Tension Between Japan And Russia

While differing ecomically and politically in their responses to western penetration, Japan and China had similarities in the way of geography. China only allowed Europeans to trade with it in a limited number of ports and cities, which limited the amount of goods Europeans were allowed to transfer overseas. Japan isolated itself as a whole from trade for an entire decade, and when it did open it was cautious towards westerners. Additionally, both were bordered by the ocean at least to a certain extent – Japan was surrounded entirely, being an island, by water, and a large percentage of China’s borders was water. It is because of this that the third similarity arose – both did trade by ocean. China with Britain, simply because it was the easiest, cheapest, and most efficient form of travel between the two, and Japan because there was obviously no choice considering Japan is an island. These geographical similarities arose purely from the coincidence that both were bordered by the ocean, which created the necessity for boats and by the time the opportunity for trade

The United States began to reach outward for trade, showing interest in Japan. Almost forcing the country to begin to trade with the U.S.

However, the Japanese would not budge. As several years passed the Japanese decided it would be better to willingly open up trade with the Western world than to be forced. In 1858, the United States and Japan signed their first commercial treaty, sometimes referred to as the Harris Treaty. European countries soon followed after and Japan made its first visit to the United States to discuss the treaty in 1860. Although they were reluctant to begin trading with the Western world, once it started Japan became fully invested into modernization and technological reform. The modernization lead to the weakening of the shogun, which restored the power to an emperor and thus began the Meiji

The tension between the two countries started when Japan began expanding in Asia to solve their problem for the fact that they do not have natural resources of their own. Japan wanted to conquer all of Asia in the pacific coast so that they can become the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The United States did not like Japan's aggressiveness because of the Philippines and when Japan invaded China the U.S stopped the sale of steel and iron to Japan and demanded that they stop their attack. When Japan invaded Vietnam the United States placed an oil embargo on Japan and froze all Japanese credit in the united states. These were the long-term causes of the war because Japan and the United States did not right away declared war on each other after these

Tension grew between the two superpowers during the war. The United States and Japan fought over the disaster that took place at Pearl Harbor in the mid-1940s. As

From the beginning of the 1900s tension had grown between the Soviet Union and Japan after the Russo-Japanese War. In 1904, the Soviet Union’s empire and Japan’s empire collided in their own individual efforts take Manchuria, which is a part of China, and Korea(Young). Japan tried to talk the Soviet Union into letting them take over Korea, so the Soviet Union could go capture Manchuria. But the Soviet Union also wanted the northern part of Korea, so the Japanese government declared war against the Soviet Union.

“We were about to form lines facing the front, we saw a B-29 approaching and about fly over us...That was the moment when the blast came. And then the tremendous noise came and we were left in the dark...” This is how 14 year old Akihiro Takahashi begins his account of the bombing on Hiroshima. Standing just 1.4km away from the epicenter, Akihiro couldn’t do anything but watch as the United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on his hometown. Three days later, while terror was still raging in Hiroshima, the US dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. While it may seem inhumane for the US to have used such powerful weapons on Japan, the US had many reasons to use such drastic measures. The United States and Japan 's involvement in WW2 led to the eventual use of atomic weapons causing a series of devastating effects that changed Japan and the world forever.

Two of the most apparent external influences for Japan to enter into World War Two would have to the opening of japan to trade from Commodore Perry, and economic and trade sanctions imposed by the United States thereafter. On July 8, 1853, Commodore Perry arrived in Tokyo bay with regards to re-establish commerce with Japan that had been non-existent in 200 years. In reading “Breaking Open Japan” Feifer said “Japan had long been open to new ideas from abroad” (Fiefer 17). The United States were particularly interested in commercial trade with Japan. First and foremost was the opening of Pacific ports in American control, the annexation of California, and the opening of trade with Chinese ports. In creating an American port in California it created a stream of pacific shipping as well as the need to secure coaling stations on the Pacific trade route. Japan also contained large amounts of coal deposits thus increasing the interest from the United States since coal was the natural resource of the 19th century. Secondly the United States economic sanctions after the period of opening proved to be the nail in the coffin for U.S/Japanese relations.

By the start of the twentieth century Russia had made expansions into the Far East, and the growth of its settlement and territorial ambitions clashed with the regional ambitions of the Japanese Empire on the Chinese and Asian mainland. It was only a matter of time before tensions came to a head, and war between the two nations began on February 8, 1904 when a “Japanese torpedo squadron entered Port Arthur, attacked the Russian squadron, and disabled the three best vessels - the Tsesarevitch, the Retvizan, and the Pallada “ [6]. Japan would go on to win a succession of crucial victories over the Russians, who underestimated the military potential of its opponent. These crushing defeats served to convince Russia that additional fighting against

From 1639, Japan kept control on emigration of its people to Europe and to its colonies. But soon after the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853, trade of gunships started between the United States and Japan (USA.gov). This exposed Japanese to another culture, which had an impact on their life. This resulted in a great change of social life in Japan because life in America represented a model way and motivated Japanese to migrate there.

In 1894, the Sino-Japanese war broke out, which was the start of Korea’s involvement of independence. The Japanese had easily dominated the Korean peninsula, driving the Chinese out and demanding them to recognize Korea as an independent state. This incident gave shock to most of the western countries as they did not know about Japan’s military prowess and modernization. As a result, the Russians felt intimidated by the Japanese because they did not want anything to happen to Manchuria, the country that gave them easy transport with the Trans-Siberian Railway. However, as they feared, the Russo-Japanese War broke out in 1904, regarding the competition of the control of Manchuria and Korea between Russia and Japan.

The Portuguese were the first group of Europeans to arrive in Japan. Contact between the Japanese and Portuguese marked the first interaction with Europe. According to historical accounts, Portuguese traders arrived at Tanegashima, a small island in southern Kyūshū, on a Chinese ship in 1543. Two years later, in 1545, the Portuguese arrived to establish trade and brought with them: weapons such as the harquebus and cannon; books such as medicine and science; raw materials such as wool and tobacco; and so forth. After this encounter, trade relations between the two countries flourished in a period known as the Nanban (Southern Barbarian) trade (Numata, 1956; Hall, 1970; Matsuda, 1982; Beasley, 1999; Jansen, 2000; Lidin, 2002; Totman, 2005; Walker,

In the first century of New Zealand’s existence as a state, its ties to Britain did not leave much room for additional alliances. However, as World War II approached, it became increasingly apparent that while New Zealand was historically and ideologically beside Britain, geographically it was thousands of miles away. It is at this time, therefore, that we begin to see New Zealand considering new friends, specifically the United States. The rising threat of Japan in the pacific created anxieties that raised questions about the historical assumptions that previously bridged the physical distance from Britain. This essay examines how, in light of these anxieties, a single cable sent in June 1940 triggered a momentous shift in the way New Zealand conducted itself in the global arena – no longer looking exclusively towards Britain. This examination begins with an assessment of New Zealand’s relations with both Britain and the US at the outset of World War II, specifically emphasising the role of interest, ideology and strategic importance in the former and the limited extent of the latter. The analysis then pinpoints June 1940, in which Britain provided notice that they could no longer assure the ability to protect New Zealand if trouble arose in the Pacific. In response, Fraser sent a monumental telegram, informing Britain that New Zealand will revise their strategic positon and seek a diplomatic post in Washington. This essay contends that is that this individual cable was a

Before 1853, Japan remained in isolation from the other Western powers, but the arrival of Commodore Matthew C. Perry influenced Japan to expand their trade. With the American fleet of warships led by Perry, it intimidated Japan to open their foreign interests in hope of arising trading opportunities from both sides. In a way, the U.S. military superiority spurred the Japanese to agree to the Treaty of Kanagawa. This treaty allowed the return of American sailors, allowed U.S. residence, and opened two ports in Japan. This indicated that Perry’s visit marked a turning point in Japan’s history; in addition, Japan continued to negotiate treaties with U.S. and other countries for opening their ports for trade and residence.

After long term trade agreements and Chinese economic reform, bilateral trade rapidly increased. This is also known as the “golden age” of Sino- Japanese relations, as they made significant progress during the 70’s and 80’s. But a lot of these visits and treaties were mostly for show, and today, we realize that although it seemed like the two countries were finally starting to cooperate with each other, there were still many problems surrounding Sino-Japanese relations.