Event

Commodore Biddle, Past and Present: Celebrating 170 Years of Trans-Pacific Ties

The arrival of Philadelphia native Commodore James Biddle in Edo Bay in July 1846 was a watershed in world history, presaging the rise of modern Japan and emergence of the United States as a Pacific power. On this, the 170th anniversary of Biddle in Japan, the Penn Forum on Japan (PFJ) is sponsoring a year-long colloquium on "Philadelphia in Meiji Japan." In this inaugural event of the colloquium, we will host Japan historian Robert Hellyer (Wake Forest University), Connie Houchins, executive director of the Andalusia Foundation (established in Bucks County, PA by the Biddle family in 1980), and descendant of Commodore Biddle, Mr. Anthony J. Drexel Biddle III, in a roundtable discussion on the pivotal importance of Biddle for the U.S., Philadelphia, Japan and trans-Pacific ties, past and present.

The symposium is co-sponsored by the CEAS Humanities Colloquium series and the Meiji Jingu Research Institute (Tokyo, Japan).  Reception to follow.