In 1856, Townsend Harris (John Wayne) is sent by President Franklin Pierce to serve as the first U.S. Consul General to Japan, following the treaty written by Commodore Matthew Perry two years before.

Accompanied only by his translator-secretary, Heusken (Jaffe) and three Chinese servants, Harris comes ashore at the town of Shimoda prefecture, as specified in the treaty as the location for an American consulate.

However, the Japanese governor (Sō Yamamura) refuses to accept his credentials, denying him any official status, due to a conflict between interpretations of the treaty terms.

Director Anthony Mann initially owned the story but he sold the rights to 20th Century Fox after being unable to sign a big star to play the lead.

[5] Huston had wanted to make a particularly Japanese film in terms of photography, pacing, color and narration but according to him only a few edits – representing his vision – were left intact in the theatrical version.

With his cowboy swagger and deep commanding drawl, Wayne typifies every Japanese stereotype about brash, take-charge Americans, and Barbarian's specific frisson comes from seeing his character stumped and stymied by a culture that values group-think over individualism".

In Harris' time, Japan was living through the final years of its period when the country remained in international isolation and adhered to strict customs and regulations intended to promote stability.

In 1868, just seven years after Harris' departure, the Meiji Restoration started Japan's emergence as a modernized nation in the early twentieth century through massive industrialization, and enormous reforms to its political and social structure.

However, after Harris departed Japan to return to America, she was insultingly called the "Barbarian Okichi" and was ostracized by her people; as a result, she began drinking and eventually committed suicide in 1892.