History of interpretation and understanding of European music in Japan

The history of European music in Japan: how people have changed their perception, understanding and interpretation of it over the past 150 years. During the reign of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Japan was closed off from the rest of world. It was only with the arrival of US warships in 1853, that one year later the country was forced to terminate its isolation. More than 150 years have passed since Japanese people began to listen to and appreciate western music, and it has been 136 years (1879) since Western music was first introduced into the Japanese school education system. 150 years is not a long enough time-span. So how has the Japanese approach to Western music developed in these years? In this work, I consider the adoption and development of Western music in Japan not only against a musical background but also from a historical perspective; I take into account factors such as the development of Japanese culture and industry not to mention the unique character and attitudes of the Japanese people