“Open the country. Stop having it be closed” – Commodore Matthew C. Perry, probably

It worked

The funny thing is that Perry refused to talk to anyone who wasn’t high-ranking enough and demanded to deliver the letter directly to the Emperor himself (he thought the Emperor ran everything in Japan, he didn’t).

Man already had that “I want to speak to the manager” energy in 1853

Why would anyone give a damn if Japan decided to shut their doors permanently?

Probably the most famos example of hostile gun boat diplomacy. 

This would later bite America in the ass as with the Meiji Restoration and civil war pursuant to it Japan would swiftly modernize lest they become the next colonized SE Asian nation.

This would in the short term be great for foreign experts and companies looking to sell things like modern weaponry, communications, and infrastructure materials… at least until Japan was able to create their own local industries to make why they could locally.

What they could not make locally they still traded for; however, what was also imported (well, impressed upon them by success) was the need for Japan to become a colonial power as well as it none of those nations were getting colonized themselves… so a few wars later and sitting well off Imperial Japan has devolved into military control aiming keeps its war machine up to date and feeling they are Invincible after throwing hands with Russia and technically Germany (colonies) and they have an Imperial Hunger for ***more***.

The Sino-Japanese wars kick off and the world is horrified by the stories coming out of Nanking.

America, horrified at what its trade in war critical materials being used to make ***that*** happen, shuts off the tap.

No more steel or oil.

Japan, unable to sustain the IJN and IJA within its current gains without oil and believing war must be imminent due to such crucial materials being withheld, draw up a near simultaneous (well for the 1940s in the Pacfic) attack Pearl Harbour, the Philippines, and Indonesia in order to both blunt an American response and gain resource rich regions to sustain itself.

While not ending well for Japan as we know… the path from Perry to Pearl could be summed up with the Tom and Jerry meme with the curved shotgun barrel.

Japan: We wish to be seen as a peer nation.

China: That’s problematic.

Japan: We wish to be left alone.

U.S.A.: That’s problematic.

Japan: We want to try Imperialism.

Wait, that is problematic.

Japan: We want to make our own entertainment for our own target audiences.

U.S.A. (Again): That’s problematic.

And Japan took that personally