The assertion that Commodore Perry of the U.S. Navy and his "Black Ships" opened Japan in the middle of the 19th century is widely accepted as the historical truth when it "belongs more to the realm of historical myth." Professor William McOmie notes that although "Perry was the first to actually sign a treaty with the Japanese government," "What Perry did was not so much to open the door, as to unlock the door, and force in a thin wedge to prevent it being bolted again."
The author reminds us that Japan was never quite as "closed" as popularly believed and that the "opening" of Japan continues to this day. The pressures for greater contacts with the outside world than that provided through the Dutch outpost at Deshima in Nagasaki Bay had been building up for decades, not least from the Russians, and could not be resisted from much longer. Perry just got there first and McOmie's detailed narrative outlines the roles played not only by the Americans but also by the British and Dutch, and more significantly by the Russians.
McOmie's book, which is meticulously researched, provides a full account of the various expeditions to Japan and of the different sets of negotiations that resulted in the first treaties signed with Japan by the United States, Britain, Russia and the Netherlands in 1854-55.