ABSTRACT
After more than two centuries of seclusion, Japan reluctantly accepted foreign contacts, persuaded by Commodore Perry’s naval guns. Ever since, Japan has been seeking a satisfactory role in a competitive and rapacious world of very unequal nations. During that period Japan has almost never had close, active, harmonious, and trusting relations with any foreign country, except in the early decades after World War II. Following surrender in 1945, Japan was occupied by American troops. In 1952 a peace treaty and an alliance with the United States established a new era of insulation from foreign conflict and dependence on the United States.
