The Essential traveler's Guide To Japan

Changes in Japan since foreign influence

The closed country edicts did not totally isolate Japan. The Chinese and Koreans were permitted limited access to Japan.

The Chinese influence on Japanese learning and culture increased during the isolation, as their goods and ideas were the few allowed into Japan. The Dutch could only deal with merchant groups approved by the Bakufu because there was a strong ban on European goods.

The Dutch also had an impact on Japanese learning too, especially in the area of medicine. Medicine was not part of Japanese culture. They believed that the body will get damaged in it got surgery. The Japanese were interested in the skills and techniques the Dutch shared with them and added this knowledge to their own practices.

In the 1720s, the shogun began to get interested in Western books and ideas. He relaxed the restrictions on importing books. The study on dutch language became very fashionable for some people in Japan. In the late 18th century, many people learned Dutch so that they could study Western books on all sorts of topics.