The following is a timeline through 1941, chronicling the United States and Japan’s relationship, which will better orient the reader in terms of historical context and provide them with a better ability to analyze the feelings and utterances of Sadao, Tom, Hana, and the servants in regard to each other.
1854: Japan and the U.S. grant mutual formal recognition a year after Commodore Matthew Perry’s visit on behalf of President Millard Fillmore to Japan. This is known as the Treaty of Peace and Amity, and Japan is opened up to trade after 200 years of self-imposed isolation.
1855: This is the first time consular relations are established between the U.S. and Japan, with a Consulate located in Shimoda.
1858: Full diplomatic relations are established with the Treaty of Amity and Commerce.
1859: The U.S. establishes its first legation in Japan.
1905: President Theodore Roosevelt helps Japan and Russia negotiate an end to the Russo-Japanese War, though both sides were unhappy with the terms.
1906: The U.S. legation is elevated to the status of an Embassy.
1908: The U.S. and Japan agree on the informal arrangement known as the “Gentlemen’s Agreement,” in which the Japanese would allow little immigration to the U.S. and America would repeal the segregation laws of the San Francisco school board.
1914: Japan joins the Allies against Germany in WWI.
1919: Japan is disappointed that its gains from the Treaty of Versailles are minimal.
1923: Due to their growing apprehension of Japan’s territorial goals in East Asia, Britain ends its 21-year alliance with the country.
1931: Japan invades Manchuria, leaving the U.S. unsettled and wary of Japan’s desire for empire and expansion.
1937: Japan goes to war with China and carries out the “Rape of Nanjing.”
1939: WWII breaks out in Europe.
1940: Japan signs the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, forming the Axis Powers; President Franklin Roosevelt bans the export of metal and oil products to Japan, and lends money to China.
1941: Japan invades Indochina; negotiations between the countries continue, but they are on the precipice of war; diplomatic relations between the two countries are severed when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, and both subsequently declare war upon each other.
