U.S. naval expedition to Japan
E629037
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.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Opening of Japan by Commodore Perry | 1 |
| U.S. naval expedition to Japan canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T6934624 — 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: U.S. naval expedition to Japan Context triple: [Matthew Calbraith Perry, commanded, U.S. naval expedition to Japan]
-
A.
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.
-
B.
Declaration of war on Japan
The Declaration of war on Japan was the formal U.S. congressional resolution passed on December 8, 1941, that brought the United States into World War II following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
-
C.
Japanese landings in the Moluccas
Japanese landings in the Moluccas were early World War II amphibious operations by Imperial Japan to seize the strategically important Dutch-held islands in the Maluku (Moluccas) region of the East Indies.
-
D.
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.
-
E.
Pacific theater of the Russo-Japanese War
The Pacific theater of the Russo-Japanese War was the maritime and coastal zone in East Asia where Imperial Russia and Imperial Japan fought major naval and amphibious campaigns for control of the seas and key ports between 1904 and 1905.
- 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: U.S. naval expedition to Japan Target entity description: 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.
-
A.
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.
-
B.
Declaration of war on Japan
The Declaration of war on Japan was the formal U.S. congressional resolution passed on December 8, 1941, that brought the United States into World War II following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
-
C.
Japanese landings in the Moluccas
Japanese landings in the Moluccas were early World War II amphibious operations by Imperial Japan to seize the strategically important Dutch-held islands in the Maluku (Moluccas) region of the East Indies.
-
D.
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.
-
E.
Pacific theater of the Russo-Japanese War
The Pacific theater of the Russo-Japanese War was the maritime and coastal zone in East Asia where Imperial Russia and Imperial Japan fought major naval and amphibious campaigns for control of the seas and key ports between 1904 and 1905.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
diplomatic mission
ⓘ
historical event ⓘ naval expedition ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
American expedition to Japan
ⓘ
linked to:
Perry Expedition
Perry Expedition ⓘ United States expedition to Japan ⓘ
linked to:
Perry Expedition
|
| authorizedBy |
President Millard Fillmore
ⓘ
linked to:
Millard Fillmore
|
| commander |
Matthew C. Perry
ⓘ
linked to:
Matthew Calbraith Perry
|
| country | United States of America ⓘ |
| destination | Japan ⓘ |
| effect |
beginning of formal U.S.–Japan diplomatic relations
ⓘ
end of Japan's policy of national seclusion (sakoku) ⓘ increased Western influence in Japan ⓘ opening of Japanese ports to American vessels ⓘ stimulus to internal debate in Japan about modernization ⓘ |
| endDate | 1854 ⓘ |
| flagship | USS Susquehanna ⓘ |
| fleetName |
U.S. East India Squadron
ⓘ
linked to:
Asiatic Squadron
|
| historicalContext |
age of steam-powered naval expansion
ⓘ
late Edo period ⓘ
linked to:
Edo period
|
| influenced | subsequent unequal treaties imposed on Japan by Western powers ⓘ |
| initiatedBy | United States government ⓘ |
| leader |
Matthew C. Perry
ⓘ
linked to:
Matthew Calbraith Perry
|
| location |
Edo Bay
ⓘ
Uraga ⓘ Yokohama area ⓘ
linked to:
Yokohama metropolitan area
|
| longTermImpact | contributed to the conditions leading to the Meiji Restoration ⓘ |
| method | gunboat diplomacy ⓘ |
| notableFeature | use of steam-powered warships to impress Japanese authorities ⓘ |
| policyChallenged | sakoku ⓘ |
| predecessor | earlier unsuccessful American attempts to open Japan ⓘ |
| purpose |
establish diplomatic relations between the United States and Japan
ⓘ
obtain protection and assistance for American shipwrecked sailors in Japan ⓘ open Japan to American trade ⓘ secure coaling stations for American steamships in the Pacific ⓘ |
| relatedEvent |
Meiji Restoration
ⓘ
signing of the Harris Treaty (U.S.–Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce) ⓘ |
| result | Convention of Kanagawa ⓘ |
| shipInvolved |
USS Lexington
ⓘ
USS Macedonian ⓘ
linked to:
USS Cyane
USS Mississippi ⓘ USS Plymouth ⓘ USS Powhatan ⓘ
linked to:
USS Susquehanna
USS Saratoga ⓘ USS Susquehanna ⓘ |
| significantEventDate |
1853
ⓘ
1854 ⓘ |
| startDate | 1852 ⓘ |
| treatyDate | 1854-03-31 ⓘ |
| treatySigned | Convention of Kanagawa ⓘ |
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: U.S. naval expedition to Japan Description of subject: 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.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: U.S. naval expedition to Japan