Examine the reasons why Japan sealed itself off from foreign influence.

What will be an ideal response?

In 1587, the ruler Hideyoshi, who was deeply suspicious of Western religion, prohibited the practice of Christianity and enforced this prohibition with executions. Foreign policy for succeeding rulers became increasingly isolationist; the Japanese were forbidden to travel abroad in 1635 and foreign trade was limited to the Dutch and the Chinese. Japan did not reopen its ports to the world until 1853.