The Sons of Heaven Confront the Barbarians: Japanese-American Trade 1797-1860.

The United States fulfilled its desire to be the country that reopened trade with Japan through the Kanagawa Treaty (1854). Japan reluctantly rejoined the world community at a time when their culture and economy were in disorder. While grappling with the changes within their borders they tried to keep the ways of the "barbarians" from tainting their homeland. A highly developed economic structure had evolved during 250 years of domestic peace from under the policies of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1601-1867). In the early years of this government, it was felt that one of the most serious dangers was the European Catholic missionaries and their converts. To reduce the numbers of missionaries, foreign trade was limited to the Chinese and Protestant Dutch after 1638. In the end, the Japanese were forced to accommodate the changing realities of a world where technology made seclusion impossible to seclude themselves. Commodore Matthew C. Perry's report on the Kanagawa treaty concluded that the "introduction of foreign habits" would open up a consumer market of 30 million people. (BZ)