From the moment they arrived the Americans questioned the sincerity of the Japanese welcome and the Japanese demonstrated every expression of friendships to dispel their questioning. Americans had come to believe the Japanese to be “sneaky” and “crafty” capable of creating an illusion of good relations to gain American trust.
As Americans went ashore they were greeted with elaborate decorations on every street, parties, banquets, shows, and celebrations. Shown below is the American welcome arch shown with Admiral Sperry's parade carriage passing through. This postcard includes the commemorative cancel used by a Japanese citizen.
Here are some more pictures of the arch plus the reception received:
All of this did nothing to convince the members of the Fleet of the sincerity of Japan in its desire to be to secure good ties with the United States. It took the thousands upon thousands of flag waving Japanese children to complete this task. Their jubilant enthusiasm for the American arrival was unexpected and beyond imagination for something that could have been orchestrated by the government. How any government could have managed to direct every child, on every street, to greet the Americans with cheers of Banzai with a Japanese flag in one hand and an American Flag in the other?
One correspondent put it aptly, “An Emperor’s rescript might put cheers in the throat and lies on the lips of his people in a despotic government, but, by cracky, no Emperor’s rescript can put a smile on the face of every child and toddler in his empire when there is hate in his people’s heart; an Emperor’s rescript cannot make innocence the agent of deception. Oriental subtlety cannot go that far.”
Cheers
Sean
