After concluding the amity treaty Commodore Matthew Perry visited Hakodate.
Japan had closed the country for about 250 years in the Edo period.. In 1854 the Japan-U.S. amity treaty was concluded and two ports (Hakodate, & Shimoda) were opened. The first commercial treaty was concluded with the U.S. in 1858 (then with Holland, Russia, England, France) and five ports, includeding Hakodate were opened to foreign trade the next year.
The British consul at Hakodate
was established in 1859 with the present buliding being constructed in 1913.
It was closed in 1934.