Japan’s isolation
Today, Japan receives millions of visitors each year. Its cities are full of high-speed trains, skyscrapers, and tourists from all over the world. But for more than 200 years, entering Japan was almost impossible.
It all began in the 17th century. During the previous decades, Portuguese and Spanish merchants had arrived in the archipelago carrying products from very distant lands. Along with them, Christian missionaries also arrived and began converting many Japanese.
The country’s rulers started to worry. They had seen how some European powers were conquering territories in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. They feared that the same could one day happen in Japan. So they made a surprising decision.
A country almost closed to the world
In the 1630s, Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu approved a series of laws that changed the country’s history.
- Japanese people could not leave Japan, and if they did, they were not allowed to return.
- Foreign ships were forbidden from entering most ports.
- Only a few merchants could continue trading goods with Japan.
For more than two centuries, the country lived virtually isolated from the rest of the world.
A single gateway
Although Japan closed almost all its borders, it did not completely stop trading. The Dutch were one of the few exceptions. They could only trade from a small artificial island called Dejima, located off the port of Nagasaki.
They could not even move freely around the country. Their ships arrived, unloaded the goods, and returned. For generations, that small island was Japan’s only window to Europe.
A country that followed its own path
While in many parts of the world European empires were conquering new territories, Japan continued developing its own culture. Samurai, kabuki theater, Japanese gardens, and the famous woodblock prints that we admire today in museums flourished.
Isolation also allowed many traditions to be preserved almost unchanged for centuries. But the world kept moving forward.
The doors open again
In 1853, an American fleet appeared off the Japanese coast. Its ships were much more modern and powerful than any Japan had ever seen. Shortly after, the government realized it could no longer remain isolated forever.
The borders began to open, and Japan began an extraordinary transformation. In just a few decades, it built factories, railways, ports, and a modern industry that would turn it into one of the world’s great powers.
How did it change the maps?
For more than two hundred years, Japan was an exception. While the rest of the planet was becoming increasingly connected through trade routes and explorations, this archipelago decided to take a different path.
When it finally opened its doors, the world had already become much smaller. Ships regularly crossed oceans, and trade linked entire continents.
The decision to isolate itself, and later to reopen to the world, changed Japan’s role in world geography. From then on, the country went from being a kingdom almost unknown to many Europeans to becoming one of Asia’s most influential nations.
