This treaty provided for the development of aids to navigation with the opening of Japanese ports to foreign trade.

Modern engineering methods had not been developed in Japan at the time so the Tokugawa Shogunate requested the assistance of the authorities of France and England for the construction of lighthouses and the purchasing of necessary equipment.

After the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate The new Meiji government commenced construction of the first lighthouse with Francois Leon Verny, an employee of the Yokosuka Iron Works, as the chief engineer.

It was immediately followed, in December 1869, by the completion of the Nojimazaki Lighthouse, also by Léonce Verny, on the other side of Tokyo Bay.

Kannonzaki is best known today as the lighthouse location in Times of Joy and Sorrow (1957), Keisuke Kinoshita's popular film about the experiences of a lighthouse keeper and his family during WW2, with Kannonzaki prominently featured on the film's poster and advertising.