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?
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TLDR: Japan made itself very hostile to foreign visitors.
During Japan’s isolationist period it did in fact have contact with the outside world, primarily with the Dutch. But the amount of trade in and out of Japan was restricted.
The amount of trade and when it could happen was tightly regulated. Japan also had a bad trade deficit meaning that it was losing too much Silver and Gold to foreign traders (vs sending out goods)
Japanese ships were forbidden from sailing to foreign countries and Japanese citizens that left the country weren’t allowed to return under penalty of death.
Only specific port cities were allowed to conduct trade with the outside. If a foreign ship tried to arrive at another port they were ignored or their crews killed.
It should be pointed out that one of the primary reasons for the isolation was a reaction to Catholic priests trying to convert Japanese to Christianity. The Catholic Church was sending out large numbers of missionaries at the time. The Japanese ruling class took particular offense to this as it seemed that there was a priest on every European boat.
What finally ended the isolation was Commodore Perry from the US showing up with a fleet. The Japanese didn’t have a significant Navy at the time and Perry threatened them with violence if they didn’t open their borders. “You kill us, and we’ll just keep coming back with more and more ships so you can’t ignore us forever”. But by that point opinion within the Japanese ruling class was changing, knowledge of the outside world and industrialization was getting in and Japan was realizing that it was falling behind rapidly in terms of technology.
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