"It is a special honor for the Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., to assist the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in presenting the museum's first major exhibition of Japanese art, Yokohama: Prints from Nineteenth Century Japan. Japanese woodblock prints, which have enjoyed appreciation throughout the world, were the first artistic medium to respond to the profound changes affecting Japanese technology, society, and institutions during the years following the opening of Yokohama to international trade in 1859. To the people of Japan more than one hundred years ago, Yokohama prints provided the first views of the customs and achievements of the technologically advanced nations of the United States and Europe. The colorful prints enhanced Japanese understanding of nations as yet unseen except by a few official travelers"--
來源: Google Book