When the Americans 'opened' Japan, they gave it a toy train.

1854

In 1854 a miniature steam locomotive and a telegraph set were shown off as marvels of Western technology, to great acclaim.

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The event

• Commodore Perry's Black Ships1853–1854 · Uraga, Edo Bay. In July 1853 four American ships under Commodore Matthew Perry, smoking and painted black, entered Edo Bay and demanded that Japan open to trade. Perry returned half a year later with a stronger squadron, and in March 1854 the shogunate signed the Convention of Kanagawa, opening two ports. Japan's two centuries of seclusion were over, and the shogunate itself soon fell.

19th century

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