The Clash

When Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo harbor in July 1853, opening Japan to the West, a century and a half of economic, cultural, and occasionally violent clashes between Americans and Japanese began. Walter LaFeber has written the first book to tell the entire story behind the disagreements, tensions, and skirmishes between Japana compact, homogenous, closely knit society terrified of disorderand Americaa sprawling, open-ended society that fears economic depression and continually seeks an international marketplace. Using both American and Japanese sources, LaFeber provides the history behind the vicissitudes of rearming Japan, the present-day tensions in U.S.-Japan trade talks, Japan's continuing importance in financing America's huge deficit, and both nations' drive to develop Chinaa shadow that has darkened American-Japanese relations from the beginning.