Short answers, pulled from the story.
Japan-United States relations began formally with the 1852-1855 diplomatic and military missions of U.S. ship captains James Glynn and Matthew C. Perry to the Tokugawa shogunate. Perry signed the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Peace and Amity on the 31st of March 1854, opening Japan after more than two centuries of deliberate isolation.
The Perry Expedition was a U.S. Navy undertaking from 1853 to 1854, commanded by Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry under orders from President Millard Fillmore, aimed at ending Japan's 220-year-old policy of isolation. Perry anchored at Uraga Harbor near Edo on the 8th of July 1853, refused to leave, and returned in March 1854 with twice as many ships, ultimately signing a treaty that opened Japan to American trade and diplomacy.
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on the 7th of December 1941 primarily because the United States, alongside Britain, the Netherlands, and China, had frozen all Japanese assets and cut off oil exports, removing over 90% of Japan's oil supply. Japan depended on oil imports for its military and concluded that seizing oilfields in the Dutch East Indies required first neutralizing the American Pacific fleet. Some Japanese admirals hoped a decisive blow at Pearl Harbor would bring the United States to a negotiating table before American industrial capacity could be brought to bear.
The American occupation of Japan lasted from 1945 to 1952 under General Douglas MacArthur and the Supreme Command of the Allied Powers. Occupation authorities wrote a new Japanese constitution, disbanded the military, dissolved the zaibatsu industrial conglomerates, gave women the right to vote, carried out land reform, and pressured Emperor Hirohito to renounce his divinity. The occupation ended with the San Francisco Peace Treaty, which took effect on the 28th of April 1952.
The Anpo protests of 1960 were the largest demonstrations in Japan's modern history, triggered by Prime Minister Kishi's decision to forcibly ratify the revised U.S.-Japan Security Treaty by having opposition lawmakers physically removed from the Diet. The protests escalated after student Michiko Kanba was killed in a clash at the Diet on the 15th of June 1960. Kishi resigned, and U.S. President Eisenhower's planned visit to Japan was cancelled.
The Nixon Shocks of 1971 were two unilateral American policy announcements made without advance consultation with Japan. In July 1971, Nixon announced his forthcoming visit to China, undermining Japan's adherence to non-recognition of Beijing. The following month, Nixon imposed a 10% surcharge on imports and suspended dollar-gold convertibility, which caused the yen to soar in value and significantly damaged Japan's trade and economic outlook. These events marked the beginning of serious economic rivalry alongside the continuing security alliance.