The Opening of Japan, 1853–1855

A Comparative Study of the American, British, Dutch and Russian Naval Expedition to Compel the Tokugawa Shogunate to Conclude Treaties and Open Ports to Their Ships in the Years 1853-55
Erscheinungsjahr 2006
ISBN: 978-1-901903-76-8
Verlag: Brill Academic Publishers

Buch, Englisch, 528 Seiten, Gewicht: 1500 g

Sub-titled A comparative study of the American, British, Dutch and Russian naval expeditions to compel the Tokugawa shogunate to conclude treaties and open ports to their ships, this highly informed and widely researched study provides for the first time a more complete picture of the competition and cooperation, distrust and open hostility of the four protagonists involved in this joint Western enterprise. In 1852, the news of the US government's plan to send a large naval expedition to Japan to demand the opening of its ports to American ships excited public interest and elicited differing responses among the European powers. For Russia, Japan was a neighbouring empire to whose ports it had itself long sought access; now, its jealousy aroused, and its own strategic interests seemingly under threat, Russia could not permit the United States to possibly exclude it from Japanese ports. In the wake of the Opium war, the Dutch king had urged the shogun to peacefully open its ports to the other Western powers; now the king and his ministers feared that the US expedition would take an overly aggressive approach that might involve the Netherlands in a war with Japan. Having previously opened Chinese ports to the West, Britain was occupied there, and willing to take 'a wait and see' attitude, temporarily conceding a leading role to the United States in Japan. (France had also previously made approaches to Japan, and in case of a successful outcome, would not lag far behind in sending its own warships to make arrangements with Japan.) Thus, the stage was set for the race between America and Russia to open 'Closed Japan' and the surrounding seas, while the Netherlands worked quietly behind the scenes, and Britain and France waited in the wings. This volume documents in detail the plans and outcomes of each of the four powers’ negotiations with Japan, lists the clauses of the resulting treaties and offers a comparative analysis of their merits and demerits; at the same time it provides a fascinating commentary on the way business was done by the Japanese with each country and its representatives.

Autoren/Hrsg.

McOmie, William

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wirtschaftsgeschichte
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Volkswirtschaftslehre Allgemein Geschichte der VWL
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Geschichte der Schifffahrt
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Internationale Wirtschaft Internationaler Handel
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Betriebswirtschaft Bereichsspezifisches Management Außenhandel

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface; A Word about Sources; Acknowledgements; List of Illustrations; 1. Japan’s Relations with the Western World Until 1839; 2. Knocking on Japan’s Locked Doors, 1840–52; 3. Who Will Open Japan?: The Contest Begins, 1852–53; 4. Ten Days that Shook Japan: The Americans’ First Visit, 8–17 July 1853; 5. Black Ships Revisited: The Russians in Nagasaki in 1854; 6. Interlude on the China Coast and Ryukyu; 7. Neighbourly Relations: The Recognition of Changing Times; 8. The Commodore Returns:Threats,Treats and a Treaty; 9. Testing the Treaty in the Opened Ports; 10. The Dutch, British, Russians (and Americans) in ‘Opened’ Japan; 11. Days of Ennui and Disappointment: The Russians and Americans in Heda and Shimoda, February to December 1855; 12. A Gathering of Forces: British, French, Russian and Dutch; 13. The First Four Treaties Compared; 14. Retrospect and Prospect; Bibliography; Index

Über Autor(innen)

William McOmie graduated in psychobiology at the University of California at Santa Cruz and received an MA in Russian language, literature and history from the University of California at Davis. He subsequently travelled and lived abroad, studying German and Japanese to an advanced level. For the last ten years he has been accessing primary sources in English, Russian, German and Dutch for the writing of this book, most recently as a visiting scholar at the Center for Japanese Studies,at the University of California, Berkley (2001-2). He is currently Associate Professor in the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Kanagawa University, Japan, and is also author of the forthcoming The Opening of Japan, 1853-55. A comparative study of the American, British and Russian campaigns to force the Tokugawa shogunate to conclude treaties and open ports to their ships (2005).