| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 112.5

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 112.5 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Asia

Mitani Hiroshi. Escape from Impasse: The Decision to Open Japan. Translated by David Noble. Tokyo: LTCB International Library. 2006. Pp. xxxiv, 332.
The saga of U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Perry and his mission to Japan in 1853–1854 has taken on renewed vitality in studies of early imperialism. What was once seen as another adventure in gunboat diplomacy has lit fires of research on both sides of the Pacific. Now comes a new entry in the Perry sweepstakes: an English translation of Mitani Hiroshi's study of Perry's arrival in Japan (Perii raikō [2003]). Like Michael R. Auslin in his book on the making of Japan's initial treaties (Negotiating with Imperialism: The Unequal Treaties and the Culture of Japanese Diplomacy [2005]), Mitani plays on the theme of joint responsibility: the Japanese had as much to do with fashioning these international agreements as the Americans. It was imperialism, but not a one-way street with the newcomers forcing an outgunned Asian country to open its doors and be humiliated. Despite losing face over the treaties, the Japanese could look on as the foreigners struggled to deal with enigmatic new places and people far from home.	1
Mitani's book identifies the 1858 trade treaty with the United States as the key piece in Japan's great mid-century policy shift. On this view, the coming of international commerce marked the true Japanese entry into the modern world, crucial because it meant Japan was "abandoning national seclusion" after decades of defensive distance vis-à-vis the outside world. It also "touched off the most significant political conflict in early modern Japanese history" (p. 287). Few doubt the centrality of the seclusion policy (known as sakoku) in early modern Japanese thought, and and Mitani suggests that only the Tokugawa bakufu had the resources to transcend the existing security system.	. . .

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