What?: American Commodore Mathew Perry arrives in Japan with a fleet of ships and a letter from President Fillmore.
Who?: Mathew Perry an American naval officer.
Where?: Tokyo Bay
When?: 1853
Why?: The United States wants to trade with Japan.
Results:
1) Japan realizes it has fallen behind the rest of the world technologically.
2) Japan radically reorganizes its culture westernizing, industrializing and modernizing, under the Meiji Restoration
3) In the next 50 years Japan makes itself into a legitimate world power.
Importance: Awakens Japan to the rest of rthe world.
Quote: “The United States is only 18 days sailing time from the shores of Japan” A thinly veiled threat from American President Millard Fillmore.
Related Terms:1) Meiji Restoration, 2) "Dragon Fleet"