Editing Catherine the Great (section)

====Relations with Japan====
In the Far East, Russians became active in fur trapping in [[Kamchatka Peninsula|Kamchatka]] and the [[Kuril Islands]]. This spurred Russian interest in opening trade with [[Tokugawa shogunate|Japan]] to the south for supplies and food. In 1783, storms drove a Japanese sea captain, [[Daikokuya Kōdayū]], ashore in the [[Aleutian Islands]], at that time Russian territory. Russian local authorities helped his party, and the Russian government decided to use him as a trade envoy. On 28 June 1791, Catherine granted Daikokuya an audience at [[Tsarskoye Selo]]. Subsequently, in 1792, the Russian government dispatched a trade mission to Japan, led by [[Adam Laxman]]. The Tokugawa shogunate received the mission, but negotiations failed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lensen |first=George Alexander |title=Early Russo-Japanese Relations |journal=The Far Eastern Quarterly |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=2–37 |date=1950 |issn= |jstor=2049650 |s2cid=162618073 |doi=10.2307/2049650}}</ref>