Meiji Restoration of Japan

Matthew Perry bullied the Japanese by showing off his military power and his naval ships to try and intimidate them and show how advanced and modernized the west was compared to Japan. The U.S and Japan signed a treaty saying that japan had to open up their ports for trade and Japan tried to fight off the Europeans because they didn't want to trade with them but they lost the battles because of Europe's technology. Before the U.S came to japan they were an isolationist and cut themselves off from the rest of the world and they were still fighting with swords on horses while the west was using machine guns and japan still had the same government they had years ago. Japan was an archipelago, which is a small group of islands it was easier for people to trade with japan this way.