Japan: 'Commodore Perry meeting the Imperial Commissioners at Yokohama'. Lithograph by W.T. Petris, 1856. The Perry Expedition was a U.S. naval and diplomatic expedition to Japan, involving two separate trips to and from Japan by ships of the United States Navy, which took place during 1853??4. The expedition was commanded by Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry (1794??858). It resulted in the opening of Japan to American and international trade, and the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and the western 'Great Powers'.