The Coming of the Barbarians - A Story of Western Settlement in Japan, 1853-1870

for more than two hundred years Dutch merchants had been the only settlers, interned on the tiny island of Decima. The advent of a US naval force in 1853 heralded a new era of drama and upheaval as foreign consuls, merchants and travellers established a risky presence on Japan's shores, opening up a new frontier for both East and West.