Thanks, Thought Bubble. So the American naval commodore arrived in Japan in 1853 with a flotilla of ships and a determination to open Japan's markets. Just the threat of American steam-powered warships was enough to convince the Bokufu to sign some humiliating trade treaties that weren't unlike the ones that China had signed after losing the Opium Wars. And this only further motivated the daimyo and the samurai who were ready to give the Tokugawa the boot within a few years, they would. So what does this have to do with nationalism? Well, plenty. First off, even though the Americans and the Japanese didn't go to war, yet, the perceived threat provided an impetus for Japan to start thinking about itself differently.