Hello Japanese Twitter! I wanted to share some history of Japanese-American relations in honor of the relationship that has been built on X recently. I am the relative of two of the first visitors to Japan, Commodore Matthew C. Perry and the artist John La Farge. I'll share some Perry history and pictures in this thread and follow up with La Farge in a separate thread.
Last summer, I visited the current Matthew C. Perry in Rhode Island, where the commodore was buried, across the water from his hometown of South Kingstown. He is descended from a younger brother of the commodore, and I am descended from Oliver Hazard Perry, the eldest brother and at one time the most famous war hero in the United States. I have not yet met a direct descendant of Commodore Perry himself, but there were several that many Americans might recognize. A few of our relatives have given talks in Japan about Perry.
For those of you unfamiliar with American geography, Rhode Island is a tiny state next to Connecticut and Massachusetts in New England. It was one of the original Thirteen Colonies. This is a map of America in 1775 - Rhode Island is the tiny state in the Northeast. It's not an island either, and it's not named after Cecil Rhodes, who was born much later. Its capital city is Providence, giving it the old name of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The second image points out where it is today, not far from Boston.
The third picture is a commemorative coin for each of Oliver and Matthew Perry, as well as their pocket watch (pictured later in this thread). The fourth image is a better picture of the Matthew Perry coin, in the hands of the current Matthew C. Perry.
Thread below - I will keep adding to this for a bit. I have tried to list names as specifically as possible for translation purposes, but please let me know if anything is unclear when translated to Japanese. Unfortunately, I don't speak the language myself.