When Black Ships Bring the Future
What Meiji Japan can teach us about meeting an unexpected tomorrow
Part II of the Tomorrow in Progress series. Read the first post, a conversation between planetary futurist Alex Steffen and IDEO’s Tim Brown, here.
If you want to see ahead, it’s often helpful to begin by looking back.
In 1853, four huge black ships, two of them pouring forth steam from thunderous engines, sailed into Tokyo Bay. Japanese leaders were stunned. Commanded by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, the ships had been sent to open up trade with a nation that had been closed to outsiders for 200 years. Though officials of the Japanese Shogunate were aware of broad trends in Western technology, they had never seen the like of these hulking vessels, and were disinclined to change their time-honored policies.
The Americans, however, were prepared to be persuasive. They’d brought along one of the most powerful weapons of that time — Paixhans guns, capable of firing explosive shells at high velocities — to help make their point. They promptly did so, using the guns to blow to pieces a number of wooden buildings along the shore before cordially delivering a letter from President Millard Fillmore, inviting the Japanese to negotiate a trade agreement, then sailing away.
