Shimoda Story
On August 21, 1856, two years after an American fleet under Commodore Matthew C. Perry visited Japan's port of Shimoda, formal U.S. relations with the Japanese began: a naval vessel arrived at Shimoda, bringing Townsend Harris with credentials as first Consul General to Japan. He had two directives: to establish a consular office and to negotiate a trade treaty.
Despite the Perry agreement, the Japanese did not welcome the presence of an American consul; they emphatically did not want a trade treaty. The maneuvering of the next sixteen months was complicated - at times dramatic, often amusing. Each side believed it was upholding the values of civilization against an opposing barbarism. Harris, with constant, often unreasonable demands, with threat and bluster, managed to throw all official Japan into turmoil. Perry had unlocked the door to Japan, but Harris opened it.
Shimoda Story
is much more than a chronical of negotiations. It is both a political and social history of Japan in the 1850's. It gives a warm and intimate picture of Shimoda, a town of spirited inhabitants - merchants and innkeepers, the crews of coastal vessels, a town which was, for a few exciting months, the setting for the drama of Japan's reentry into the world after more than two centuries of seclusion.
Foreigners in Mikado Land
This is an account of life in the foreign communities and former foreign settlement or concession in Japan that flourished after Japan was opened to foreign trade in 1859. It tells of the impostors, the eccentrics, and the scandals, no less than the achievements of the scholars, the merchants, and the diplomats who contributed so much to the development of modern Japan.
Here you will meet Townsend Harris, the first U.S. Consul General to Japan, the Grade Duke Alexander, and many other less well known, but just as interesting figures such as the energetic Reverend Bailey, the remarkable Mr. McLeod, and the Misses Butterfly and Chrysanthemum.
All these events are portrayed in a series of chapters, arranged as nearly as possible in chronological order, each woven around some of the happenings of the times. Carefully researched, all of these events are historically accurate in every detail, and are written in Mr. William's highly enjoyable style.
Foreigners in Mikadoland - Williams, Harold S., ISBN 0-8048-1049-4, Charles E. Tuttle Co., Publishers, 1963, First paperback edition 1972
Other Book references for History of Japan
Everyday Life in Taditional Japan - Dunn, Charles J., ISBN0-8048-1384-1, Charles E. Tutle Co. Publishers, 1972, 9th printing 1987
The 47 Ronin Story - Allyn, John, ISBN 0-8048-0196-7, Carles E. Tuttle Co. Publisers, 1970, 22nd printing 1997
Some On Line references for History of Japan
