page_title: Treaty of Shimoda
section_title: Consequences of the treaty
hierarchical_section_title: Treaty of Shimoda / Consequences of the treaty
context_page_description: The Treaty of Shimoda of February 7, 1855, was the first treaty between the Russian Empire, and the Empire of Japan, then under the administration of the Tokugawa shogunate. Following shortly after the Convention of Kanagawa signed between Japan and the United States, it effectively meant the end of Japan's 220-year-old policy of national seclusion, by opening the ports of Nagasaki, Shimoda and Hakodate to Russian vessels and established the position of Russian consuls in Japan and defined the borders between Japan and Russia.
context_section_description: Although Putiatin was lionized after his return to St Petersburg, and was elevated to the title of Count, he was also criticized for the lack of a commercial agreement with Japan, and was forced to return in 1857 and again in 1858 to negotiate new treaties, which expanded on Russian commercial rights and extraterritoriality.  One of the most important features of the 1855 Treaty of Shimoda was the agreement that the Kurile Islands were to be divided between Russia and Japan at a line running in between Etorofu and Urup, and the treaty is still frequently cited to this date by the Japanese government was one of its justifications in the current Kurile Islands dispute.
caption: Successive borders in the Kurils.
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