The Dutch in Japan Essay -- History

The Red Haired Barbarians The Dutch in japanThe success of Dutch merchants in Japan illustrates the singularity of the DutchRepublic amongst the seventeenth century European countries. Not exclusively would the Dutch cometo dominate trade in Asia, in Japan they would demonstrate a practicality that wouldenable them to be the singular Western personnel office present in a country that would severelyisolate itself from both foreign intrusion. The V.O.C. could indeed be a ruthless cartel insecuring trade from its competition and in dealing with indigenous populations aroundthe world, as in the case of slavery where human beings were reduced to merecommodities to be bought and sold. Yet, the relationship between early Dutch traders, theV.O.C., and the Nipponese people delineates an entrepreneurial and cultural adeptness thatwas beyond that of their European contemporaries and competitors in the 17th century.It was the Lusitanian, rather than the Dutch, were the graduation exercise Europeans to begin arelationship with the people of Japan. The Portuguese arrived in 1543 when Japan was awar torn country shared out by diametrical warlords. Along with trade, the Portuguese brought Jesuit missionaries who successfully proselytized Christianity if non to a large-scale,which would nonetheless be significant to future Japanese rulers. During their clock time inJapan, the Portuguese would see the rise of the three great shogunal unifiers. The first ofthese was Oda Nobunaga, who actually supported Christian efforts in order to counter2the militant Buddhist domains that resisted his rule. The second unifier, ToyotomiHideyoshi was much less tolerant of the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries, andsubsequently vacillated between policies of tolerance and b... ...to agreatly different culture. That the idea of tolerance was not prevalent for17th centuryEuropeans is demonstrated by the Portuguese experience in Japan, yet somehow theDutch managed a cultural acumen that w as remarkable for this time period.Works CitedDutch and Japanese Relations. Consulat-General van het Koninkrijk der Nederlandenhttp//www.oranda-cg.or.jp/english/relations.html, Retrieved 23 July 2007.Sayle, Murray. Japan Goes Dutch. London Review of Books. Vol. 23 No. 7 (5 April2001). Retrieved 22 July 2007.Totman, Conrad. Tokugawa Ieyasu Shogun A Biography, Tokyo Heian InternationalIncorporated. 1983.Yonemura, Ann. Yokohama Prints from Nineteenth Century Japan. Arthur M.Sackler Gallery. Smithsonian Institution. Washington, D.C. artelino.com/.Articles/dutch.Nagasaki. Retrieved 23 July 2007. NIAS_User scalawag 8 10/3/07.