BY COINCIDENCE, while Perry was still in Japan an American whaling ship anchored near his fleet. The Eliza F. Mason arrived at Hakodate in May 1854, twenty-one months after leaving New Bedford, Massachusetts. He never would have dared to land, but the presence of Yankee warships made Captain Jernegan of the whaler sufficiently comfortable to come ashore with his nine-year-old son and his wife Abigail. She was the first foreign female the Japanese had ever seen, and she created a sensation when she entered the village. Abigail permitted some of the women to lift her voluminous skirts in order to examine her shoes and peek at her pantaloons. She was enchanted by their interest in her and praised their gentle manners. She stayed overnight in Hakodate with her husband and son.
When the Jernegans went back to their ship the following day, the Japanese delivered a beautifully wrapped package that contained an item Abigail had left behind. It was a common pin!
Only fifteen days after Commodore Perry left Japan, the first American tourists arrived. The Lady Pierce, a private yacht owned by a Connecticut man, Silas E. Burrows, entered the Bay of Edo on July 11, 1854. Burrows used the excuse of returning a Japanese castaway for an adventure into the Forbidden Land. He did not know that Perry had signed the Treaty of Kanagawa, but as a result of that treaty the Yankees were welcome visitors.
An unknown Japanese artist’s portrait of Americans in Nagasaki, 1860
courtesy of the New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations
A fleet of Japanese fishermen cheered as the yacht approached the shore. Visitors from Uraga brought gifts of silks, porcelains, and lacquerware when they crowded on board. Burrows treated them to a boat tour and refreshments. Local officials enjoyed the hospitality but explained that a recent treaty specified Shimoda and Hakodate as the sole ports open to Americans.
Burrows landed at Shimoda, where he returned the castaway. He and his crew remained there for a week, going ashore every day to see the sights. They distributed otter skins and gold coins that had been specially minted for them in San Francisco. However, after an interpreter discovered “Liberty” stamped on each coin, the gold pieces were collected and returned to Burrows.
Nevertheless, Burrows praised the politeness of the natives and was pleased to report that the Japanese told him that they greatly admired Commodore Perry and his officers!
Soon after news of the Treaty of Kanagawa was published in Hawaiian newspapers, a group of American merchants chartered a schooner, the Caroline E. Foote. They wanted to set up a supply depot and import-export offices in Japan. Using sailing directions that were published by Commodore Perry, they arrived at Shimoda in March 1855.
Mr. and Mrs. Reed, their five year old daughter, and Mrs. Worth, wife of the captain of the Carolyn E. Foote
reproduced from the collections of the Library of Congress
The town had been hit by an earthquake and tidal waves in December 1854. All but sixteen Shimoda buildings had been destroyed, and hundreds of people had drowned. The village was being hastily rebuilt, possibly because the government feared that if Shimoda wasn’t reconstructed quickly the Americans might demand another port in its place. (Many Japanese were positive that the earthquake was a sign that the gods were angry.)
Six Yankee merchants, three wives, and two children from the Foote were housed in a temple. Shortly after they moved in, a Japanese woman who had followed them accepted an invitation to come inside. One of the American ladies allowed her to try on Western clothing. The villager dressed herself up and whitened her face with flour so that her complexion would look “American.” When she saw herself in the mirror, she clapped her hands and laughed at her image. Unfortunately, a policeman was spying. He entered the temple, chased her out by smacking her with his bamboo cane, and put her in jail.
The passengers of the Foote became known as “American Pioneers.” Although they stayed in Shimoda almost three months, they were unable to establish a trading post there. They left for Hakodate in June 1855, where they also failed. So they set sail for San Francisco, convinced that Japan would never be a land of commercial opportunity.
Before the American Pioneers left Japan, they met Russians who had been stranded in Shimoda after their ship was destroyed by the 1854 tidal wave. They also met the crews of one French warship, three British men of war, and countless U.S. Navy ships. All had docked and disembarked at Shimoda. Within two years after the American treaty, Britain, Russia, and Holland had made treaties with Japan similar to the one Perry had negotiated. Foreigners became commonplace on the sacred soil of the Land of the Rising Sun.1
Artist Yoshikazu’s view of Americans touring Yokahama
courtesy of the New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations