Celebrating Japan’s defeat at Shimoda’s Black Ships Festival

The Black Ship Festival, held at Shimoda Community Hall, brings together locals, foreign residents, and visitors under a backdrop of samurai, geisha, and stormtroopers led by Kylo Ren. The U.S. Navy 7th Fleet Band’s jazz performance is met with enthusiastic applause as the crowd celebrates Japan’s surrender to the United States in 1853. commemorated today through performances like Perry’s historic visit where four warships arrived with "gunboat diplomacy" to pressure the Tokugawa shogunate into opening trade relations, marking a pivotal moment in Japanese-American cultural advocacy for national openness.