Japan was an isolated country for over two hundred years. This led the United States to send Commodore Matthew Perry overseas in hopes of convincing Japan to be more accessible. Commodore Matthew Perry knew his task would be difficult due to Japan's reluctance to interact with other countries and its belief that it was the greatest country of all. As a result of Perry's mission, Japan changed politically, socially and economically. Commodore Perry and his squadron of ships arrived in Japanese waters on July 8, 1853. He was eager to deliver a letter from President Millard Fillmore, seeking friendship and trade. agreement. However, after seeing Perry's ships, the Japanese fell into a state of panic. As Blumberg notes: “General alarms were sounded. Temple bells rang and messengers raced across Japan to warn everyone that enemy aliens were approaching by ship. It was clear that the Japanese were convinced that "the barbarians were about to punish them for their sins." The Japanese had lived in isolation for over two hundred years. They had prevented any foreigners from entering or any ships from docking in Japanese ports. “In 1850, they had no steam engines, no factories, no modern firearms. And, surprisingly enough, the ladies and gentlemen of Japan have not adopted any new fashions in clothing! » At first, small boats tried to convince Perry and his men to leave the area. Then a Japanese aide to the governor, Kayama, offered to deliver the president's letter. Perry was growing more and more impatient. Morrison explains: "Perry made it known that he would wait only three or four days before implementing his dreaded alternative of landing an armed force and delivering the letter in person to Edo Castle. » After days of little... middle of paper ......a, people are enjoying the Black Ships in July. They salute the Commodore who brought them peacefully to a new world that would eventually force them out of their world of isolation. Works Cited Blumberg, Rhoda. Commodore Perry in the land of the Shogun. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 1985. Feifer, George. Break Japan. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, Smithsonian Books, 2006. Gordon, Andrew. A modern history of Japan: from the Tokugawa period to the present. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Morison, Samuel Eliot. Commodore “Old Bruin” Matthew Calbraith Perry. Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Company, 1967. Smulyan, Susan. Perry visits Japan. Updated 2011. Brown University research. Sugimoto Etsu Inagaki. A daughter of the samurai. New York: Double day, 1930.