Last Updated: May, 4, 2023

The Story of Shimoda

How Japan Was Forcefully Opened

In 1853, on the 8th of July, the American navy steamed four of its mighty warships into the bay of the shogun’s capital city. The crew carried an ultimatum for Japan to open up for trade. Though not the first foreign ships to appear off of the coast of Japan, the country had then been largely closed to…