The Opening of Japan and the Meiji Restoration, 1837–72

Abstract

It is critical to maintain a multi-actor perspective when analysing Japanese-British relations.1 One must examine not only Japan and Britain but also China, the United States and Russia, at the very least. These five states interacted with each other politically during this period. Just by chronologically listing some of the major events, one can see how necessary it is to understand Japanese-British relations within a multi-actor environment covering the Morrison affair (1837); the Opium War (1839–42) fought between China and Britain and the Nanjing Treaty signed after Chinese defeat (1842); the Crimean War and the subsequent arrival of British and Russian naval forces in Japanese waters; the Japan-US Treaty of Peace and Amity (1854) and the Anglo-Japanese Convention of 1854; the Japan-US Treaty of Amity and Commerce (1858) and the Japanese-British treaty of 1858; the second Opium War (1856–60) and the Treaties of Tianjin (1858) and Peking (1860); and the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857.