Evaluate the impact of missionaries on Japanese society and trade.

The question requires that candidates make an appraisal of the impact of missionaries on Japanese society and trade, weighing up the positive and negative impact. Candidates may refer to how the arrival of the Portuguese Catholics marked the beginning of organised Christianity in Japan. Japanese converts to Christianity were encouraged to take Portuguese names and adopt western culture. This led to a fear that the missionaries were undermining Japanese society and culture. The Catholic missions carried out trade to pay for their missionary work. They became involved in the silk trade, but their corrupt nature led to their eventual banning from Japan. Candidates may offer equal coverage of society and trade, or they may prioritize their evaluation of one. However, both aspects will be a feature of the response. Both the positive and negative impact must be clearly indicated but there does not need to be an equal focus on each.