Two of the earliest encounters between Japan and the United States came in the form of a landing by Captain John Kendrick in current-day Wakayama Prefecture in 1791, and a visit to the U.S. mainland by fisherman John Manjiro in 1843. Each of these men was the first recorded individual from their country to visit the other’s, marking the beginning of a long, storied relationship between the two nations.

https://www.ny.us.emb-japan.go.jp/history/01.html?id=eng