Commodore Perry’s black ships deliver a letter to Japan in July 1853 Jan. 28 06:51 am JST Jan. 29 | 10:58 am JST
It wasn’t a surprise.
As early as 1852, a Dutch agent in Nagasaki had given a report to high-level Japanese officials describing an expedition led by Matthew Calbraith Perry, consisting of “two steamships and two other ships.” Japan’s
bakufu the shogunate government in power for the last seven centuries had limited their trading to China, Korea, Holland and the Ryukyu Island chain. Fourteen years earlier they’d received a similar report, stating that British ships were coming, but after a no-show, the Japanese lost a bit of trust in the Dutch reports, believing their sole European trading partner was attempting to use to their advantage the fear of other more intimidating competitors. The report on the Americans was acknowledged, but not taken seriously.