Japan and the United States have
held formal international relations since the mid-19th century. The first encounter between the two countries to be recorded in official documents occurred in 1791 when the Lady Washington became the first American ship to visit Japan in an unsuccessful attempt to sell
sea otter pelts. In the 1850s, Japanese ports were opened to American trade for the first time after the
Perry Expedition, led by naval officer Commodore
Matthew C. Perry, arrived in Japan with a fleet of four
Black Ships. In July 1856,
Townsend Harris became the first American diplomat to Japan, and in 1858, the
Treaty of Amity and Commerce, also known as the Harris Treaty, further expanded trade relations and established permanent consulates. The first
Japanese Embassy to the United States set sail for San Francisco in 1860, marking diplomatic engagement between the two nations.
The early 20th century saw Japan and the United States become
allies during
World War I, and diplomatic interactions continued. However, tensions arose in the lead-up to
World War II following the
Japanese invasion of Manchuria, which ultimately resulted in Japan's
attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the United States' entry into the war. Following
Japan's surrender in 1945, the relationship shifted towards a post-war partnership. Japan was
occupied until 1952 when the
Treaty of San Francisco came into effect. JapanâUnited States relations continued to evolve throughout the
Cold War and into the 21st century, with periods of cooperation and occasional trade disputes. The two nations maintain strong economic ties, and Japan is a crucial ally of the United States in Asia.
1633â1639: Sakoku, an
isolationist foreign policy, is enacted in Japan through a series of policies and edicts. Under sakoku, relations between Japan and other countries are severely limited.[1]
1791: The Lady Washington becomes the first American ship to visit Japan.[2]John Kendrick, an American trader, stops both the Lady Washington and the Grace (captained by
William Douglas) at
Kii Ćshima in
Kushimoto, Wakayama, in an unsuccessful attempt to sell sea otter pelts. The encounter becomes the first between Japan and the United States to be recorded in official documents.[3]
June 12, 1836:
Edmund Roberts, whom the American government has sent to become the United States' first envoy to Japan, dies in
Portuguese Macau before he can reach the nation.[1]
1837: Morrison, an American merchant ship headed by Charles W. King, is driven away from Japan by cannon fire. The event becomes known as the
Morrison incident.[5]
January 1841: Fourteen-year-old fisherman
Nakahama ManjirĆ and four of his friends are shipwrecked on
Tori-shima in the
Izu Islands. After being stranded there for six months, they are rescued by the American whaling ship John Howland, captained by
William H. Whitfield. Whitfield takes the five castaways to
Honolulu, Hawaii.[3]
July 1, 1848:
Ranald MacDonald of
Oregon Country comes ashore on
Rishiri Island and pretends that he has been shipwrecked. He stays in Japan for ten months and becomes the first native English speaker to teach the English language in the nation.[5]
April 1849: MacDonald returns to the United States on board the American warship
USS Preble.
September 9, 1850: California is admitted as the 31st state to join the union.[5]
February 2, 1851: ManjirĆ and two of his fellow travelling companions return to Japan.[5]
July 8: The Perry Expedition, led by naval officer Commodore Matthew C. Perry, arrives in Japan with a fleet of four Black Ships. Perry demands the opening of Japanese ports to American trade and presents a letter from President
Millard Fillmore to Japan's emperor,
Osahito, urging him to establish commercial and diplomatic relations with the United States.[5][8]
1854:
February 14: Perry returns to
Kanagawa with a fleet of eight warships.[9]
March 31: The
Convention of Kanagawa, the first treaty between the United States and Japan, is signed by Perry and the Tokugawa shogunate. The treaty opens up two Japanese ports,
Shimoda and
Hakodate, for trade to American ships.[8]
1856:
July: Pierce names Townsend Harris as the first American diplomat to serve as
Consul General to Japan.[10]
August 21: Harris opens a temporary consulate general in the
Gyokusen-ji temple in Kakizaki, Shimoda.
June 6: In
Baltimore,
Joseph Heco (born HikozĆ Hamada) becomes the first Japanese subject to become an American citizen.[9]
July 29: On the deck of the
USS Powhatan in
Edo, Japan and the United States sign the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, also known as the Harris Treaty, opening up the ports of
Kanagawa and four other Japanese cities to American trade and allowing the establishment of permanent consulates.
July: Harris opens the first American
legation in Japan at the
Zenpuku-ji temple in
Azabu, Edo.
1860:
January 19: The first Japanese Embassy to the United States, comprising 77 samurai (including ManjirĆ and educator
Fukuzawa Yukichi), sets sail from
Uraga for San Francisco to negotiate revised treaties and establish diplomatic ties.[11]
January 14:
Henry Heusken, a Dutch-American interpreter for the American consulate, is assassinated by seven anti-foreign samurai from Satsuma Domain.[9]
March 4: Lincoln is
inaugurated as the 16th president of the United States.[9]
August 15: In retaliation for the Namamugi Incident the previous year, British warships fire on the capital of the Satsuma Domain,
Kagoshima.[12]
1864:
July 11:
Sakuma ShĆzan, a Japanese politician and scholar, is ambushed and assassinated in broad daylight by a hitokiri named
Kawakami Gensai and a small group of assassins from the
Higo and
Oki clans.
September 8: ChĆshĆ« forces surrender to the Western powers, ending the Shimonoseki campaign.
April 15: Lincoln dies of his wounds at 7:22a.m. His vice president,
Andrew Johnson, is
inaugurated as the 17th president of the United States at 11a.m.
Fukuzawa begins publishing SeiyĆ JijĆ (è„żæŽäșæ ,
Things western[
Wikidata]), a ten-volume series of books describing Western institutions and culture.[12]
1867:
January 30: Osahito dies. His son
Mutsuhito accedes to the throne.
January 3: Mutsuhito strips Yoshinobu of his power and formally restores his own, beginning a period known as the
Meiji Restoration and establishing the
Empire of Japan.[14]
January 27: At the
Battle of TobaâFushimi, forces of the Tokugawa shogunate attack allied pro-imperial forces, beginning a civil war in Japan known as the
Boshin War.
April 6: The
Charter Oath is issued, laying out Mutsuhito's ambitions for Japan to modernize and industrialize.
May: Dutch American merchant
Eugene Miller Van Reed organizes a group of 148 Japanese laborers known as the
Gannenmono to work in Hawaii. The native population mistreats the laborers, resulting in a freeze on immigration from Japan.
September: Mutsuhito announces that Edo is to be renamed Tokyo, meaning "eastern capital".
October 23: The
Japanese era name is changed to
Meiji, and a "one reign, one era name" (äžäžäžć , issei-ichigen) system is adopted, whereby era names only change upon immediate imperial succession.
May 20: Fleeing the Boshin War, twenty-two people from samurai families in Aizu-Wakamatsu arrive in San Francisco.
June 8: The colonists arrive in Gold Hill, California, and set up the
Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony on 200 acres of land purchased from Charles Graner. The colony is the first permanent Japanese settlement in North America and the only settlement by samurai outside of Japan.[15]
June 27: The fortress of
GoryĆkaku is turned over to Imperial Japanese forces, ending the Boshin War.
1870:
May/June: Neesima graduates from
Amherst College in
Amherst, Massachusetts. In doing so, he becomes the first Japanese person to receive a bachelor's degree.
February: Mori arrives in Washington D.C. to begin his tenure as ambassador.[16]
August 19: In the city of
Yedo, Japan signs the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the
Kingdom of Hawaii.[17]
August 29: The leaders of the Satsuma and ChĆshĆ« Domains
abolish the han system. Mutsuhito establishes the modern prefectures of Japan in its place.[18]
December 23: The
Iwakura Mission, a Japanese diplomatic voyage to the United States and Europe, sets sail from Yokohama on the
SS America.
1872: The Iwakura Mission arrives in San Francisco on January 15, then travels to
Salt Lake City, Chicago, and Washington D.C. on February 29.
1873:
January 10: Japan establishes the
Conscription Law, introducing compulsory military service for all men in their twenties.
March 4: Grant is
inaugurated for his second term as president.[19]
May 31: Grant appoints
John Bingham as minister resident to Japan.
September 13: The Iwakura Mission arrives back in Japan, landing in Yokohama.[16]
October: Bingham arrives in Japan.
1874:
February 1: The Meirokusha society is formed in Tokyo by Mori, Fukuzawa, and others.[16]
September 24: The
Battle of Shiroyama, the final battle of the rebellion, ends in imperial victory, suppressing the Satsuma Rebellion and effectively ending the samurai class.
Minister to Japan
John Franklin Swift agrees with the Japanese government to lease buildings and land in
Akasaka, Tokyo. Swift moves the American legation to this new location.
August 1, 1894: War is declared between Japan and the
Qing Empire of China over their rival claims of influence on the
Joseon dynasty of Korea, marking the start of the
First Sino-Japanese War. The United States supports Japan during the war, recognizing Japan's growing regional influence.
February 15, 1907: To reduce tensions between the two nations, Japan and the United States reach an informal
Gentlemen's Agreement addressing Japanese immigration to the United States.
August 22, 1910: Under the
Treaty of 1910, the Japan formally annexes
Korea.
1912:
February 14:
Arizona is admitted as the 48th state to join the union.
July 30: Mutsuhito dies. His son
Yoshihito accedes to the throne.
August 23, 1914: Japan
enters into World War I as a member of the Allies.
September 18, 1931: The Empire of Japan's
Kwantung Army invades
Manchuria, immediately following the
Mukden Incident. The United States objects to Japan's invasion and subsequent occupation of China, beginning tensions between the two countries.
November 26: The
Hull noteâa final proposal from the United States that includes demands for Japan to withdraw from Chinaâis delivered to the Empire of Japan.
November 27, 1943: The United States, China and the United Kingdom issue the
Cairo Declaration, stating that Japan must surrender unconditionally and return all territories acquired by force.
1945:
July 26: The leaders of the United States, the UK and China issue the
Potsdam Declaration, outlining Japan's terms of surrender in the war. The document warns that Japan will face "prompt and utter destruction" if it does not surrender.
August 9: The USAAF detonates another atomic bomb, "
Fat Man", over the Japanese city of
Nagasaki at 11:02a.m. local time, resulting in between 39,000 and 80,000 deaths.
August 15: In
a radio broadcast, Hirohito announces the unconditional surrender of Japan.
September 2: The surrender of the Empire of Japan is formally signed aboard the United States Navy battleship
USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, ending the hostilities of World War II. The Allies begin an occupation of Japan.
May 3, 1947: The reformed
Constitution of Japan comes into effect, dissolving the Empire of Japan.
April 28, 1952: The Treaty of San Francisco comes into effect, ending the Allied occupation of Japan. The United States maintains control of several islands, including
Okinawa Prefecture, for military use.
June 17, 1971: The
Okinawa Reversion Agreement, which returns administrative control of Okinawa to Japan, is signed simultaneously in Tokyo and Washington D.C.
November 1982: In
Marysville, Ohio, the Japanese car firm Honda opens its first plant in the United States.[27]
October 21: In
Ginowan, Okinawa, approximately 85,000 residents protest the incident and the continuing presence of US forces in the prefecture.[27]
21st century
September 11, 2001: Militant organization
al-Qaeda carries out
four coordinated Islamist suicide terrorist attacks against the United States, killing almost 3,000 people. Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi expresses "great anger" at the attacks, and orders special security precautions at all US military installations.[28]
December 9: Koizumi announces that Japanese troops will be kept in Iraq for another year.[30]
February 21, 2006: Amid a shortage, Japan agrees to end its 56-year ban on importing fresh potatoes from the United States.[31]
2007: Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe proposes the
Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a strategic security dialogue between Japan, the United States, Australia and India.
March 11, 2011: At 14:46
JST (05:46
UTC),
an undersea megathrust earthquake occurs in the Pacific Ocean, 72 km (45 mi) east of the
Oshika Peninsula of the
TĆhoku region, causing a
tsunami. The earthquake and subsequent tsunami cause almost 20,000 deaths. US President
Barack Obama offers his condolences and says that the United States will "stand with [Japan] as they recover and rebuild from this tragedy".[32]
December 2013: Japan approves moving the American military base in Okinawa to a less densely-populated area of the island.[27]
^"Story of Townsend Harris". New York City: Consulate General of Japan in New York.
Archived from the original on May 19, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
^Harding, Christopher (February 22, 2023).
"When the Samurai came to America". London: Engelsberg Ideas.
Archived from the original on May 19, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.