Commodore Perry's Black Ships Force Japan Open
Four American warships in Tokyo Bay end over two centuries of Japanese seclusion
Quick facts
- Perry's arrival
- 8 July 1853, Tokyo Bay
- Treaty signed
- 31 March 1854, Treaty of Kanagawa
- Ports opened
- Shimoda and Hakodate
- Key clause
- Most-favored-nation status for the United States
What happened
On 8 July 1853, U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry led four ships into the harbor at Tokyo Bay seeking to reopen regular trade and contact between Japan and the West after over two centuries of sakoku. Perry, according to the Office of the Historian, "believed the only way to convince the Japanese to accept western trade was to display a willingness to use its advanced firepower." American interest was driven partly by the whaling industry's need for safe Pacific harbors and by steamships' need for coaling stations, sharpened by rumors that Japan held large coal deposits. Perry delivered a letter from the U.S. president demanding a treaty, then left and returned the following year with more ships; "with the nine ships staring at them, the Japanese finally agreed to a treaty." The two sides signed the Treaty of Kanagawa on 31 March 1854, under which Japan agreed to protect shipwrecked American sailors and opened two ports, Shimoda and Hakodate, to American ships for supplies, along with a most-favored-nation clause guaranteeing the U.S. any concessions Japan later granted other powers.
Why it matters
The Treaty of Kanagawa ended Japan's two-century isolation and set off a chain of unequal treaties with other Western powers, exposing the Tokugawa shogunate as unable to resist foreign pressure. That perceived weakness fed directly into the political crisis that toppled the shogunate and produced the Meiji Restoration fourteen years later.
How we know
Perry's expedition and the Treaty of Kanagawa's terms are documented in official U.S. State Department and National Archives records, including Perry's own reports and the treaty text itself.
Sources
- Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State. Opening to Japan, 1853-54 · Reputable sourcehistory.state.gov · The domain "history.state.gov" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- National Archives. Treaty of Kanagawa · Primary sourcearchives.gov · The domain "archives.gov" is on our Primary source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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