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George Feifer

Breaking Open Japan: Commodore Perry, Lord Abe, and American Imperialism in 1853 Hardcover – October 17, 2006

by George Feifer (Author)

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On July 14, 1853, the four warships of America's East Asia Squadron made for Kurihama, 30 miles south of the Japanese capital, then called Edo. It had come to pry open Japan after her two and a half centuries of isolation and nearly a decade of intense planning by Matthew Perry, the squadron commander. The spoils of the recent Mexican Spanish–American War had whetted a powerful American appetite for using her soaring wealth and power for commercial and political advantage.

Perry's cloaking of imperial impulse in humanitarian purpose was fully matched by Japanese self–deception. High among the country's articles of faith was certainty of its protection by heavenly power. A distinguished Japanese scholar argued in 1811 that "Japanese differ completely from and are superior to the peoples of...all other countries of the world."

So began one of history's greatest political and cultural clashes.

In Breaking Open Japan, George Feifer makes this drama new and relevant for today. At its heart were two formidable men: Perry and Lord Masahiro Abe, the political mastermind and real authority behind the Emperor and the Shogun. Feifer gives us a fascinating account of "sealed off" Japan and shows that Perry's aggressive handling of his mission had far reaching consequences for Japan – and the United States – well into the twentieth if not twenty–first century.

Print length

416 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Smithsonian
Publication date

October 17, 2006
Dimensions

6 x 1.29 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

9780060884321
ISBN-13

978-0060884321
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. This book, a detailed history of Japan from the American fleet's arrival in Uraga Bay in July 1853 to its departure in June 1854, demonstrates how Japan's powerlessness to oppose the imperialist intentions of Commodore Matthew Perry planted a seed of humiliation deep in the Japanese psyche that would have far-reaching consequences beyond opening up the isolated nation for the first time in centuries. Covering the events leading up to and following the visit, including the fall of the Shogunate and the Meiji Restoration, veteran author Feifer (The Battle of Okinawa) provides rich insight into dueling Eastern and Western mindsets. The Japanese considered outsiders culturally and morally inferior, like beasts that looked human, and the Shogunate was fearful of European imperialism after observing the partitioning of China in the Opium Wars. The Americans had a similar sense of self-regard, believing themselves ideologically and spiritually superior, and the spread of their power and ideas across the Pacific only right and good. Feifer follows the threads of his tale through to the present day, including the most notorious aftershock of Perry's mission, the attack on Pearl Harbor, masterminded by Admiral Yamamoto Isoruku, who said he joined Japan's navy because he "wanted to repay Commodore Perry's visit." The clash of cultures and its legacy are explored thoroughly in Feifer's spirited narrative, making this a must-read for anyone interested in the origin of Japanese-American relations.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

George Feifer is the author of many successful books, including Tennozan: The Battle of Okinawa, a New York Times Notable Book; Moscow Farewell, a Book of the Month Club Main Selection; and The Girl from Petrovka, the basis of a Hollywood film. He's written for a wide variety of publications, including the New Republic, the New York Times Magazine, Harper's, and the Saturday Evening Post. He lives in Roxbury, Connecticut.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0060884320
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Smithsonian; 1st Edition (October 17, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780060884321
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060884321
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.45 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.29 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,059,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,277 in Japanese History (Books)
- #76,383 in World History (Books)
- #100,452 in United States History (Books)

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5 star		57%
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3 star		8%
2 star		4%
1 star		15%

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Marc Heiden

Look elsewhere

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2020

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Badly structured and badly written. It's hard to understand how this got published. Important events are told out of order, such as Perry's visits to Okinawa, and the author keeps losing focus, killing any sense of narrative momentum. There's little to no evidence of original research and almost no use of primary sources other than Perry's own account. And I don't know how you account for godawful prose like this:

"The Perry mission that alone didn't ignite the explosion of Japanese aggression in the 1930s was nevertheless the core of the fuse."

If you're interested in this subject, look for Peter Booth Wiley's "Yankees in the Land of the Gods" instead. It goes far deeper into the principals on both sides and its judgments are borrowed liberally by this book anyway, so why not go closer to the source?

One person found this helpful

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William Ellis

Japan The Ultimate Victim

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2014

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Feifer provocative premise that modern Japan is
not only shaped by the unwanted intrusion of Commodore Perry but the opening has done irreparable damage to what it means to be Japanese. Is it plausible? Read his arguments and decide for yourself.

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John Leslie

Liberated or Oppressed?

Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2006

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Early on in his excellent history of Commodore Perry's deliberate and U.S. sanctioned effort to spread the gospel according to American interests in mid-19th century Japan, George Feifer has this to say: "Like the overwhelming majority of his fellows, the Commodore had a penchant for criticizing other societies while remaining silent about the flaws of his own. The notion of a Japanese squadron sailing into the Chesapeake Bay to demand cessation of slavery or of the obliterating of Native American culture would have seemed preposterous to him and virtually all other Americans."

Sadly, not much has changed since then. From Japan to Vietnam to Central America to Iraq many of our political sages continue to act from hubris and fundamentalist missionary zeal in an effort to expand our spheres of influence, while doing little to understand the consequences of our actions or the societies we set out to plunder and remake in our own image.

While Breaking Open Japan will be read by scholars, it's narrative gifts make it accessible to anyone with an interest in understanding the folly of imperialist attitudes.

7 people found this helpful

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Dennis R. Papazian

An exhaustive and explanatory study of a critical. Japanese, and indeed an American, juncture in history.

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2014

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Rarely do we find history written in such a clear and interesting fashion. Feifer, an author of great and various talents, reveals the internal Japanese reaction to Admiral Perry's white ships which brought about almost unbelievable changes an Japanese society.

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2018

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Excellent. One of the very best.

Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2006

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Early on in Breaking Open Japan the theme is set: while Japan took pride in their "divine" heritage, believing that they were descended from the sun goddess, Americans believed that they had a "unique" mission, appointed by a higher power, to "enlighten" people in the rest of the world. The time is 1853, when Commodore Perry's so-called black ships sailed into Edo harbor carrying their singular mission to inform, convert, and civilize the little peoples of the far east. Convert, civilize and conquer is what they meant, with emphasis on the latter.

Reading this book now, while we are still deeply engaged in Irag and possibly about to launch a crusade against Iran, descendants of the ancient and proud Persian empire, is to have a sense of how deep, and deeply disturbing, America's sense of mission in the world has been and continues to be. It is a fascinating, fair, blow-by-blow account of how America descended upon Japan and how the Japanese, proud people humiliated by "conquerors" who appeared to be of a lesser culture, kept their own counsel, nurturing their resentment over decades to finally retaliate nearly 90 years later, at Pearl Harbor.

Not to be missed!

3 people found this helpful

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Dan Curll

Needs an editor!

Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2009

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The subject is interesting and timely [taking US values to far corners of the world]. But the writing is abismal. Here is a typical sentence: "Anerican newspapers helped swell the numbers who knew little more about Japan than the cruelty they reported." Did you have to read that sentence twice before getting its meaning? Well you will read many sentences twice in this book. Who taught the author how to write?Where was the Smithsonian Books editor?

The book is also chaotically organized. Many chapters do not reflect their titles. The timeline is often hard to find.

Concerning content, Feifer misses completely how "modern" Japan was in its own terms when Commodore Perry arrived. Edo [Tokyo] was a city of one million people and larger than London. It had department stores. Although Perry remained ignorant of such facts, to understand the "breaking open" the reader of this book should get more than just tabloid style exposés of leading Japanese figures like Abe Masahiro, the Shoguns "prime minister".

A book written from note cards that got dropped on the floor and shuffled.

15 people found this helpful

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GCHEN

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2015

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it is very good.fast and excellent

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