What quality did Japan have for never being colonized by Europeans?

 

This film (Silence 2016) helps to explain why the Europeans could never colonise Japan. The Europeans never used the tactics of the Roman Empire. It was always subversive. Initially merchants arrived on the shores of foreign country and began trading goods and slowly gained influence over local territory. Simultaneously priests came along and propagated Christianity which helped create a strong group of ardent followers.

British India for example began with a trading company which came to trade in India as the East India Company. This grew in size until it got nationalised and taken over by the British government. The same applied to Dutch East India Company which got absorbed by the Dutch government.

Europeans never arrived like Romans who made it clear they were here to take over the territory the Romans were never subtle. However Japan was openly hostile to Europeans during the Tokugawa Shogunate.

The Japanese state prohibited the arrivals of priests to spread Christianity and they banned all traders except the few who could not have any contact with the locals. This made it difficult for Europeans to make any attempts to colonise a land which was surrounded by rough seas. The Japanese were smart enough to stop the wily Europeans gaining a foothold which was crucial for an attempt on colonising this land.

Also Japan never had much to offer at the time of European colonisation and hence based on the equipment available it was too much hassle to forcefully invade this alien nation. Unlike China, which had tea, Chinese Porcelain and silk items highly valued by Europeans. This drew merchants towards this region and when the Chinese emperor banned British traders because they were selling opium to get tea, the British government sent their navy to rough up the Emperor as it was worth their while.

Ironically whaling oil was the reason why Japan was eventually forced to open up. During 19th century the whaling industry was running out of whales to hunt so they noticed the coast of Japan had a rich source which is why US navy arrived to force it to open the nation up.