Yes, Japanese society had been put in chaos by Admiral Perry.
That event certainly changed Japanese consciousness to understand the world reality.
There is always a big chance for the next step in chaos, like Brexit today
The outcome of Brexit is not, and will not, unfold as spun by the EU bureaucrats and pundits. England will not collapse, IMO.
The natural world is periods (of various length) of seeming equilibrium, punctuated by incidents of profound chaos ..... chaos represents opportunity for those who can avail themselves of it, IMO.
Seeing the ongoing events in UK and EU in my historical view, this looks a good chance for the Commonwealth to reorganize and take power in the world again. If UK can't lead the organization anymore, other members like Australia or Canada had better take it. This may be Asian style though.
There has been countless images taken over the generations that are profound.
However, the one that was particularly moving for me, and a pinnacle for humanity, was a photograph taken by a NASA explorer on Mars over a decade ago.
For the first time in human history, we were able to see our sun from an Alien world...
Not least because the negotiations will be led by the various European elected governments and the elected British government. Merkel, Hollande and others who matter less have made this quite clear to the unelected eurocrats.
Cheers
Steve