American and Japanese diplomacy misread each other

How much did American Japanophobia and the 'yellow peril' contribute to dismantling the Anglo-Japanese alliance?

The answer centers on mutual misunderstanding between the United States and Japan; it does not assess racial hostility's separate contribution to ending the alliance.

American assumptions treated Japan's forced opening by the Black Ships as a beneficial introduction to the wider world. Japanese assumptions, in turn, treated America principally as an economic power and underestimated its reaction to a surprise attack. In this interpretation, neither country understood how the other connected diplomacy with national status and historical experience. Diplomatic exchanges could consequently make relations worse without either side recognizing the effect.