Did the Dutch mediate between Britain and Japan?

Did the Dutch act as intermediaries between Britain and Japan?

Not usually as go-betweens; Dutch was often the shared language in which British and Japanese representatives conducted their own negotiations.

Japan's restricted foreign contacts had left Dutch as the best-known European language among many of the people involved in diplomacy. Far fewer Japanese negotiators could speak English, so British and Japanese representatives could conduct bilateral talks in Dutch. That linguistic bridge did not mean Dutch officials were necessarily serving as go-betweens. The arrangement reflected the Netherlands' long naval and colonial presence in East Asia, including the Dutch East Indies. An earlier pattern of controlled contact therefore shaped Japan's first negotiations with a wider group of powers.