By: Robert McKinney And Scott Thomas

Japan is located off the eastern coast of Asia. It is consisted of four main islands(Hokkaido,Honshu,Shikoku,and Kyushu) and numerous smaller islands.

Prior to forced negotiations by the United States, Japan was a very traditional country. They never left there islands and shunned all contact of the outside world. But this changed when Commodore Matthew Perry of the United States Navy steamed into the bay of the capitol and showed its military prowess. He then asked for trade. Years later the same officer came back and demanded relations between the two countries.

Like the other major powers of the time, the United States wanted new markets where they could see and trade their goods. Japan was an untapped rich area and the U.S. wanted a piece.

The major thing that the United States was interested in was money. American business saw in Japan a new outlet for goods to go, and money to come back.

On July 8, 1853, Matthew Perry of the United States Navy, with four warships, chugged into the bay of the capital and displayed the threatening power of his ships' cannons during a Christian burial. Then he asked for trade with the consequences of refusal obvious.

Franklin Pierce was president in 1854 the forces used where four war ships sent to Japan to intimidate the Japanese.

Half of the population of Japan wanted to stay traditional, while the other half wanted to modernize..They ended up butting heads

Today the United States is a major ally of Japan. We supply military presence to protect their land and we are one of their top trading partners. The relations between us are as great friends.

We believe that we were bullies. We forced them through intimidation to accept an opening of trade and later forced then to start relations. We also believe that it was a wrong thing to do. The modern benefits is a very modern Japan who we opened to modern times.

FIN