Prior to 1868, the Japanese people were forbidden to go abroad and foreigners were not allowed to enter Japan. In 1868 the change in the ruling party from the Tokugawa Shogunate to Emperor Meiji in the Restoration in 1868, changed the emphasis from isolationism to a broader view to enrich the nation.
Earlier, there had been isolated contacts between the Japanese and the Western World. In 1610, a group of Japanese reached the current location of Acapulco, Mexico. In 1613, another group of Japanese visited Mexico with some continuing on to Spain and the others remaining in Mexico. There were ot…