page_title: Japan–United States relations
hierarchical_section_title: Japan–United States relations
caption_attribution_description: English: Embassy of the United States in Japan 日本語: 米国大使館 東京
context_page_description: Japan–United States relations refers to international relations between Japan and the United States. Relations began in the late 18th and early 19th century, with the diplomatic but force-backed missions of U.S. ship captains James Glynn and Matthew C. Perry to the Tokugawa shogunate. The countries maintained relatively cordial relations after that. Potential disputes were resolved. Japan acknowledged American control of Hawaii and the Philippines and the United States reciprocated regarding Korea. Disagreements about Japanese immigration to the U.S. were resolved in 1907. The two were allies against Germany in World War I.
  From as early as 1879 and continuing through most of the first four decades of the 1900’s the influential Japanese statesmen, Prince Iyesato Tokugawa and Baron Eiichi Shibusawa led a major Japanese domestic and international movement advocating goodwill and mutual respect with the United States. Their friendship with the U.S. included allying with seven U.S. presidents, Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding, Hoover, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
context_section_description: Japan–United States relations (日米関係, Nichibei Kankei) refers to international relations between Japan and the United States. Relations began in the late 18th and early 19th century, with the diplomatic but force-backed missions of U.S. ship captains James Glynn and Matthew C. Perry to the Tokugawa shogunate. The countries maintained relatively cordial relations after that. Potential disputes were resolved. Japan acknowledged American control of Hawaii and the Philippines and the United States reciprocated regarding Korea. Disagreements about Japanese immigration to the U.S. were resolved in 1907. The two were allies against Germany in World War I.
  From as early as 1879 and continuing through most of the first four decades of the 1900’s the influential Japanese statesmen, Prince Iyesato Tokugawa (1863-1940) and Baron Eiichi Shibusawa (1840-1931) led a major Japanese domestic and international movement advocating goodwill and mutual respect with the United States. Their friendship with the U.S. included allying with seven U.S. presidents, Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding, Hoover, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was only after the passing of these two fine Japanese diplomats and humanitarians that Japanese militants were able to pressure Japan into joining with the Axis Powers in WWII.
  Starting in 1931, tensions escalated. Japanese actions against China in 1931 and especially after 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War caused the United States to cut off the oil and steel Japan required for their military conquests. Japan responded with attacks on the Allies, including the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, which heavily damaged the US naval base at Pearl Harbor. The United States responded to this attack by declaring war on Japan, and thus its allies. This declaration of war led to the fighting in the Pacific theater of World War II. The United States island hopped across the Pacific, taking occupied islands around Japan in increasingly bloody battles, for example the Battle of Okinawa in which the United States lost an estimated 14,000 and Japan lost an estimated 77,000. In an attempt to force a surrender, the Americans systematically bombed Japanese cities, including the most destructive and deadly air raid to date in Tokyo in which an estimated 80,000 to 130,000 people were killed and an estimated one million were left homeless. Eventually, instead of invading the Japanese mainland like originally planned in Operation Downfall, the United States decided to drop an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945 killing 70,000-126,000 civilians and 20,000 soldiers, this was the second time an atomic bomb was ever used, the first being the Trinity Test. Three days later on the 9th of August, 1945 they dropped another atomic bomb on the civilian city of Nagasaki, killing 39,000-80,000 people. This, along with multiple other factors, including the USSR entry into the war and the lack of resources to continue fighting the war, forced Japan to surrender. Japan was then subjected to seven years of military occupation by the United States, during which the American occupiers under General Douglas MacArthur eliminated the military factor and rebuilt the economic and political systems so as to transform Japan into a democracy.
  In the 1950s and 1960s Japan, while neutral, grew rapidly by supplying American wars in Korea and Vietnam.  The trade relationship has particularly prospered since then, with Japanese automobiles and consumer electronics being especially popular, and Japan became the world's second economic power after the United States. (In 2010 it dropped to third place after China). From the late 20th century and onwards, the United States and Japan have firm and very active political, economic and military relationships. The United States considers Japan to be one of its closest allies and partners.  Japan is currently one of the most pro-American nations in the world, with 67% of Japanese viewing the United States favorably, according to a 2018 Pew survey; and 75% saying 
caption: Embassy of the United States in Japan.
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