@galen

“Haven’t you ever heard of Perry [the American commodore, who forcibly opened Japan to international trade in 1854]? Don’t you know anything about our country’s history?… Tokugawa Japan believed in isolation; it didn’t want to have anything to do with other countries, and had its doors locked tightly. Then along came Perry from your country in his black ships to open those doors; he aimed his big guns at Japan and warned “If you don’t deal with us, look out for these; open your doors, and negotiate with other countries too.” And then when Japan did open its doors and tried dealing with other countries, it learned that all those countries were a fearfully aggressive lot. And so for its own defense it took your own country as its teacher and set about learning how to be aggressive. You might say we became your disciples. Why don’t you subpoena Perry from the other world and try him as a war criminal?”

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