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Breaking Open Japan Analysis

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At first glance, the end of Japanese isolation in 1853 seems straightforward. The Americans, under the leadership of Commodore Matthew Perry sailed to Japan with their fleet of black ships. They were the ones to convince Japan to open its ports to foreign trade. However, a closer inspection of events complicates that narrative. Commodore Perry’s arrival is a historical event that has been written about in a variety of ways. In order to understand the opening of Japan, the closing of Japan must first be discussed. At the time of the American expedition to Japan, power in Japan was not in the hands of the Emperor. The Emperor was a largely symbolic leader. The Shogunate, headed by a military commander called the shogun, dictated policy. The …show more content…

Tone and word choice serves to create a compelling narrative. The very first chapter draws the reader in with a description of the ‘black ships’ sailing in Edo Bay. One chapter recounts a delightful little story in Abe Masahiro’s childhood. Supposedly, when he was just a boy, Abe admired the goldfish in the pond of his father’s colleague. And when he refused the offer to take the fish home, his father counseled him on the wisdom of refusal. It is almost impossible to say if the story happened the way it is said to have happened, if it even happened at all. Either way, this is exactly the kind of tidbit the average person loves to read about. It is an intimate detail, one that make the reader feel like they are getting special glimpse into the past. Writing history like this makes history more real and more relatable. The trade-off is that it also makes history a little less objective. Additionally, Feifer did something the other books did not. He examines the legacy left behind after Perry’s arrival, specifically, the impact of Japanese remembrance of the opening. Feifer posits that as a whole, Japan was humiliated when it was forced open the way it was. The title chosen, Breaking Open Japan, seems to support this hypothesis. Under this assumption, Japan was treated in much the same way China. The Japanese were made and the resultant shame had to be collectively buried. But that perspective has the same weakness that all psychohistory carries. It presumes too much, invites too much

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This paper focuses on the failure of diplomatic decisions made by Japan that is national in nature most particularly when they chose to fight in the midst of an embargo made by the American government. The attack of Japan against Pearl Harbor is a result of an erratic, egoistic and irrational behavior blinding the Japanese Military Personnel and Officials of the destructive outcome of the World War 2 and a lack of diplomatic strategies that misled the communication between USA and

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Rahul Bagga Mr.Campbell US History, Period 0 16 December 2015 Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor? One day that will always be remembered by America is the date of December 7, 1941, which changed American history forever. December 7, 1941 was the day the Japanese warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) which stationed many of American ships and airfields. Immediately after the bombings, United States President Franklin Roosevelt declared war on Japan, leading to a direct involvement into World War ll. Japan had many reason to do so but Japan attacked Pearl harbor for three reasons which were that they had a plan for a new world order, United States were expanding their number of naval ships rapidly, and an oil embargo was placed upon Japan

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As opposed to righteous view that America was safeguarding its position in the war, the Japanese American internments were created out of resentment and racial prejudice fostered by other Americans. As the article “Personal Justice Denied” stated, the internments were led by “widespread ignorance of Japanese Americans contributed to a policy conceived in haste and executed in an atmosphere of fear and anger at Japan” (Doc E, 1983). It may seem like a precautionary cause to make internments but there aren’t any other extreme measures for other fronts. Caused by a hatred stirred by media and society’s view, many people disdain the Japanese.

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Japan wanted to expand more and keep on attacking more people, while the U.S. had a different view on expansionism. The U.S. did not support Japan in their expanding, leading to Japan fearing of losing strength and power. These are the reasons that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th,

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788 Words | 4 Pages

The societies of Tokugawa Japan (c.1603-1867C.E.) and medieval Europe (c.1000-1500C.E.) had two things in common; a feudal system. A feudal system is something that features hierarchies or social structures. The feudal system normally starts with a religion, which is at the very top of the social pyramid, then it’s the King or monarch for Europe and the shogun for Japan, then there are the nobles for Europe and the daimyos for Japan. As we go down the pyramid there are the warriors, like the knight in Europe and the samurai in Japan, then there are the peasants. The peasants were included in both eras and are at the lowest part of the pyramid.

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Once the United States started pushing forward, the Japanese opened

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That Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor to establish a New World Order that could not be created with America as a powerful country. The New World Order that was in Japan’s vision was a land where the Yamato race was the dominate one. The Japanese were not pleased with always being

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818 Words | 4 Pages

The following events caused the tensions to raise between Japan and The United States of America which led up to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Internment of Japanese Americans. They are the Rape of Nanking and the sudden stop of U.S exports to Japan. In the 1930s Japan, had become very nationalistic, militaristic, and desired for more land to expand the population. So, Japan went to China and conquered Manchuria, Northern China, then most of China, and eventually Southeast Asia. This help Japan get out of its economic crisis but soon a very tragic and horrendous even took place.

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In late 194l, President Roosevelt banned the sale of oil and other war materials to Japan in an attempt to end Japanese aggression in the Pacific. Japan’s leaders were angered by this embargo and chose to confront the United States in order to lift the oil embargo and continue their reign of terror in the South Pacific. The attack is what led the U.S.

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“The entire Japanese problem has been magnified out of its true proportion largely due to the physical characteristics of the people” (Martin 31). The Japanese didn’t resist being kicked because they felt like if they complied to prove their allegiance (Sandler 45). The Americans betrayed them out of fear. It was fear that drove the

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Japanese-Americans living on the west coast were savagely and unjustifiably uprooted from their daily lives. These Japanese-Americans were pulled from their jobs, schools, and home only to be pushed to

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Even with the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate and their laws that prohibited westerners. No countries wanted to take control over Japan. Rumours of coal being found in Japan sparked an interest in trade for the US. They did their naval superiority to force Japan to sign treaties which gave their people certain diplomatic privileges in Japan. (affairs)

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The scene then changes to the narrator’s childhood, a lonely one at it. “I lay on the bed and lost myself in stories,” he says, “I liked that. Books were safer than other people anyway.” The main narrative starts as he recalls a

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However, the U.S. Army War College suggests Japan’s end state was to seize Pacific countries to negate their dependency on U.S. trade and oil for to decrease their deficit (Record,

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Japan’s Tokugawa (or Edo) period, lasted from 1603 to 1867. This was the final era of the traditional Japanese government before the modern era. The Qin dynasty lasted from 221-206BC. Thought it was brief, it was very important in Chinese history. The main weakness of the Tokugawa was an internal crisis and Western intrusion.

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