The memory of Japan's coerced opening by an American naval squadron helped shape its desire for a deterrent fleet. That experience left a durable sense that weakness invited outside pressure. Later treaty ratios and the ending of the Anglo-Japanese alliance reinforced rather than eased the insecurity. An agreement framed as neutral arithmetic could therefore be read in Japan as another effort to keep the country vulnerable.
Notable Point · 26:08-27:42
Japan's coerced opening shapes treaty insecurity
The memory of an American squadron forcing Japan open helps explain why later naval restrictions could feel like renewed vulnerability rather than neutral arithmetic.