What is so special about the Japanese ports of Shimoda and Hakodate?

HeavensArrow

Convention of Kanagawa, or Kanagawa Treaty, was concluded between Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy and the Empire of Japan. The treaty opened the Japanese ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to United States trade, guaranteed the safety of shipwrecked U.S. sailors and established a permanent consul. This was an unequal treaty imposed on Japan by the superior strength of Perry's fleet. However, the arrival of the fleet would trigger the end of Japan's 200 year policy of seclusion (Sakoku). The Kanagawa treaty was followed by the United States-Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce, the "Harris Treaty" of 1858, which allowed the establishment of foreign concessions, extra-territoriality for foreigners, and minimal import taxes for foreign goods. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_of_Kanagawa Apr 12 08, 9:58 PM

author

This is correct. In the 1850s, Japan was in political crisis over the issue of what relations, if any, it should have with foreign powers. For a few years, Shimoda was central to this debate. The port was opened to American trade under the conditions of the Convention of Kanagawa, negotiated by Commodore Matthew Perry and signed on March 31, 1854. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimoda%2C_Shizuoka The port of Hakodate was surveyed by a fleet of five US ships in 1854 under the conditions of the Treaty of Kanagawa, as negotiated by Commodore Matthew Perry. Hakodate port partially opened to foreign ships for provisioning in the following year and then completely to foreign trade on 2 June 1859 as one of three Japanese open ports designated in the 1858 Treaty of Amity and Commerce signed with the US. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakodate There is a small mistake in HeavensArrows' reference. Actually the treaty opened three Japanese ports, not only Shimoda and Hakodate. The third one is Nagasaki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagasaki%2C_Nagasaki#Modern_era Apr 13 08, 10:09 AM