 The issue or the topic that we are going to discuss today is Unit 1 for the paper History of Japan and China. And the title of this particular lecture is Opening of Japan. This is meant for the third semester BA students pursuing history under Krishna Kanta Handik State Open University. In this lecture today we will be discussing some of the key issues and these are to explain the end of the isolation policy of Japan owing to the western pressure for trade and commerce. The other issue is to discuss the changes within Japan leading to diplomatic and political reshuffling with the arrival of Komodor Peri from America. And the other one is to discuss the Harris Treaty signed in 1858 and its consequences. Before we begin with the understanding of how Japan had to let go its isolationist policy and to welcome the foreign powers, let us try to understand certain terms which may be very useful while we try to understand the entire history of Japan as it moves from its feudal structure to modern state system. So one of the term is Bakufu, B-A-K-U-F-U, Bakufu actually means the military regime or military rule. The other term is Demyo, D-A-I-M-Y-O, Demyo means the feudal lords. And we will see the use of these terms very frequently when we study the history of Japan. The other term is Samurai and Samurais are actually the military officers under the powerful Demyos. Sakoku is another term which means the isolationist policy which was followed under the Tokugua Shogunate, feudal system. When we are trying to understand this particular paper on opening of Japan, what we will see is what we will come to learn more about is the feudal structure within Imperial Japan and what is feudal system actually. It's nothing but the structuring of the society on the basis of relationships derived from the land holdings in exchange of labor or service. Let us move on now to understand the relation of Japan with the West. We understand that Japan is a very powerful and one of the most successful Asian country in the globe. But it was not so. Some centuries back, we see that Japan had always followed a locked-in policy and it had maintained very limited contact with the West. But however, things changed from 17th century onwards when the European nations business started promoting trade and this led them towards the East. As a result of the isolationist policy of Japan, they found that it acted as an obstacle for their promotion of trade. It was only in the port or through the port of Nagasaki that the foreign trade was permitted and it was only the Dutch who were allowed to settle there. However, we see that very slowly and gradually the Western powers started to enter the port of Japan and one of the first countries to do so was Russia. Russia made the first contact with Japan way back in 1697. That was followed by much two centuries later by Britain who sent a British vessel in 1808 and it entered the harbor of Nagasaki. However, not much success could be gained by any of these foreign powers. In 1842, American ships commanded by Commodore Biddle were sent to the Bay of Yedo for securing trade concessions but their request was however denied. It was in 1853 when four American fleets landed in Japan in the Bay of Yedo under the command of Commodore Matthew Galbraith Perry that success seemed to have landed in the hands of the Western powers, especially America. Commodore Perry arrived in America in 1852 and the objective of his arrival was to secure a friendly relation with Japan and also at the same time to seek protection for American sea men who landed in Japan because of the fact that sometimes their ships got wrecked and as a result of which they sought for protection. Japanese people were not known to be very friendly to the foreigners and hence America looked for more friendly relationships. At the same point of time we also see that because of the trans-Pacific trade, America had to expand its trade relations and the sailors had to pass by Japan to reach China and they wanted to use the Japanese ports in order to fuel their steamships. This was also one of the reasons why they wanted to establish friendly relations or friendly connections with Japan. On 3rd July 1853, Commodore Perry with his squadron of four ships entered into the Bay of Yedo. They were greeted very respectfully of course because the Japanese people at that point of time were quite surprised with the huge, the large number of fleet that had arrived at their port and what we understand after this was Commodore Perry who had the letter from the official letter from the American president, he submitted that letter to the Japanese officials at Nagasaki and henceforth he promised that he would be returning back after one year to get a response from the Japanese officials. In the meantime there was quite a disruption after Commodore Perry's fleet left the port of Japan because there was now suspicions among the, in the minds of the Japanese people as to the credibility of the Shogunate to rule over Japan because it was seen that despite the strict isolationist policy the government had failed to offer any resistance to Commodore Perry and his people. There were differences of opinions where the Demios and the Samurais were of the opinion that they should put up a strong resistance against the western powers whereas the other section who were far more intelligent to understand the consequences, they were of the opinion that more friendly relations should be established in order to, in order to bring up such kind of a situation where there would be innumerable conflicts and more disaster. Henceforth it was decided that a friendly relation would be now established with America. As soon as Commodore Perry left Japan, Russia started making similar demands, started making similar, demanding similar concessions as Commodore Perry with the officials of Japan. Seeing this aggressive agenda of Russia, Commodore Perry didn't waste a time and even though he had promised to return to Japan within a year, he rushed in again in February 1854 with a fleet of seven vessels now and he entered the Bay of Iedo. And immediately what followed was the Treaty of Kanagawa and this treaty was very significant but for the fact that it was for the first time that Japan ended its isolationist policy by accepting certain terms that allowed the Americans to establish trade contacts. Some of the provisions of the Treaty of Kanagawa are number one, Japanese seaports Shimoda and Hakodate were opened up to be used as cooling and refueling station for the steamships of America. Number two, an American consul or an American officer was to be appointed to reside at Shimoda. The third was the protection provided to the shipwrecked sellers of America by the Japanese government. The fourth was the grant by the Japanese officials to the American government to buy coal, food and water from Nagasaki. It was a huge success for Commodore Perry and his country because they could now establish a friendly relation as well as they could meet the objectives with which they had started the entire mission way back in 1852. What followed was the fact that the Japanese government also had to sign up such commercial treaties with other countries like England, Russia and Holland as they also demanded the similar privileges as given to the American government. In keeping with the provisions of the Kanagawa Treaty by which an American consul was to be appointed at Shimoda, Townsend Harris was appointed as the first American consul general to Shimoda and he arrived in 1856. When he arrived he was not treated well. The Japanese people were not happy at his arrival. They had always been very, very apprehensive of the arrival of the foreign powers in their land. Hence, the treatment was very, very natural towards Townsend Harris. However, Harris was able to win the hearts of the people and he ended up signing a convention which was later followed by a treaty and this was called the Harris Treaty. The Harris Treaty had certain provisions and by this provisions America got far more privileges than the last treaty of Kanagawa signed by Commodore Perry. Some of the provisions of this Harris Treaty are number one diplomatic representation was to be maintained at each other's capital by both the countries. It was understood that both the countries, Japan and America would maintain every kind of diplomatic relationship through their representatives at the capital. Number two, American citizens were now permitted to reside at Shimoda, Hakodate and Nagasaki. Earlier it was Shimoda and Hakodate, the three ports. Now they were also permitted to stay in Nagasaki. The American traders were allowed to carry on trade in the ports of Shimoda, Hakodate, Nagasaki and Kanagawa. So now what we see is that they had the trade areas was expanding for the Americans. The American government was permitted to station a minister in Yedo and consuls in all open ports. This was one of the provisions. And what we had seen in the Kanagawa Treaty was that one consul was to be appointed who would reside in Shimoda. But by the Harris Treaty it was granted that the consuls would be appointed in all the sea ports in Japan. The American Navy was allowed to establish supply depots in Yokohama, Hakodate and Nagasaki. The Americans were also granted extra territorial rights by which the Americans in Japan would now be under the jurisdiction of their own consuls and not the Japanese officials. So they were free in another sense, what we can say is they were free from the supervision of the Japanese officials. They would now be free to carry on their activities without the restrictions imposed by the Japanese officials. Another provision of the Harris Treaty was that Japan would charge only five percent custom duties on all commodities imported from and exported to America. And also surrendered her right to enforce her own tariff rates. So these were some of the provisions by which America came out more successful than Japan. As a result of both the treaties, the Treaty of Kanagawa and the Harris Treaty, what we see is the gradual decline of feudalism. Not only the opening of Japan becomes very, very prominent, but also the fact that gradually the structure, the social structure within Japan was breaking down. One some of the reasons was the failure of the Tokugawa Shogunate to control or to restrict the arrival of the Western powers in Japan. The fact that they could not provide any resistance to Komodor Peri and likewise the lack of the courage to put up a strong front against the European powers for any kind of context was what led the people to give up any faith on the Shogunate. Not just America, but England, France and Britain, they too had established commercial treaties with the Japanese government towing with the fact that it was also the American government under Komodor Peri who had managed. So Japan was forced to sign commercial treaties with these European powers and this led to the fact that people in Japan were now giving up every kind of faith on the Japanese government. Another reason why we see that feudalism was declining gradually because of the radicalization of young samurai. This new brand of samurai or the military officers were working under the Demios, they were of the belief that there was a need for total alternative political model within the imperial country. They believed that the Tokugawa Shogunate was a failure in bringing any kind of change within imperial Japan. The third reason for the end of feudalism that we see that happened by the imperial edict of 1871, what we see is the restoration was the installation or the establishment of Meiji rule in 1868 and the gradual fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate. So what we have discussed in this entire lesson or through this particular unit titled the Opening of Japan, what we have understood is that Japan who had for long followed the policy of Sakoku or the isolationist policy had to finally give up all this policy to the western powers and they had to bow down to their pressure and grant commercial privileges, concessions to these European powers. The Treaty of Kanagawa and the Harris Treaty finally managed to break the isolationist policy of Japan and which gradually led to the end of feudalism. So with this we come to the end of today's lecture. I hope you will be benefited by this lecture. Thank you very much.