Perry attempts to intimidate the Japanese by…
July 1853 CE
He also fires blank shots from his seventy-three cannons, which he claims is in celebration of the American Independence Day.
Perry's ships are equipped with new Paixhans shell guns, cannons capable of wreaking great explosive destruction with every shell.
He also orders his ship boats to commence survey operations of the coastline and surrounding waters over the objections of local officials.
In the meantime, the Japanese government is paralyzed due to the incapacitation by illness of shōgun Tokugawa Ieyoshi and by political indecision on how to handle the unprecedented threat to the nation's capital.
On July 11, Rōjū Abe Masahiro temporizes, deciding that simply accepting a letter from the Americans will not constitute a violation of Japanese sovereignty.
The Japanese military forces cannot resist Perry's modern weaponry; the "Black Ships" are now to become, in Japan, a threatening symbol of Western technology.
The Japanese government agrees to let Perry come ashore to avoid a naval bombardment.
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