and stood as an example of what happens to a once mighty nation if they are unable to repel the advances of Western imperialism. At the time of the Japanese-American treaties China was riddled with social unrest, as the devastating effects of the Taiping rebellion were resulting in huge numbers of deaths and pointed to the weakness and instability of the imperial government. Determined to not meet the same fate as the Chinese and that modernization was the key to survival, a group of mid-level Samurai overthrew the Shogun in 1868 and set Japan on a course of rapid modernization unparalleled in history. This event is now known as the Meiji restoration and it resulted in power being returned to the emperor and his advisers for the first time in centuries. The emperor shook up Japanese society to a dramatic effect in a short period of time by abolishing the feudal system that had been in place for centuries, modernizing the military and