Japan: Swords and Butterflies - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 258

Figure 17.2. Commodore Matthew Perry
In the West, Japan was seen as a convenient refueling place for the China trade. Some
claimed that Japan could supply coal for steamships en route to Asia. In a speech in the
United States Senate, Daniel Webster declared that Japanese coal was nature's gift to the
world and demanded that Japan sell it or trade it! As it happened, Japan had no coal to give
or sell. Even so, Perry's black ships arrived in Tokyo harbor in 1853 on a mission to de-
mand open trade.
Perry's message was direct, as armed marines quick-marched ashore, surrounding the
message and the messenger, rifles at the ready. “I shall return in one year. If open trade is
refused, I shall fire on your ports.” [230] In 1854 Perry's fleet returned, and a fearful Japan
entered into trade with the West. Nagasaki was the most important port for the new trade. It
was the city where traditional Japan confronted the West. And to dramatize that confronta-
tion, it was Nagasaki that Puccini chose as home for his heroine, Cho-cho San, or Madame
Butterfly. Visitors today can climb a hill leading from the port to the setting of the opera.
They can visit Glover's house, the residence of a British merchant and the supposed setting
for Puccini's opera. As visitors climb, loudspeakers sound plangent music from Madame
Butterfly .