July 8, 1853: The Black Ships

Some turning points arrive as negotiations. This one arrived as four warships.On July 8, 1853, U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Edo Bay in Japan, deliberately ignoring Japanese orders to proceed to Nagasaki, the only port where foreign vessels were permitted, and anchored within sight of the capital. Japan had maintained a strict isolation policy since 1639, and Perry's steam-powered ships, which Japanese observers called kurofune, or black ships, carried 73 state-of-the-art guns the shogunate had no military answer for. Perry returned the following year with nine ships, and the Treaty of Kanagawa, signed in March 1854, opened Japanese ports to American trade for the first time in over two centuries. The shogunate's inability to resist triggered a domestic crisis that ended with its overthrow in 1868 and the start of the Meiji Restoration, a government-led industrialization program that grew Japanese trade tenfold in thirty years and led, within a generation, to Japan defeating Russia in open conflict.From bsnsHistory, the daily podcast about the moments when business quietly reshaped the world.Written and hosted by Ron Trucks. Research and editing by Rodney Russ. Sound design by Angela Cahoy. Music by Cody Martin and Soundstripe.For more daily business stories, visit www.bsnsDAILYpodcasts.com