Historical Timeline
Pacific Overtures Timeline
Historical Timeline
*1639*
Japan expels the Portuguese, and officially cuts off all foreign trade with the exception of China, Korea, and The Netherlands.
*June 24, 1841*
Manjiro, along with four other teens, are rescued at sea by the USS John Howland, led by Captain William Whitfield.
*1843*
Manjiro is rescued at sea by Americans and taken to Massachusetts where he learns American customs and English.
*February 2, 1851*
Manjiro returns to Japan, landing in Okinawa.
*November 3, 1852*
Emperor Meiji is born.
*July 3, 1853*
“The Advantages of Floating…”; Pacific Overtures begins; Manjiro lands in Japan from the US, and is taken into custody, reporting seeing four black ships in Okinawa.
*July 8, 1853*
Kayama is promoted to Prefect of Police of Uraga and brings the news to Tamate; “There is No Other Way;” “Four Black Dragons”; Commodore Perry leads four American ships to Edo Bay (now called Tokyo Bay). Kayama and Manjiro begin negotiating with intermediaries from Commodore Perry.
*July 8, 1853*
Commodore Perry leads four American ships to Edo Bay (now called Tokyo Bay); Kayama begins negotiating through intermediaries from Commodore Perry.
*July 9 - 12, 1853*
“Chrysanthemum Tea”; Shogun and his advisors debate over actions to take next regarding the Americans; Shogun dies on the 12th.
*July 13, 1853*
Kayama informs Lord Abe that Americans will be permitted to give President Fillmore’s letter; Kayama convinces Lord Abe to let Manjiro work for him instead; “Poems”; Tamate dies by suicide; “Welcome to Kanagawa.”
*July 14, 1853*
Commodore Perry arrives in Kanagawa, beginning negotiations with Lord Abe, Kayama, and Manjiro in the Treaty House and delivering President Fillmore’s letter; “Someone in a Tree”; Americans depart Japan; “Lion Dance”
*July 14, 1853*
Commodore Perry and four US ships arrive on Kurihama Beach, begins negotiations with Toda Izu-no-Kami and Ido Iwami-no-Kami in a hut on the beach, and gives them President Fillmore’s letter.
*July 16, 1853*
Perry requests provisions for his crew and other goods; in exchange he gives the Japanese goods such as wine, cotton, and a portrait of himself.
*July 17, 1853*
Perry and Americans depart from Edo Bay.
*July 27, 1853*
Shogun Tokugawa Ieyoshi dies of possible heart failure.
*Late 1853*
Kayama is promoted to Governor of Uraga; Lord Abe revokes Manjiro’s death sentence and promotes him to samurai.
*February 18, 1854*
Perry sends a small party to inspect Uraga’s facilities first, where they meet the recently named chief negotiator for the Japanese delegation, Hayashi Daigaku-no-Kami.
*March 1854*
“Please Hello” The US returns to Japan, with England, Russia, France, and the Netherlands following.
*March 8, 1854*
Commodore Perry and US marines land once again in Japan, at Kanagawa.
*March 31, 1854*
Hayashi and Perry sign the Treaty of Kanagawa, which opens Shimoda for trade and Hakodate a year later, protects shipwrecked sailors, designates Japanese officials to provide supplies, allows an American consul to reside in Shimoda, and establishes a favored nations clause.
*1855*
“A Bowler Hat”; Kayama reports to Lord Abe that 200 Westerners live in Japan now.
*August 6, 1857*
Lord Abe dies, possibly due to cancer.
*1858*
“A Bowler Hat”; foreigners still demand better housing, Western merchants import/export irresponsibly, noodle makers threaten to set fire to western warehouses.
*1860*
“A Bowler Hat”; Kayama requires samurai to remove swords when entering the city.
*1862*
“A Bowler Hat”; Westerners build a gentlemen’s club.
*1864*
“Pretty Lady”; a samurai kills four English sailors.
*1867*
Two powerful anti-Tokugawa clans, the Choshu and Satsuma, combine forces to topple the shogunate, and the following year declared an “imperial restoration” in the name of the 14-year-old Emperor Meiji.
*February 1867*
An assassin kills Lord Abe; bodyguard kills assassin; Manjiro kills Kayama; Emperor Meiji’s reign begins, bringing Japan into the modern era; “Next” begins.
*January 3, 1868*
Meiji Restoration begins, formally restoring authority to the emperor, and starting the modern era of Japan.
*1885*
Japan wins first Sino-Japanese War, regional dominance in East Asia shifted from China to Japan. Korea became a vassal state of Japan.
*1894*
Japan and the US agree to a treaty enabling Japanese to immigrate to the US.
*1904 - 1905*
Japanese-Russo War.
*1912*
Japan sends 3000 cherry trees to USA; Emperor Meiji dies.
*December 1937*
Second Sino-Japanese War starts, Nanjing Massacre.
*December 1941*
Pearl Harbor bombing.
*1942 - 1946*
Japanese internment in the US.
*August 1945*
The US drops nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
*1951*
The US occupation of Japan ends.
*1964*
Japan hosts the Olympics (the first time the Olympics is in Asia).
*1980*
Japan becomes the biggest car producer in the world.
*1991*
Japanese investors buy the Empire State Building.
*1997*
Kyoto Protocol to cap greenhouse gasses is adopted.
*2011*
Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
*2016*
Barack Obama is the first American President to visit Hiroshima.
*July 2022*
Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is assassinated by a gunman in Nara.