![]() Emperor Komei refused to support the Townsend Treaty. Some of Japan's most powerful families set up an opposition movement and called on the emperor to resist change. The Japanese felt humiliated by what they called the unequal treaties. The shock of foreign demands set off a power struggle in Japan. If they committed offenses against the Japanese, they were to be tried in a special American court under U.S. Also, the treaty said that Japanese courts could not try Americans. For example, the duties on American imports to Japan were set low. This treaty greatly favored of the United States. Then, in 1858, American diplomat Townsend Harris negotiated a treaty that gave the United States the right to trade freely at several Japanese ports. Other Western powers sent their ships, too, and the shogun gave them similar agreements. Perry's first step was to demand that some Japanese ports be opened for supplying American ships with water and coal. The Japanese saw immediately that they could not fight the powerful American ships. The Japanese people believed the emperor was descended from the sun goddess, but by 1853 the emperor had become little more than an honored royal hermit. ![]() The ruling shogun in Edo was the head of a powerful family and the leading warlord. ![]() A warrior class of samurai knights were famous for their swordsmanship. They also virtually owned the peasants who farmed the land. Feudal lords lived in castles and controlled most of the land. The Japan that Commodore Perry visited in 1853 was still a feudal society, like Europe 500 years earlier. This opened up Japan to outside influences and set off a tremendous struggle for executive power and for change inside Japan. ![]() Perry, forced his way into Edo Bay with a small fleet of American warships. On July 3, 1853, an American commodore, Matthew C. Foreigners were not allowed to enter Japan or trade with Japan. Japan had cut itself off from the rest of the world in the 1600s. The shogun lived in the city of Edo, which was later renamed Tokyo. ![]() Real power was held by a powerful warlord called a shogun. There was an emperor who lived in the city of Kyoto but the authority of the royal family had been declining for centuries. In the middle of the 1800s, Japan was a perfect example of this divided executive power. ![]()
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