Shimoda, May 16 - U.S. Embassy Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Ronald Post and other officials attended Shimoda City’s 70th annual Black Ships Festival.

Celebrating the birth of U.S.-Japan diplomatic relations, the festival marks the arrival of Commodore Matthew C. Perry who negotiated the opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American vessels in 1854.

The festival also commemorates Shimoda as the site of the United States’ first consulate in Japan- based at Ryosenji Temple.

In his remarks at a memorial honoring Commodore Perry and his Japanese counterparts, Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Post said that the U.S.-Japan bilateral relationship is one of the strongest in the world and that, working together, our two countries can promote peace and stability in the world.