American Japan and Japanese Korea

            Transitioning from the long-lived Tokugawa Shogunate to the renewed Meiji Japan, the nation of Japan experienced a great deal of changes throughout the 1800s and was shaped into a totally different nation going into the twentieth century. One of the major factors that altered various aspects of Japanese society and people was the impact that the West had on Japan. Especially, the U.S greatly influenced Japan with its foreign policies, notably exemplified by Perry’s Opening of Japan.

            In fact, in my final project, I will write about various similarities and differences that exist between Perry’s Opening of Japan with Kanagawa Treaty of 1854 and Japan’s Opening of Korea with Ganghwa Treaty of 1876. A number of primary and secondary sources, including ones written by Korean and Japanese authors, will be studied to demonstrate the parallel between these events, and their effect on respective communities. Primary sources in the form of paintings will be examined to learn about differing perspectives among the contemporary people of the time period.