The story behind the opening of trade relations between the United States and Japan is an intriguing one. For context, Japan during the Tokugawa period (1603-1868) had limited to no interactions with the West. At the beginning of the Tokugawa period, Japan traded with European countries such as Spain, Portugal, and England, but due to concerns about religious influence, particularly Christian influence, trade with these countries was cut off. The Japanese would deal only with the Dutch, and even that was restricted to ports in Nagasaki. The Dutch were not permitted to share their religious beliefs, but they were still allowed to trade with Japan because the Japanese wanted Dutch goods and did not think the Dutch would push their beliefs on Japan. The reason that the Japanese did not want outside religious influence, particularly Christianity brought to Japan, was because they saw it as a threat to the government's control. However, at the end of the Tokugawa period, leading into the Meiji period, Japan reopened its relations with the West.

The United States wanted trade relations with Japan for several reasons. According to the Office of the Historian, the first reason is that the United States wanted access to maritime trade in Asia, and Japanese ports would be vital in that trade. The recent addition of the State of California on the Pacific coast and trade with the Chinese furthered the United States' interest in trade in the region. The second reason was that if American ships were to trade in the Pacific, they needed stations to refuel steamships with coal. Japan was the perfect place to do so, and the possibility of coal in Japan made it even more intriguing. The third was that the United States whaling industry was also interested in the region. There was also the American idea of Manifest Destiny, which led the United States to expand across North America and played a role in its desire to expand its influence in the Pacific. It was this idea that led American merchants and missionaries to want to “modernize” Asian countries like China and Japan. However, Japan was not excluded from Western influence prior to the United States. Western influence crept in through the Dutch, as previously mentioned, but also China, which had opened trade with the West before Japan.

In July 1853, Commodore Matthew C. Perry and his fleet of eleven ships arrived in Japan. They forced the Japanese to accept a letter from President Millard Fillmore requesting good relations and trade with the United States. An exerpt of the letter states, “I have directed Commodore Perry to assure your imperial majesty that I entertain the kindest feelings towards your majesty’s person and government, and that I have no other object in sending him to Japan but to propose to your imperial majesty that the United States and Japan should live in friendship and have commercial intercourse with each other.” The irony behind this letter is that the United States assumed the emperor was in control of Japan's government, but at this time, the emperor was just a puppet, and the Shogun was actually in control. Nevertheless, the Japanese accepted this letter and Commodore Perry promised to return the following year to hear Japan's response. In February 1854, a treaty was signed that allowed U.S. ships to receive provisions and hospitable treatment in Shimoda and Hakodate. The treaty also allowed the United States to send a consul to Japan. However, this treaty still did not open the trade relationship the United States had hoped for, but it did allow European countries like France and England to sign similar treaties with Japan.

When the United States consul, Townsend Harris, arrived in Japan in 1856, it was his job to convince the Japanese to agree to a trade treaty between the United States and Japan. According to the Office of the Historian, in 1858, the Harris treaty was signed between the United States and Japan allowing for trade between the two countries. The treaty between the United States and Japan also led to other treaties with Japan, including those with Russia, Britain, and France. The Dutch also renegotiated their treaties with Japan. Although Japan resisted Western influence, once the genie was let out of the bottle, Japan took full advantage of trade with the United States. All this is important because it sets up the stage for many historical events that would occur in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.