TRANSKRIPT 🔗
WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:04.799
On the 8th of July, 1853, four American warships steamed
2
00:00:04.860 --> 00:00:07.429
into a bay in Japan, and the people on the
3
00:00:07.490 --> 00:00:12.210
shore had never seen anything like them. Black hulls, smoking funnels,
4
00:00:12.810 --> 00:00:16.370
guns run out and loaded. The Japanese called them the
5
00:00:16.410 --> 00:00:20.559
Black Ships, and in two visits, without firing a single shot,
6
00:00:21.079 --> 00:00:23.280
they ended two centuries of isolation.
7
00:00:23.960 --> 00:00:27.160
This is the story of Commodore Matthew Perry and the
8
00:00:27.300 --> 00:00:31.600
opening of Japan. For more than 200 years, Japan had
9
00:00:31.620 --> 00:00:36.079
been closed to the outside world. Under the Tokugawa shogunate,
10
00:00:36.340 --> 00:00:40.399
which had ruled since the early 1600s, almost all foreign
11
00:00:40.460 --> 00:00:44.579
contact was forbidden. The only Westerners allowed in were a
12
00:00:44.619 --> 00:00:48.649
handful of Dutch traders, confined to a small man-made island
13
00:00:48.770 --> 00:00:52.310
in the port of Nagasaki. Foreign ships that approached the
14
00:00:52.350 --> 00:00:57.189
coast were turned away, and shipwrecked sailors were imprisoned, sometimes killed.
15
00:00:57.820 --> 00:01:01.219
The Americans had reasons to want the door open. Their
16
00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:05.739
clipper ships raced across the Pacific to China, carrying tea, silk,
17
00:01:06.019 --> 00:01:09.870
and porcelain. Their whaling fleets hunted in the northern Pacific,
18
00:01:10.530 --> 00:01:14.489
and their new steamships, burning coal, needed coaling stations on
19
00:01:14.530 --> 00:01:18.349
the long voyage west. Japan sat directly on the route,
20
00:01:18.969 --> 00:01:21.799
but Japan would not even sell them coal or water
21
00:01:22.219 --> 00:01:22.700
or food.
22
00:01:23.260 --> 00:01:27.730
There was another reason, darker and closer to home. Shipwrecked
23
00:01:27.769 --> 00:01:31.469
American sailors kept washing up on Japanese shores, and the
24
00:01:31.530 --> 00:01:35.269
stories that came back were grim. Men held in cages,
25
00:01:35.849 --> 00:01:39.609
men beaten. The American government wanted a treaty that would
26
00:01:39.659 --> 00:01:43.060
protect its sailors, and it wanted Japan open to trade,
27
00:01:43.719 --> 00:01:45.780
and it was willing to send warships to get it.
28
00:01:46.219 --> 00:01:50.000
The man chosen for the job was Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry,
29
00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:53.840
59 years old, a veteran of the Navy, a man
30
00:01:53.859 --> 00:01:58.959
of enormous dignity. and, by many accounts, enormous pride. He
31
00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:02.450
was the younger brother of Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero
32
00:02:02.510 --> 00:02:06.129
of the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812.
33
00:02:06.129 --> 00:02:10.229
Matthew Perry had spent his career studying naval gunnery, steam power,
34
00:02:10.530 --> 00:02:14.659
and the Far East. He understood the assignment perfectly. He
35
00:02:14.689 --> 00:02:17.699
was not being sent to negotiate as an equal. He
36
00:02:17.740 --> 00:02:20.960
was being sent to deliver a demand, backed by guns.
37
00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:24.719
Perry's squadron arrived at the mouth of Edo Bay, the
38
00:02:24.759 --> 00:02:28.680
bay of the capital, on the 8th of July, 1853.
39
00:02:28.680 --> 00:02:32.800
Four ships, two steam frigates, the Mississippi and the Susquehanna,
40
00:02:33.259 --> 00:02:37.020
and two sailing warships, the Plymouth and the Saratoga. They
41
00:02:37.099 --> 00:02:40.719
steamed into the bay at eight knots, guns loaded, smoke
42
00:02:40.780 --> 00:02:43.759
pouring from their funnels, and anchored in line of battle,
43
00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:47.449
30 miles from the capital city of Edo, modern Tokyo.
44
00:02:47.689 --> 00:02:51.330
Thousands of Japanese lined the shore to watch. Most had
45
00:02:51.370 --> 00:02:55.629
never seen a steamship. The ships moved without sails, against
46
00:02:55.689 --> 00:02:59.889
the wind, trailing black smoke. To the watchers, they looked
47
00:02:59.930 --> 00:03:04.030
like burning ships, monsters from another world. And that was
48
00:03:04.090 --> 00:03:05.990
exactly the effect Perry wanted.
49
00:03:06.530 --> 00:03:08.969
The Japanese officials who came out to meet him told
50
00:03:09.009 --> 00:03:11.939
him to go to Nagasaki, the usual port for foreigners.
51
00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:15.879
Perry refused. He believed he would present the Emperor of
52
00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:20.530
the American President Miladere militarily appointed a temporary of the
53
00:03:20.569 --> 00:03:25.479
American Empire to Teddy Nicholson and Nagasaki. The Japanese officials
54
00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:27.259
who came out to meet him told him to go
55
00:03:27.300 --> 00:03:32.180
to Nagasaki, the usual port for foreigners. Perry refused. He
56
00:03:32.219 --> 00:03:35.080
believed he would present the emperor of the American president
57
00:03:35.139 --> 00:03:39.180
militarily appointed a temporary of the American Empire to Teddy
58
00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:43.099
Nicholson and Nagasaki. The Japanese official who came out to
59
00:03:43.139 --> 00:03:46.060
meet him told him to go to Nagasaki. He carried
60
00:03:46.099 --> 00:03:49.169
a letter from the President of the United States, Millard Fillmore,
61
00:03:49.530 --> 00:03:52.050
and he would deliver it to the Emperor himself or
62
00:03:52.090 --> 00:03:54.930
to the highest officials in Edo. He would not be
63
00:03:54.990 --> 00:03:57.770
sent away to a distant port like a beggar. He
64
00:03:57.830 --> 00:04:00.330
moved his ships closer to the capital as a show
65
00:04:00.370 --> 00:04:02.229
of force and the Japanese gave in.
66
00:04:02.889 --> 00:04:05.669
On the 14th of July, Perry landed at the town
67
00:04:05.710 --> 00:04:09.689
of Uraga with 400 sailors and marines in a ceremony
68
00:04:09.750
Load full transcript
--> 00:04:15.199
designed to overwhelm. Military bands played. Officers marched in full
69
00:04:15.259 --> 00:04:20.660
dress uniform. Perry, in his splendid uniform, presented the president's letter.
70
00:04:21.379 --> 00:04:26.029
It requested friendship, humane treatment for shipwrecked American sailors, and
71
00:04:26.069 --> 00:04:29.850
permission for American steamships to buy coal, food, and water
72
00:04:29.970 --> 00:04:34.850
in Japanese ports. It was polite. It was also an ultimatum.
73
00:04:35.470 --> 00:04:38.769
And then Perry did something clever. He told the Japanese
74
00:04:38.810 --> 00:04:41.959
he would leave and return in a year for their answer.
75
00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:46.079
He gave them time to argue among themselves, and time
76
00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:49.490
to understand that the next fleet would be bigger. He
77
00:04:49.569 --> 00:04:52.290
sailed for China, and Japan held its breath.
78
00:04:52.589 --> 00:04:57.829
The shogunate was in crisis. The shogun himself, Tokugawa Ieyoshi,
79
00:04:58.209 --> 00:05:01.129
was old and ill, and he died within weeks of
80
00:05:01.189 --> 00:05:06.300
Perry's departure. The government debated furiously. Some wanted to fight,
81
00:05:06.920 --> 00:05:10.850
but the more clear-eyed officials knew the truth. Japan's coastal
82
00:05:10.889 --> 00:05:19.470
defenses were centuries out of date. Its guns were old,
83
00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:23.000
and its armies had not fought a foreign enemy. In
84
00:05:23.060 --> 00:05:26.560
two centuries, the world had now seen the world without him.
85
00:05:27.259 --> 00:06:11.990
With his presence beyond his will, the And China, the
86
00:06:12.550 --> 00:06:17.329
great empire next door, had just been humiliated by Britain
87
00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:39.000
in the Opium Wars, forced open at cannon point. Japan
88
00:06:39.050 --> 00:06:41.170
could see its own future in China's fate.
89
00:06:41.689 --> 00:06:46.550
Perry returned on the 13th of February, 1854, earlier than promised.
90
00:06:47.149 --> 00:06:51.110
And this time he brought 10 ships and about 1,600 men.
91
00:06:51.810 --> 00:06:55.269
He sailed further into the bay than before, anchoring close
92
00:06:55.379 --> 00:06:59.660
inshore where everyone could see the guns. The message was unmistakable.
93
00:07:00.180 --> 00:07:02.720
Negotiate or face what China faced.
94
00:07:03.160 --> 00:07:07.959
The negotiations took weeks. There were formal meetings, banquets, and ceremonies.
95
00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:11.360
and a great deal of careful posturing on both sides.
96
00:07:12.100 --> 00:07:16.620
The Americans showed off their technology, a telegraph, a quarter-scale
97
00:07:16.699 --> 00:07:23.139
steam train complete with track, locomotive, coal tender, and coach, clocks, stoves,
98
00:07:23.420 --> 00:07:28.779
and firearms. The Japanese gave gifts in return, gold lacquered furniture,
99
00:07:29.250 --> 00:07:34.370
bronze ornaments, delicate porcelain, and a collection of seashells. It
100
00:07:34.410 --> 00:07:38.110
was diplomacy as theater, and both sides played their parts.
101
00:07:38.779 --> 00:07:43.230
On 31 March 1854, the two nations signed the Convention
102
00:07:43.310 --> 00:07:48.389
of Kanagawa. Japan agreed to open two ports, Shimoda and Hakodate,
103
00:07:48.589 --> 00:07:52.709
to American vessels. It promised humane treatment and supplies for
104
00:07:52.769 --> 00:07:57.410
shipwrecked sailors, and it accepted a resident American consul at Shimoda.
105
00:07:58.110 --> 00:08:01.430
The treaty contained no full trade agreement. That would come
106
00:08:01.529 --> 00:08:05.529
four years later, with the Harris Treaty of 1858. But
107
00:08:05.550 --> 00:08:09.170
the door was open. Two hundred years of isolation were over.
108
00:08:09.410 --> 00:08:12.930
Perry did not live to see the consequences. He died
109
00:08:12.990 --> 00:08:17.439
in 1858, four years after the treaty, worn out by
110
00:08:17.480 --> 00:08:22.560
the expedition. But the consequences were enormous, and they unfolded fast.
111
00:08:23.240 --> 00:08:27.680
Within fifteen years, the Tokugawa shogunate, which had ruled Japan
112
00:08:27.740 --> 00:08:31.670
for two and a half centuries, collapsed. The young Emperor
113
00:08:31.750 --> 00:08:36.700
Meiji took power. and Japan began a deliberate, astonishing transformation,
114
00:08:37.399 --> 00:08:43.559
building railways, factories, a modern army and navy, schools and universities,
115
00:08:44.200 --> 00:08:48.179
all modeled on the West, all driven by a single determination,
116
00:08:48.899 --> 00:08:49.809
never to be bull.
117
00:08:50.429 --> 00:08:54.830
That transformation, the Meiji Restoration, made Japan the first non-Western
118
00:08:54.870 --> 00:08:58.330
nation to industrialize. It also set Japan on a path
119
00:08:58.370 --> 00:09:01.750
that led, within a lifetime, to empire, to war with
120
00:09:01.809 --> 00:09:06.240
China and Russia, and eventually to Pearl Harbor in 1941.
121
00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:10.070
The historian Walter Laffer put it plainly. After two centuries
122
00:09:10.120 --> 00:09:16.669
of dealing only with the Dutch, the 250-year-old shogunate opened itself, carefully, narrowly,
123
00:09:16.889 --> 00:09:18.629
and fearfully, to the United States.
124
00:09:19.169 --> 00:09:21.429
And there is an irony that is hard to miss.
125
00:09:22.110 --> 00:09:25.389
Perry never fired a shot. His whole mission was the
126
00:09:25.429 --> 00:09:29.529
threat of force, not its use. The Japanese called his
127
00:09:29.590 --> 00:09:33.279
ships the Black Ships, and they remembered the smoke and
128
00:09:33.299 --> 00:09:37.259
the guns. But what really opened Japan was not the cannon.
129
00:09:37.940 --> 00:09:41.840
It was the knowledge, spreading through the shogunate's councils, that
130
00:09:41.879 --> 00:09:45.419
the world had changed, that steam and steel had made
131
00:09:45.470 --> 00:09:49.289
the old walls useless, and that isolation was no longer
132
00:09:49.350 --> 00:09:51.409
a choice, only a delay.
133
00:09:51.409 --> 00:09:55.889
92 years after Perry sailed into Ito Bay, American ships
134
00:09:55.990 --> 00:10:00.370
returned to the same waters. In September of 1945, the
135
00:10:00.409 --> 00:10:04.450
battleship Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay, and the Japanese surrender
136
00:10:04.470 --> 00:10:07.330
that ended the Second World War was signed on her deck,
137
00:10:07.769 --> 00:10:11.110
under the same flag Perry had carried. The circle closed
138
00:10:11.169 --> 00:10:11.990
where it had opened.
139
00:10:12.529 --> 00:10:16.029
The black ships arrived as a threat. They left behind
140
00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:19.700
a treaty, a consul, and a question that Japan spent
141
00:10:19.740 --> 00:10:23.740
the next century answering. How does a nation stay itself
142
00:10:24.139 --> 00:10:28.720
while the whole world comes knocking? Japan's answer changed the world,
143
00:10:29.299 --> 00:10:32.980
and it began on a summer morning in 1853, when
144
00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:36.600
four smoking ships appeared on the horizon, and a closed
145
00:10:36.679 --> 00:10:39.639
country discovered that it could not stay closed any longer.