opened the first U.S. Consulate at the Gyokusen-ji Temple in the city of Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. This consolidated the mission by Commodore Perry who established the first trade agreement between the U.S. and Japan in 1853. Harris left Japan in 1861. 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. The film incorporates the enduring Japanese legend about Harris and a 17-year-old geisha named . The story says she was pressured by Japanese authorities into forming a relationship with Harris in order to make the trade meetings go more smoothly. 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. According to historians, however, most of the story is simply untrue. Although Okichi was a real person, she was merely one of Harris' housekeepers, and he apparently fired her after only three days of working for him. Home video The Barbarian and the Geisha was released as a combo Blu-ray and DVD two disc set on May 8, 2012, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. See also John Wayne filmography Tōjin Okichi, a 1954 Japanese film based on the same facts References Bibliography Cosenza, Mario Emilio. (1930). The Complete Journal of Townsend Harris First American Consul General and Minister to Japan. New York: Doubleday. ISBN B00085QAZQ [reprinted by Kessinger Publishing Company, Whitefish, Montana, 2007. ] Dulles, Foster Rhea, "Yankees and Samurai: America’s Role in the Emergence of Modern Japan, 1791–1900", Harper & Row, New York, 1965. Griffis, William Elliot. (1895) Townsend Harris, First American Envoy in Japan. New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company. ...Click digitized, full-text copy of this book Perrin, Noel (1979). Giving up the gun. Boston: David R. Godine. . External links 1958 films 20th Century Fox films CinemaScope films 1950s English-language films Films set in 1856 Romantic period films American films based on actual events Films directed by John Huston Films scored by Hugo Friedhofer Films set in Japan Films about geisha Japan in non-Japanese culture