Editing Isolationism (section)

===Japan===
{{Main|Sakoku}}
From 1641 to 1853, the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] of [[Japan]] enforced a policy called ''kaikin''. The policy prohibited foreign contact with most outside countries. The commonly held idea that Japan was entirely closed, however, is misleading. In fact, Japan maintained limited-scale trade and diplomatic relations with [[China]], [[Korea]], and the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryukyu Islands]], as well as the [[Dutch Republic]] as the only Western trading partner of Japan for much of the period.<ref>400 jaar handel – [http://www.400jaarhandel.nl/ ''Four centuries of Japanese&ndash;Dutch trade relations: 1609&ndash;2009''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080111044011/http://www.400jaarhandel.nl/ |date=2008-01-11 }}</ref><ref>Ronald P. Toby, ''State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan: Asia in the Development of the Tokugawa Bakufu'', Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, (1984) 1991.</ref>

The culture of Japan developed with limited influence from the outside world and had one of the longest stretches of peace in history. During this period, Japan developed thriving cities, castle towns, increasing commodification of agriculture and domestic trade,<ref>Thomas C. Smith, ''The Agrarian Origins of Modern Japan'', Stanford Studies in the Civilizations of Eastern Asia, Stanford, Calif., 1959,: Stanford University Press.</ref> wage labor, increasing literacy and concomitant [[print culture]],<ref>Mary Elizabeth Berry, ''Japan in Print: Information and Nation in the Early Modern Period'', Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.</ref> laying the groundwork for modernization even as the shogunate itself grew weak.<ref>Albert Craig, ''Chōshū in the Meiji Restoration'', Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1961; Marius B. Jansen, ''Sakamoto Ryōma and the Meiji Restoration'', Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1961.</ref>