France also derived part of its modern artistic inspiration from Japanese art, essentially through Japonism and its influence on Impressionism, and almost completely relied on Japan for its prosperous silk industry.

[3][4] During its period of self-imposed isolation (Sakoku), Japan acquired a tremendous amount of scientific knowledge from the West, through the process of Rangaku, in the 18th and especially the 19th century.

The new technology was demonstrated in 1805, almost twenty years later, when the Swiss Johann Caspar Horner and the Prussian Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff, two scientists of the Krusenstern mission that also brought the Russian ambassador Nikolai Rezanov to Japan, made a hot air balloon out of Japanese paper (washi), and made a demonstration in front of about 30 Japanese delegates.

[5][6] Hot air balloons would mainly remain curiosities, becoming the object of numerous experiments and popular depictions, until the development of military usages during the early Meiji era.

Characteristically, some historical facts could be presented exactly (the imprisonment of Napoleon "in the African island of Saint Helena"), while others could be incorrect (such as the anachronistic depiction of the British guards wearing 16th century cuirasses and weapons.

The Rangaku scholar Takeda Ayasaburō built the fortresses of Goryokaku and Benten Daiba between 1854 and 1866, using Dutch books on military architecture describing the fortification of the French architect Vauban.

[10] Forcade and Ko remained in the Ameku Shogen-ji Temple near the port Tomari, Naha city under strict surveillance, only able to learn the Japanese language from monks.

On July 24, 1846, Admiral Cécille arrived in Nagasaki, but failed in his negotiations and was denied landing,[12] and Bishop Forcade never set foot in mainland Japan.

France would have no further contacts with Okinawa for the next 7 years, until news came that Commodore Perry had obtained an agreement with the islands on July 11, 1854, following his treaty with Japan.

A French cruiser arrived in Shimoda in early 1855 while the USS Powhatan was still there with the ratified treaty, but was denied contacts as a formal agreement did not exist between France and Japan.

[14] France sent an embassy under Rear-Admiral Cécille onboard La Virginie in order to obtain similar advantages to those of other Western powers.

[17] In 1858, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan was signed in Edo on October 9, 1858, by Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros, the commander of the French expedition in China, opening diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Léon Dury, who was also French Consul in Nagasaki, taught to about 50 students every year, among whom were future politicians such as Inoue Kowashi or Saionji Kinmochi.

[21] The mission was sent in order to learn about Western civilization, ratify treaties, and delay the opening of cities and harbour to foreign trade.

[22] A Second Japanese Embassy to Europe in 1863, in an effort to pay lip service the 1863 "Order to expel barbarians" (攘夷実行の勅命) an edict by Emperor Kōmei, and the Bombardment of Shimonoseki incidents, in a wish to close again the country to Western influence, and return to sakoku status.

[21] The southern region of Satsuma (a regular opponent to the Bakufu) also had a representation at the World Fair, as the suzerain of the Kingdom of Naha in the Ryu Kyu islands.

[27] Verny worked together with Shibata Takenaka who visited France in 1865 to prepare for the construction of the Yokosuka (order of the machinery) arsenal and organize a French military mission to Japan.

Altogether, about 100 French workers and engineers worked in Japan to establish these early industrial plants, as well as lighthouses, brick factories, and water transportation systems.

[29] As the shogunate was confronted with discontent in the southern parts of the country, and foreign shipping was being fired at in violation of treaties, France participated to allied naval interventions such as the Bombardment of Shimonoseki in 1864 (9 British, 3 French, 4 Dutch, 1 American warships).

Following the new tax treaty between Western powers and the shogunate in 1866, Great Britain, France, the United States and the Netherlands took the opportunity to establish a stronger presence in Japan by setting up true embassies in Yokohama.

[30] The Japanese Bakufu government, challenged at home by factions which desired the expulsion of foreign powers and the restoration of Imperial rule, also wished to develop military skills as soon as possible.

[33] The French-built ironclad warship Kōtetsu, originally purchased by the shogunate to the United States but suspended from delivery when the Boshin war started due to the official neutrality of foreign powers, became the first ironclad warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy when the Emperor Meiji was restored, and had a decisive role in the Naval Battle of Hakodate Bay in May 1869, which marked the end of the Boshin War, and the complete establishment of the Meiji Restoration.

[24] Despite its support of the losing side of the conflict during the Boshin War, France continued to play a key role in introducing modern technologies in Japan even after the 1868 Meiji Restoration, encompassing not only the economic or military fields.

[43] Nakae Chōmin, who was a member of the mission staff and the Ministry of Justice, stayed in France to study the French legal system with the radical republican Émile Acollas.

[48] Three craftsmen from the Nishijin weaving district in Kyoto, Sakura tsuneshichi, Inoue Ihee and Yoshida Chushichi traveled to Lyon.

The three cruisers designed by Emile Bertin (Matsushima, Itsukushima, and Hashidate) were equipped with 12.6in (32 cm) Canet guns, an extremely powerful weapon for the time.

[55] This period also allowed Japan "to embrace the revolutionary new technologies embodied in torpedoes, torpedo-boats and mines, of which the French at the time were probably the world's best exponents".

From the 1860s, ukiyo-e, a genre of Japanese wood-block prints and paintings, became a source of inspiration for many European impressionist painters in France and the rest of the West, and eventually for Art Nouveau and Cubism.

Artists were especially affected by the lack of perspective and shadow, the flat areas of strong colour, the compositional freedom in placing the subject off-centre, with mostly low diagonal axes to the background.

Some of the main actors of this school, such as Degas and Monet, owe a lot, as they themselves recognize, to the teachings of Japanese art, especially the remarkable prints of Hokusai and Hiroshige.