What is the main conflict in Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun by Rhoda Blumberg?

Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun is the story of Commodore Matthew Perry, the U.S. Navy Commodore responsible for forcing Japan to open its doors to Western nations not only for culture but for trade. At the time of Perry's arrival, Japan was in its Tokugawa Shogunate period, a period of time where the Shogun had frozen Japanese social norms from its medieval period.