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Japan’s Worst Deal: How One Treaty Destroyed Their Economy for 40 Years



Japan’s Worst Deal: How One Treaty Destroyed Their Economy for 40 Years

In 1854, Commodore Perry forced Japan to sign the Kanagawa Treaty — but it was the unequal trade agreements that followed which truly crippled the nation. For four decades, Japan couldn’t set its own tariffs, watching helplessly as Western goods flooded their markets while their economy bled dry.

This video explores the hidden consequences of Japan’s forced opening to the West, and how this humiliation fueled the Meiji Restoration’s desperate modernization. The effects shaped everything from Japanese nationalism to their industrial revolution.

#JapaneseHistory #KanagawaTreaty #MeijiRestoration #CommodorePerry #JapanHistory #UnequelTreaties #EdoPeriod #HistoryShorts #JapanFacts #HiddenHistory #AsianHistory #19thCentury

2 Comments

  2. @paulkerrigan9857 on

    And these days what are the tariff rates? Japan could have industrialised and competed the way we expect all economies to compete today (and ultimately did).

    I’d rather Japan was opened than kept as some 19th century North Korea.