"It was not just a port in one region that opened, but a whole country that had been closed was opened up via Yokohama," said Takunori Ogawa, the director of next year's celebrations.

"Looking back, there have been both good aspects and bad. We gained some things and lost others," Ogawa told reporters.

A fascination with fashion from all over the world is one lasting legacy of the dramatic events of the 1850s, but it was many years before ordinary women actually began to dress in Western style on a daily basis, experts say.

"In fact the first use of Western dress was among the military," said Reiko Koga, a media studies professor at Bunka Women's University in Tokyo.

"Japan initially tried to catch up with foreign countries mainly in military terms. So military uniforms were the first to change," she said, noting that Western styles were more practical than the traditional robes of the samurai warrior.