Sakoku
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Sakoku was the isolationist foreign policy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate under which, during the Edo period, relations and trade between Japan and other countries were severely limited, and almos
A Buddhist statue with a hidden cross on the back, used by Christians in Japan to hide their real beliefs
A beacon on Taketomi, one of the Sakishima Beacons constructed in 1644 to monitor foreign shipping
A Japanese woodcut of Napoleon in captivity on Saint Helena (1815). The Japanese were so isolated that the artist depicted these British soldiers wearing the armor and weapons of 16th century Portuguese.
A model of the Dutch trading post on Dejima Island
Perry Expedition
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The Perry Expedition was a diplomatic and military expedition in two separate voyages to the Tokugawa shogunate by warships of the United States Navy. The goals of this expedition included exploration
A 1854 Japanese print depicting the Perry Expedition
Commodore Matthew Perry's Black Ship, from the Brooklyn Museum
Odaiba battery at the entrance of Tokyo, built in 1853–54 to prevent a United States incursion
A miniature steam locomotive which was presented by the expedition and exhibited to great acclaim