The United States has decided to take action on the Asian scene. Commodore Matthew Perry of the United States Navy and five black ships anchored in Edo Bay yesterday. They were greeted with shore-based cannon fire and a large force of guard boats. Perry, with his highly advanced naval technology, showed no willingness to engage in formalities, and allowed no one on board who was not of a rank equal to or higher than his own. He enforced his policy by force (1). Perry's arrival signals the United States' determination to trade with our great country.

Perry comes with a letter directly from the President of the United States, and the Commodore insists that it be delivered to the Emperor himself (2). President Fillmore has three main requests: the assured safety of American seamen stranded in Japan or in her territorial waters, permission to use one or more Japanese ports as a refueling station and coal depot, and the opening of trade between the United States and Japan. In addition to these demands, Commodore Perry added threats of his own, saying that if the letter is not accepted within three days he will go ashore "with a sufficient force" to deliver his message (3). Perry is a very driven man. He was overheard saying "I found no difficulty in conciliating the good will and confidence of the conquered people, by administering the unrestricted power I held rather to their comfort and protection and to their annoyance.. And so I believe that... If treated with strict justice and gentle kindness... the Japanese will learn to consider us their friends" (4). The fact that the US Navy sent such a commander on this mission suggests their desire for our trade.

We cannot sacrifice our entire life style for this Western country. The United States has entered our territorial waters and our homeland only to bring threats and "proposals" to our government. They are attempting to change our social structure completely. Japan has lived in isolation from the West for over two hundred years and successfully has kept the influence of Western culture and religion from our lives. This is the Western military might of which our country was fearful. We have seen China fall to the military powers of the West swiftly and completely. Our brilliant Emperor noticed this and has kept us from a similar fate. Japan can not roll over and die now. We must fight for the continuation of our way of life.

Perry's arrival has exposed one way in which our country has fallen dangerously far behind the West. Though isolation has succeeded in securing the sanctity and importance of our Shinto values, the development of modern military technology has ceased to progress. America's hostile attitude not only points to an end of our way of life but also shows the vulnerability of Mother Japan's defense. The black ships in the bay are equipped with new, more accurate cannons and faster, non wind powered engines (5). Because of this deficiency of our retaliatory force, the President's demands must be handled cautiously so as not to provoke the Americans.

Along with the opening of our ports to the United States, the Americans also demand that they be given most favored nation privileges (6). It is ironic that they express so much interest in our homeland despite their press calling us "the least interesting people in the world" (7). How can they come into our country, and force their ways upon us through military bullying, while at the same time supporting equality and free speech within their own borders? We cannot give in to these red-haired barbarians. If the Emperor agrees to the terms of the President's letter, he will open the door to the complete westernization of Japan, and a loss of national pride, just as happened to the Chinese. Our isolationist views are aimed avoiding the fate of China: being controlled by Western governments while having its people corrupted by opium addiction. For Japan even to consider this proposal is preposterous.

The people of Japan must unite under our great Emperor and resist the influence of the West at all costs.
We must preserve the society our ancestors have built.

Sources
1. Michael Montgomery, Imperialist Japan: The Yen to Dominate (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987), 24-25
2. Ibid., 25.
3. Ibid., 25.
4. Rieko Shimizu, "Commodore Matthew Perry: American Black Ships in the Land of the Samurai," [http://www.colorado.edu/iec/SUMMER00RW/perry.htm], July 2000.
5. Montgomery, 23.
6. Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (New York: Kodansha ltd., 1993), 1197.
7. Shimizu, "Commodore Matthew Perry,".

Images
1. Zack, "The Second Visit to Japan," [http://www.grifworld.com/second.html], November 1999
2. "Pearl Harbor: 1600s-1853 The 'Black Ships' Open Japan," [http://teacher.scholastic.com/pearl/timeline/time1.htm], 1996