New York – On June 16, 1860, 160 years ago to this day, and a year before the American Civil War broke out, the first Japanese mission to the United States arrived in New York City. They were warmly welcomed by literally hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers as their “samurai parade” moved along Broadway from the Battery to a ceremonial reviewing stand in Union Square.
Our relationship — between the U.S. and Japan — has endured from this amazing beginning throughout our shared history, sometimes mutually beneficial, at other times literally devastating. Together, we have seen a Civil War, the Russo-Japanese War, World War I, the Spanish Flu, World War II, with the first atomic bomb dropped on Japan by the U.S., the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, 9/11, 3/11, and now the global COVID-19 pandemic plus Black Lives Matter and protests in America.
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