150th Anniversary of Japan`s Opening Its Ports

July 8th, 1853, exactly 150 years ago Japan opened up its ports to foreigners.

U.S. Commodore M. C. Perry in charge of a fleet in East Indonesia appeared in Edo Bay (now Tokyo Bay) and demanded that the country open its ports. Edo, the ruling power at the time, overwhelmed by U.S. ships` naval gun power, agreed to open the port and signed an amity treaty between the U.S. and Japan.

150 years after the incident, the U.S. has become the ‘super power’ of the world, and Japan which actively adopted the culture and civilizations of many nations after overcoming many difficulties became one of the richest countries in the world.

Although opening the port stimulated Japan`s modernization, as the U.S. reigns as the sole super power, Japan`s inner thoughts when looking at the U.S.-Japan relationship is complicated.

Various academic conferences and cultural events related to the opening of the port and treaty of amity will be held from this month until early next year in both Japan and the U.S.

Japan`s Self Defense Forces Navy fleet will participate on July 17, for the first time, in a festival held at Perry`s home town, Newport, Rhode Island, to show off 150 years of friendship.

The two nations also are planning to have a large scale ceremony for signing the treaty in 1854 in Washington and Yokohama next April.

The two nations made such growth, while cooperating as well as competing with each other since the treaty in 1854, that they share 45% of the gross domestic product (GDP). The U.S. and Japan are number 1 and 2 in terms of the GDP and Japan is the third and the U.S. is the fifth in terms of gross national income, according to World Bank statistics in 2002.

Although Japan is suffering from a long-term recession, it still held 545.6 billion dollars as of late June, keeping its number 1 ranking in the world in terms of foreign currency possession for the past 45 consecutive months.

Recently the relation between the two nations has been becoming even closer on military diplomacy. Japan, as soon as the U.S. invaded Iraq, declared their support for the U.S. led war and also decided to dispatch its own Self Defense Forces to Iraq for the cleanup.

Japan`s right-wing Yomiuri newspaper described Perry`s appearance as ‘the two nations` destined meeting’ in its editorial and emphasized that “the U.S.-Japan alliance is the base of world peace.”

“The two nations` alliance is being carried out on a global scale,” President George W. Bush said.

There are, however, also a great number of people criticizing unilateral U.S. led diplomacy in Japan. “Japan followed only the tail of the U.S. like excrement attached to a goldfish,” criticized Gan Nayoto, representative of the Democratic Party on Japan`s stance on U.S. led war in Iraq.

Anti-U.S. sentiment of ordinary Japanese citizens has also surfaced as endless crimes have been being committed by U.S. soldiers in Okinawa and U.S. blocked Japanese corporations in developing oil wells in Iran.

Despite the two nations` diplomatic honeymoon, Japan`s peculiar ‘American complex’ that Japanese adore America while being afraid of it has worsened.

parkwj@donga.com