A History of Japan

Early Japan

The Origins of Japan's earliest inhabitants is obscure. there was certainly emigration that occurred via the land bridges that once connected Japan with Siberia and Korea. but it is also thought that seafaring migrants from Polynesia may have landed on Kyushu and Okinawa. it is likely that the Japanese people are a result of immigration from Siberia in the north and china and Korea in the west. and perhaps the Polynesian stock from the south.

the first signs of civilization in Japan were from around 10,000 years ago when the so called jomon period began. there has been discovery of pottery fragments with rope marks. the people at this time lived as hunters and food-gatherers they all so were fishers.



the person was gradually superseded by the Yayoi era, which dates from around 300bc and is named after the site near Tokyo were pottery fragments were found. the yayoi people are considered to have had a strong connection with Korea and their most important developments were the wet cultivation of rice and the use of bronze and iron tools.







Edo Period (1603 - 1867):

basic information Tokugawa Ieyasu was the most powerful man in Japan after Hideyoshi had died in 1598. Against his promises he did not respect Hideyoshi's successor Hideyori because he wanted to become the absolute ruler of Japan. H.I.S. Experience Japan Tours Who Wants to Be a Samurai? Attend a lecture about the Japanese warrior code and ninja and use real weapons. In the battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Ieyasu defeated the Hideyori loyalists and other Western rivals. Hence, he achieved almost unlimited power and wealth. In 1603, Ieyasu was appointed Shogun by the emperor and established his government in Edo (Tokyo). The Tokugawa shoguns continued to rule Japan for a remarkable 250 years. Ieyasu brought the whole country under tight control. He cleverly redistributed the gained land among the daimyo: more loyal vassals (the ones who supported him already before Sekigahara) received strategically more important domains accordingly. Every daimyo was also required to spend every second year in Edo. This meant a huge financial burden for the daimyo and moderated his power at home. Ieyasu continued to promote foreign trade. He established relations with the English and the Dutch. On the other hand, he enforced the suppression and persecution of Christianity from 1614 on. After the destruction of the Toyotomi clan in 1615 when Ieyasu captured Osaka Castle, he and his successors had practically no rivals anymore, and peace prevailed .

The Showa Era 1926-89
The Showa Era began when Emperor Hirohito ascended to the throne in 1926. he travelled extensively around Europe especially Britain an mixed with the European elite and monarchs. he enjoyed the British way of life however, during the 1930s the world fell in to a depression and the rise of nationalism came about. Popular unrest saw the rise of political assassinations and plots to over throw the government. this led to a rise in the popularity of the militarist when approved the invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and the installation of there puppet regime controlled by the Japanese. in 1933 the Japanese withdrew under pressure from the league of nations and in 1937 entered in to a full scale attack on china. as the leader of the new order for Asia. japans signed a tripartite pact with German and Italy and in 1940. the Japanese leaders saw their main opponents to the order for Asia the so called greater east Asia co prosperity sphere in the USA.
This led to the start of WWII and the attack on the USA at pearl harbor in December 1941.
When diplomatic attempts to gain US neutrality failed.
Japan was at first gaining allot of ground in the war in Asia pushing the battle almost to Australia and also to India. however, this led the USA to make an attack at the battle of midway and this opened the us counter attack. puncturing the Japanese naval superiority and turning the tide of the war against Japan. by 1945 exhausted by submarine blockades and aerial bombing , Japan had been driven back on all fronts. in august of the same year the declaration of war by the soviet union and the atomic bomb dropped by the USA on Hiroshima and Nagasaki proved to be the final straw. emperor Hirohito announced unconditional surrender.


Post-war 1945 to 2008
At the end of the war the Japanese Economy was in ruins. Japan was under control from the allied forces who were run by General Douglas Macarthur the allied forces begin by rebuilding Japan by changing the way the country was run. trying war criminals and also starting by the emperor who resigned his divine right to rule this shocked many as it got rid of all of his power and he became a mere figure head. However, it was not until 1952 that occupation was ended and Okinawa was not handed back to Japan until the 1970s. nevertheless, Okinawa is still used as a large US military base today. However a program of loans and restricted imports and encouraged capital investment and personal savings began. by the late 1950s trade flourished and the manufacture of labour-intensified goods such as cameras the Japanese economic miracle spread into virtually every sector of economic activity however, economic recession surfaced in the 1970s and then again in the 1980s leaving many out of work. this was mainly due to the rising costs of imported oil. moreover, despite these setbacks Japan became of the worlds largest exports of goods.
Japan has generated a massive surplus in trade exports and is one of the worlds largest exporters of computers, robotics, technology, Cars and banking.