Japan » History

The early 20th century saw a brief period of "Taisho democracy" overshadowed by the rise of Japanese expansionism. World War I enabled Japan, which fought on the side of the victorious Allies, to expand its influence in Asia, and its territorial holdings in the Pacific. In 1936, however, Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, joining with Germany and Italy to form the Axis alliance. During this period, Japan invaded China, occupying Manchuria in 1931, and continued its expansion into China in 1937, starting the Second Sino-Japanese War, which lasted until the end of World War II.

After a long campaign in the Pacific Ocean, Japan lost its initial territorial gains, and American forces moved close enough to begin strategic bombing of Tokyo, Osaka, and other major cities, as well as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Japanese eventually agreed to an unconditional surrender to the Allies on August 15, 1945 (V-J Day). The Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal was convened on May 3, 1946 to prosecute Japanese war crimes, including atrocities like the Nanking Massacre. Emperor Hirohito, however, was given immunity and retained his title.

The war cost millions of lives in Japan and other countries, especially in East Asia, and left much of the country's industries and infrastructure destroyed. Official American occupation lasted until 1952, although U.S. forces still retain important bases in Japan, especially in Okinawa. In 1947, Japan adopted a new pacifist constitution, seeking international cooperation and emphasising human rights and democratic practices.

Longer Historical Perspective

During the 16th century, traders and missionaries from Portugal reached Japan for the first time, initiating the Nanban ("southern barbarian") period of active commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West (and even China). During the last quarter of this century, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu established increasingly strong control over the warring states of Japan. Nobunaga died in a treacherous attack by one of his generals whom he had humiliated earlier. Hideyoshi, one of Nobunaga's other general, avenged his master's death, defeated other rivals and completed the reunification of the country. Hideyoshi launched two ill-fated invasions against Korea together called the Seven-Year War, but Ming China came to Korea's aid and following Hideyoshi's death, Japanese troops were quickly withdrawn.

Ieyasu then dominated the political scene and defeated a coalition of rival clans. He was eventually declared Shogun and worked to consolidate the hold of his clan on Japan, setting up the bakuhan taisei system and implementing sankin-kotai to ensure the loyalty of the feudal lords. After Ieyasu, the Tokugawa shogunate began to pursue a policy of isolation. This period of isolation lasted for two and a half centuries, a time of tenuous political unity known as the Edo period, considered to be the height of Japan's medieval culture.