3.The opening of Japan to the West Commodore Perry and Townsend Harris opened up Japan to the west after hundreds of years of seclusion. Perry arrived with his "Black Ships" in Shimoda located in the Ize Peninsula. I visited this on Friday, but arrived nearly as the sun was setting.

The treaty was signed in the Ryosenji Temple in 1854. The US forced Japan to open its doors to trade. It had been isolated for 200 years shutting itself off to technological progress. Medieval/Feudal Japan was using swords while America had ironclad ships that could traverse the world's oceans.

This is a nightview of Atami on the Ize peninsula, where commodore Perry traveled to.