eli5: how did Japan resist and block contact with western colonial powers so successfully compared to other small nations and islands in Asia and the Pacific?

Question

eli5: how did Japan resist and block contact with western colonial powers so successfully compared to other small nations and islands in Asia and the Pacific?

In: 1

Answer 1

Also, Japan doesn’t have easily exploited materials. It sustained itself with fish and craftsmanship. There weren’t a lot of valuable spices, tea, metals, silk or anything highly suitable for global trade at the time. Japan is mostly steep mountains, hard to invade, hard to exploit.