President Buchanan Greets Visitors From Far Away, 1860. Peter Waddell, Visitors From the East, oil on canvas, 48 x 60.

When President James Buchanan welcomed a delegation from Japan to the White House, the foreign visitors considered it lacking, without towers or a moat. They did admit it was handsomely furnished. The three samurai were the first Japanese ever to visit the United States, and they became instant celebrities. For their part, the Japanese considered America to be an inferior society, not likely to last long.