To what extent was Japan opened by Commodore Matthew Perry and Townsend Harris?

Ever since the late 18th century, the western powers, including Russia and Britain, were attempting to break the seclusion policy of Tokugawa Japan. For various reasons, it was the United States that took the first action to open Japan to foreign influence.
The American interest in the Pacific and hence Japan was both commercial and strategic. Commercially, the United States wanted trade with China and Japan. Strategically, Japan lies on the Great Circle Route to China. Many shipwrecked American sailors had been ill-treated by Japanese and this aroused governmental concern. In fact, one of the purposes of Commodore Matthew Perry was to obtain a promise from the Japanese of future good treatment of any shipwrecked Americans.

Perry's expeditions 1853-4 -- Commodore Perry with a sizeable naval force set off for Japan in 1853. His arrival at Uraga caused consternation among the Japanese. He delivered President Fillmore's letter to Japan's officials and promised to return for a reply the next spring with a greater force. The letter stressed America's desire for proper treatment of shipwrecked seamen, for ports-of-call, and for the opening of trade. Perry's expedition, as we have seen, had great impact on Japan's politics. It proved to be a decisive factor in causing the overthrow of Tokugawa rule. (see other sections)
Now, we are concerned with the extent of the opening of Japan to the West. In March 1854 the Treaty of Kanagawa was signed after a show of force. It provided for the following terms. First, the opening of Shimoda and Hakodate as ports-of-call and of-refugee. Second, the appointment of an American consul in Japan at Shimoda. Third, the assurance of good treatment and return of castaways. Yet there was not any specific permission for trade. The Japanese held their last ground on this question, and Perry was satisfied with the foundation laid with the Treaty. Thus writes Richard Storry, "It will be seen that the door was not yet fully opened, only forced ajar a little way." Soon British and Russians followed suit and signed similar treaties with Japan in 1854-5.

Interlude 1854-8 -- the terms of these treaties, however, were quite unacceptable to merchant opinion in America and in Europe. They asked for similar rights that they had got in China: trading ports, tariff regulation, extraterritoriality and most-favoured-nation treatment.
Yet officially, Britain, France and Russia were preoccupied with the Crimean War (1854) and the Arrow War (1856-60), whereas the United States was drifting towards a civil war. None of these powers, therefore, gave attention to Japan. On their part, the Japanese tried to appease westerners by conceding to trade under supervision. In response to the Anglo-French War with China in 1856, Japanese officials took a more realistic approach to diplomacy. Hotta Masayoshi, then Senior Councillor, favoured trade and signed a treaty with Holland in 1857. This treaty provided for trade at Nagaski and Hokodate under official supervision.

Consul Townsend Harris -- Treaty of Edo 1858 -- Townsend Harris, American Consul at Shimoda since August 1856, was not satisfied with this provision for trade. He was prepared to threaten the bakufu with the Arrow War and China's second defeat to further American interests.
He succeeded in having an audience with the Shogun in December 1857. He suggested firstly, a resident American Minister in Edo, secondly, trade without official interference, and thirdly, an increase in the number of treaty ports. These terms were accepted and a draft treaty was signed in February 1858. But the Treaty met strong opposition from the daimyo. Hotta therefore thought of seeking imperial sanction to the treaty. After much intrigue, the Harris Treaty of Edo was signed in July 1858. Both ministers and consuls were to be exchanged between the two nations; more ports were to be opened for trade; foreign residence was to be allowed in Edo and Osaka; import and export customs duties were to be fixed at moderate rates; and the United States was to make available to Japan ships, armaments, and experts.

Within the next several weeks, the Dutch, Russians, British, and French concluded similar commercial treaties, which together with the American treaty are know collectively in Japan as the "Treaties with the Five Nations." Japan was then fully opened to western influence -- trade and diplomacy. Despite official attitudes towards trade were those of restrictions and control, such as attempts to prohibit or restrict the export of certain goods, western impact intensified. The first reaction of the Japanese was the "joi" movement which raged in the late 1850s and early 1860s. Yet a sense of realism gradually spread among the Japanese, especially the samurai leaders who understood the impossibility of driving out the westerners by force for the time being. Accommodation and learning from the West began to take shape and so originated the Meiji modernization.