Rita McGrath, age 14, of Wooksocket, R.I., for her question:
WHEN DID WESTERN INFLUENCE START IN JAPAN?
Japan stayed apart from the rest of the world during its early history. The government allowed foreign trading ships to dock only at the port of Nagasaki and it also prohibited the Japanese people from traveling to other countries.
Then in 1853, the United States government sent Navy Commodore Matthew Perry to open relations with Japan. This was the start of the Westernization process.
Commodore Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay with four warships and started his talks with the Japanese rulers. Tokyo at that time was called Edo.
Perry then returned in 1854 with more warships and reached a partial agreement with the rulers. After a number of years of negotiation, Japan signed a trade treaty with the United States and a number of other Western countries in 1858. This was the real beginning of modern Western influence in Japan.
Emperor Mutsuhito did much to futher the Westerrnization. Known as the Meiji Emperor, he took control of Japan from the shogun in 1867 and transferred the capital from Kyoto to Edo a year later. Edo was renamed Tokyo, which means eastern capital.
After 1868, Japan and especially Tokyo rapidly adopted Western styles and inventions. By the late 1800s, Tokyo began to look very much like a Western city.
During the 1600s and 1700s, Japan took great care to keep out all visitors. And yet, within the country the economy was growing swiftly. By the start of the 1800s, the city of Edo had already grown to have a population of more than a million. This made the city 15 times larger than New York City at the time.
A violent earthquake destroyed much of Tokyo on Sept. 1, 1923. And most of the city was again destroyed during World War II. But after each disaster, the people quickly rebuilt.
Today, the Tokyo area population is the third largest in the world behind New York and Mexico City. Tnere are almost 12 million people living there. The city also is the nation's capital.
Because of the Westernization, today Tokyo seems almost like a large American city. There are tall skyscrapers, freeways jammed with traffic and lots of people in Western dress.
The city has more neon signs than any other city in the world.
Teen agers in Tokyo dance to American hit tunes and fast food restaurants sell hot dogs and hamburgers. City residents enjoy movies and television shows from the Western countries and also love baseball.
But in spite of the Western influence that has been accepted, the tradition of old Japan is being retained by many citizens in dances, parades, tradition festivals, shrines and temples.