British & Japan Relations
Alexis Romano & Corrin Chow
The relationship between Japan and the United Kingdom officially began when William Adams, an English navigator, arrived on the shores of Kyushu. Adams served as an advisor for the Tokugawa Shogun and he was given a Japanese name and a house. Adams spent the rest of his life in Japan.
In 1613, Adams invited the English captain John Saris to Japan to discuss the establishment of a trading factory with the shogunate. Adams and Saris went to Shizuoka to meet with the Tokugawa Shogun and he granted Saris the Red Seal permit English trade in Japan. The company was active for just ten years and during those ten years, only three other ships brought cargoes from London to Japan.
In 1623, the United Kingdom closed its base in Japan after the Amboyna massacre1 in which twenty men, including ten who were employees of the English East India Company, were tortured and executed (on accusations of treason) by employees of the Dutch East India Company. It occurred in Ambon Island or present-day Maluku, Indonesia. The relationship therefore ended for more than two centuries.
Six years later, in 1639, Tokugawa Iemitsu announced his Sakoku policy which permitted only the Netherlands to retain limited trade rights. The English didn’t give up though. Throughout the 18th century, England sent ship after ship to the shores of Japan. In 1673, an English ship called Returner arrived in the Nagasaki harbor and asked the shogunate to renew trading relations. The Edo Shogunate refused, blaming the United Kingdom’s withdrawal some fifty years before. Also, Japan resisted from doing business with any Christian nations for they wanted to prevent Christian influences on the Japanese people. The United Kingdom tried mercilessly to begin relations with Japan especially in 1808 when HMS Phaeton entered Nagasaki to attack Dutch shipping.
Finally in 1854, relations resumed when the United Kingdom and Japan signed the Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty2. It was signed by the Admiral Sir James Stirling and representatives of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The treaty allowed the opening of the ports of Nagasaki and Hakodadi to British ships and it granted the British the trading advantages already enjoyed by the Dutch and Chinese.
After the Harris treaty was concluded, The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce was signed in 1855 by Lord Elgin and the representatives of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The treaty allowed a representative of the British government residence in Edo as well as the opening of three Japanese cities to British commerce. Both treaties remain strong today.
In the year 1854, British Admiral James Stirling sailed into Nagasaki with a British squadron. With his squadron was Queen’s Victoria’s signature on Britain’s Declaration of War against the Russians. The declaration was Stirling’s proof that British ships were going to be damaged by Russians, and since Japan was close to Russia, would Japan please allow British ships to dock in Japanese harbors? The purpose of Stirling’s mission was to open up British-Japanese relations with the same privileges Japan had given to the United States. The Japanese, however, were hard to settle with. And in the end, Stirling walked away from the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of 1854 with no provisions about commerce. The Treaty allowed for British ships to harbor in only Nagasaki and Hakodate to repair and resupply as necessary. It also stipulated that British commanders were to obey the Japanese port regulations or else the deal was off. There was to be no alteration after the completion of this agreement. This obviously did not settle well with Admiral Stirling, but he promised to send a steam yacht as a present to the Shogun of Nagasaki.
Lord Elgin was sent by Queen Victoria to try opening trade relations yet again. Elgin visited Japan in-between his trips to China. He went with Admiral Stirling because the yacht was the only way of getting back into Japan. The contents of the 1854 Anglo-Japanese Treaty provided no loopholes for the British to consort with the Japanese officials. Using Stirling’s promised steam yacht was the only ticket in and gave Lord Elgin the necessary credentials to conduct international affairs.
This steam yacht proved to be an unsuccessful facilitator for negotiations. The yacht—meant, as a present for the Emperor whom the British incorrectly believed was the authority of the government—could not be seen by the Emperor. One newspaper that documented that event called the yacht, “the present of a pleasure yacht to a Japanese emperor, is like the present of a pair of spectacles to a blind man; the first and most fundamental law of the empire being, that the spiritual and temporal Emperors of Japan shall never pass the outer gates of their palaces.” Frustrated by the fact that the Emperor could not personally receive the steam yacht, Stirling gave the yacht to Lord Elgin and headed back to China. Lord Elgin now had “two steamers of war and a gunboat as a guard, and his little toy steamer [“the Emperor”]” at his disposal. Making the best of the situation, Elgin turned the tide against the Japanese by using gunboat diplomacy.
Beasley, William G. Great Britain and the Opening of Japan 1834-1858. New York: Routledge. 2013. Print. P.187.
Ewald, Alexander Charles. The Gunpowder Plot. Chatto & Windus, 1822. P. 73
Fox, Grace. “The Anglo-Japanese Convention of 1854.”Pacific Historical Review , Vol. 10, No. 4 (Dec., 1941) , pp. 411-434
“Lord Elgin’s Treaty With Japan.” News of the World. Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle. 5 March 1859. Web.
Mitani, Horoshi. Escape from Impasse: The Decision to Open Japan. N.a: I-House Press. 2008. Print.
Mossman, Samuel. New Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun: Its Annals During the Past Twenty Years, Recording the Remarkable Progress of the Japanese in Western Civilization. London: William Clowes and Sons. 1873. GoogleBook. P. 66.
The relationship between Japan and the United Kingdom officially began when William Adams, an English navigator, arrived on the shores of Kyushu. Adams served as an advisor for the Tokugawa Shogun and he was given a Japanese name and a house. Adams spent the rest of his life in Japan.
In 1613, Adams invited the English captain John Saris to Japan to discuss the establishment of a trading factory with the shogunate. Adams and Saris went to Shizuoka to meet with the Tokugawa Shogun and he granted Saris the Red Seal permit English trade in Japan. The company was active for just ten years and during those ten years, only three other ships brought cargoes from London to Japan.
In 1623, the United Kingdom closed its base in Japan after the Amboyna massacre1 in which twenty men, including ten who were employees of the English East India Company, were tortured and executed (on accusations of treason) by employees of the Dutch East India Company. It occurred in Ambon Island or present-day Maluku, Indonesia. The relationship therefore ended for more than two centuries.
Six years later, in 1639, Tokugawa Iemitsu announced his Sakoku policy which permitted only the Netherlands to retain limited trade rights. The English didn’t give up though. Throughout the 18th century, England sent ship after ship to the shores of Japan. In 1673, an English ship called Returner arrived in the Nagasaki harbor and asked the shogunate to renew trading relations. The Edo Shogunate refused, blaming the United Kingdom’s withdrawal some fifty years before. Also, Japan resisted from doing business with any Christian nations for they wanted to prevent Christian influences on the Japanese people. The United Kingdom tried mercilessly to begin relations with Japan especially in 1808 when HMS Phaeton entered Nagasaki to attack Dutch shipping.
Finally in 1854, relations resumed when the United Kingdom and Japan signed the Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty2. It was signed by the Admiral Sir James Stirling and representatives of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The treaty allowed the opening of the ports of Nagasaki and Hakodadi to British ships and it granted the British the trading advantages already enjoyed by the Dutch and Chinese.
After the Harris treaty was concluded, The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce was signed in 1855 by Lord Elgin and the representatives of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The treaty allowed a representative of the British government residence in Edo as well as the opening of three Japanese cities to British commerce. Both treaties remain strong today.
In the year 1854, British Admiral James Stirling sailed into Nagasaki with a British squadron. With his squadron was Queen’s Victoria’s signature on Britain’s Declaration of War against the Russians. The declaration was Stirling’s proof that British ships were going to be damaged by Russians, and since Japan was close to Russia, would Japan please allow British ships to dock in Japanese harbors? The purpose of Stirling’s mission was to open up British-Japanese relations with the same privileges Japan had given to the United States. The Japanese, however, were hard to settle with. And in the end, Stirling walked away from the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of 1854 with no provisions about commerce. The Treaty allowed for British ships to harbor in only Nagasaki and Hakodate to repair and resupply as necessary. It also stipulated that British commanders were to obey the Japanese port regulations or else the deal was off. There was to be no alteration after the completion of this agreement. This obviously did not settle well with Admiral Stirling, but he promised to send a steam yacht as a present to the Shogun of Nagasaki.
Lord Elgin was sent by Queen Victoria to try opening trade relations yet again. Elgin visited Japan in-between his trips to China. He went with Admiral Stirling because the yacht was the only way of getting back into Japan. The contents of the 1854 Anglo-Japanese Treaty provided no loopholes for the British to consort with the Japanese officials. Using Stirling’s promised steam yacht was the only ticket in and gave Lord Elgin the necessary credentials to conduct international affairs.
This steam yacht proved to be an unsuccessful facilitator for negotiations. The yacht—meant, as a present for the Emperor whom the British incorrectly believed was the authority of the government—could not be seen by the Emperor. One newspaper that documented that event called the yacht, “the present of a pleasure yacht to a Japanese emperor, is like the present of a pair of spectacles to a blind man; the first and most fundamental law of the empire being, that the spiritual and temporal Emperors of Japan shall never pass the outer gates of their palaces.” Frustrated by the fact that the Emperor could not personally receive the steam yacht, Stirling gave the yacht to Lord Elgin and headed back to China. Lord Elgin now had “two steamers of war and a gunboat as a guard, and his little toy steamer [“the Emperor”]” at his disposal. Making the best of the situation, Elgin turned the tide against the Japanese by using gunboat diplomacy.
Beasley, William G. Great Britain and the Opening of Japan 1834-1858. New York: Routledge. 2013. Print. P.187.
Ewald, Alexander Charles. The Gunpowder Plot. Chatto & Windus, 1822. P. 73
Fox, Grace. “The Anglo-Japanese Convention of 1854.”Pacific Historical Review , Vol. 10, No. 4 (Dec., 1941) , pp. 411-434
“Lord Elgin’s Treaty With Japan.” News of the World. Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle. 5 March 1859. Web.
Mitani, Horoshi. Escape from Impasse: The Decision to Open Japan. N.a: I-House Press. 2008. Print.
Mossman, Samuel. New Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun: Its Annals During the Past Twenty Years, Recording the Remarkable Progress of the Japanese in Western Civilization. London: William Clowes and Sons. 1873. GoogleBook. P. 66.