Japanese mission to the United States (1860)
E1046473
The Japanese mission to the United States (1860) was the first official Japanese diplomatic delegation to America during the late Tokugawa period, sent to ratify the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and observe Western institutions and technology.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Japanese mission to the United States (1860) canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T13544275 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Japanese mission to the United States (1860) Context triple: [Fukuzawa Yukichi, participatedIn, Japanese mission to the United States (1860)]
-
A.
Iwakura Mission
The Iwakura Mission was a landmark 1871–1873 Japanese diplomatic and fact-finding tour of the United States and Europe that aimed to renegotiate unequal treaties and study Western institutions to guide Japan’s modernization.
-
B.
U.S. naval expedition to Japan
The U.S. naval expedition to Japan was the mid-19th-century American mission that forced the opening of Japan to Western trade and diplomacy, ending over two centuries of Japanese isolation.
-
C.
Convention of Kanagawa
The Convention of Kanagawa was an 1854 treaty between Japan and the United States that ended Japan’s isolationist policy by opening select ports to American vessels and establishing diplomatic relations.
-
D.
1871 United States expedition to Korea
The 1871 United States expedition to Korea was a U.S. naval and military operation aimed at opening trade and securing diplomatic relations with Korea, which resulted in armed conflict near Ganghwa Island.
-
E.
Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Britain and Japan (1858)
The Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Britain and Japan (1858) was a pivotal unequal treaty that opened Japan to British trade and diplomatic relations during the late Tokugawa shogunate, significantly influencing Japan’s subsequent modernization and foreign policy.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Japanese mission to the United States (1860) Target entity description: The Japanese mission to the United States (1860) was the first official Japanese diplomatic delegation to America during the late Tokugawa period, sent to ratify the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and observe Western institutions and technology.
-
A.
Iwakura Mission
The Iwakura Mission was a landmark 1871–1873 Japanese diplomatic and fact-finding tour of the United States and Europe that aimed to renegotiate unequal treaties and study Western institutions to guide Japan’s modernization.
-
B.
U.S. naval expedition to Japan
The U.S. naval expedition to Japan was the mid-19th-century American mission that forced the opening of Japan to Western trade and diplomacy, ending over two centuries of Japanese isolation.
-
C.
Convention of Kanagawa
The Convention of Kanagawa was an 1854 treaty between Japan and the United States that ended Japan’s isolationist policy by opening select ports to American vessels and establishing diplomatic relations.
-
D.
1871 United States expedition to Korea
The 1871 United States expedition to Korea was a U.S. naval and military operation aimed at opening trade and securing diplomatic relations with Korea, which resulted in armed conflict near Ganghwa Island.
-
E.
Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Britain and Japan (1858)
The Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Britain and Japan (1858) was a pivotal unequal treaty that opened Japan to British trade and diplomatic relations during the late Tokugawa shogunate, significantly influencing Japan’s subsequent modernization and foreign policy.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Japanese diplomatic mission
ⓘ
diplomatic mission ⓘ historical event ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
First Japanese Embassy to America
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
First Japanese Embassy to the United States NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | Japan ⓘ |
| destination | United States of America NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| diplomaticRelation | Japan–United States relations NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| fieldOfWork |
diplomacy
ⓘ
international relations ⓘ |
| followedBy | Iwakura Mission NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasEffect |
increased Japanese awareness of Western institutions
ⓘ
increased Japanese awareness of Western technology ⓘ strengthening of diplomatic ties between Japan and the United States ⓘ |
| hasLanguage |
English
ⓘ
Japanese ⓘ |
| hasParticipant |
Japanese envoys of the Tokugawa shogunate
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
United States government officials NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasPurpose |
observation of Western institutions
ⓘ
observation of Western technology ⓘ ratification of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce (Harris Treaty) ⓘ |
| historicalSignificance |
first official Japanese diplomatic delegation to the United States
ⓘ
milestone in the end of Japan’s isolation policy ⓘ |
| locationVisited |
Baltimore
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
New York City NERFINISHED ⓘ Philadelphia NERFINISHED ⓘ Washington, D.C. NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| operatedBy | Tokugawa shogunate NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| partOf | early Japanese overseas diplomatic missions ⓘ |
| pointOfDeparture | Japan NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| politicalContext |
opening of Japan after sakoku
ⓘ
unequal treaties era in East Asia ⓘ |
| precededBy | Japanese mission to the United States (1860) preparations by the Tokugawa shogunate ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Bakumatsu period
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Perry Expedition NERFINISHED ⓘ Treaty of Amity and Commerce (United States–Japan, 1858) NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| significantEvent | ratification of the 1858 Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan ⓘ |
| significantFigure |
Abraham Lincoln
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
James Buchanan NERFINISHED ⓘ Townsend Harris NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| startTime | 1860 ⓘ |
| timePeriod | late Tokugawa period NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| topic |
Westernization of Japan
ⓘ
diplomatic recognition ⓘ international trade ⓘ technology transfer ⓘ |
| transportUsed |
Kanrin Maru
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
USS Powhatan NERFINISHED ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Japanese mission to the United States (1860) Description of subject: The Japanese mission to the United States (1860) was the first official Japanese diplomatic delegation to America during the late Tokugawa period, sent to ratify the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and observe Western institutions and technology.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.