Tokugawa Shogunate: Close Japan (Sakoku) (1633)
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The Tokugawa shogunate chose to close Japan to nearly all foreign contact for over 200 years. Only Dutch and Chinese traders at Nagasaki were permitted. This preserved internal peace but left Japan technologically behind when Perry arrived in 1853.
Closed Country (Sakoku)
1633
year
Ban foreign trade and travel, expel missionaries
policy
200 years of peace and cultural flowering
internal effect
Chosen — ended forcibly by Perry's Black Ships in 1853
outcome
Continue Open Trade
1633
year
Allow Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch trade
policy
Risk of Christian conversion, colonial influence
internal effect
Not chosen — feared European colonization
outcome
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