Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[53] [47] [27] [54] [55] The threat of invasion did not recede, however.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The constant preparation for war badly ate the government's financial resources and undermined its stability.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Agricultural production fell, especially on Kyūshū, and the government was incapable of compensating for the losses experienced by its vassals.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[53] [47] Due to uncontrollable economic changes and disputes between the Hōjō clan and rival military governors, the bakufu began to wobble.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Its weakness gave the Kyoto court another opportunity to seek back the power it had lost, but the court was nonetheless divided into two lines competing with each other.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In 1318, Go-Daigo rose from the junior branch to emperor.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[56] [54] Muromachi period In 1331, the bakufu exiled Emperor Go-Daigo to the Oki Islands in the Sea of Japan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, local leaders in the Kyoto region, supported by monks, assembled an army to oppose the bakufu, and Go-Daigo returned in 1333 to launch another coup.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The military government fell with the support of disgruntled vassals of the Hōjō clan, Ashikaga Takauji and Nitta Yoshisada, and Go-Daigo now assumed the task of restoring imperial power in the so-called Kemmu Restoration.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Many of the emperor's former allies, however, were not satisfied with his actions.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In 1336, Takauji turned against Go-Daigo and crowned emperor from a rival senior lineage, causing Go-Daigo to flee with his followers south near Nara, where he erected a rival court.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The next 60 years have been called the Nanboku-chō period, the southern and northern court period.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

It ended only in 1392 with the succession of power remaining on the northern court.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[56] [57] [58] [59] [60] The Muromachi period takes its name from the Muromachi district of Kyoto, where the new shōgunate established by Ashikaga Takauji was relocated in 1378.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[56] [58] The new bakufu inherited the structure of its predecessor almost as is.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The most fundamental difference was the role of shugos, or “constables”, in the administration of the Ashikagos: many shugos gained considerable power in the provinces they controlled, and the bakufu were practically built on the delicate balance of the Ashikaga shōguns and the major shugo lineages.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, the new regime was considerably weaker than its predecessor and began to lose even a small amount of power with the intensification of the shugos and numerous rebellions initiated by samurai and farmers.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The political mayhem of the Muromachi period was also affected by the state of decadence of the imperial court: by the 15th century, the court had become so impoverished that Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado could not be buried due to lack of funerary funds.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Bakufu was the only force holding together in the country.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[56] [61] The Muromachi period marked an almost continuous civil war.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, most of the skirmishes were small-scale and local, and trade and culture developed considerably despite political imbalances.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Agricultural production increased, and the serfs of the Heian period mostly emancipated and became small farmers.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Official trade links with China were re-established, although Japanese pirates (wakō) interfered with Chinese trade.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Relations with foreign countries were remarkably lively, with Japanese merchants spreading all the way to Southeast Asia, where Japanese urban communities (nihonmachi) sprang up.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Crucial to the development of indoor trade was the improvement of transport routes, and new towns emerged at ports and other hubs.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[62] [56] [63] [64] The new military culture of the period developed especially in connection with Zen Buddhism.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The heyday of the culture was centrally influenced by the active support of the Shōguns, for example the Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and the Yoshimasa.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The period developed a number of contemporary prestigious Japanese cultural institutions, including ikebana, tea ceremony, zen garden art, and the thriving nō theatre, as well as the humorous kyōgen plays performed in between.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Tea had been a popular drink as early as the Kamakura period, but through zen it acquired a new kind of spiritual meaning through the tea ceremony.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

As the merchants and craftsmen of the cities prospered, new art forms also spread among the common folk.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Ring-chain poetry became popular in literature, but kouta songs about love and sex, for example, became more common.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Fairy tales gained popularity among children of both the upper class and ordinary folk.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The art of painting was also influenced by Zen: monochrome suiboku ink painting was imported from China to Japan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

One of the most prominent Japanese schools of painting, the Kanō school, originated in the Muromachi period.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[56] [65] [58] [64] Sengoku period and connection with Europeans Main articles: Sengoku Period and Nanban Trade Period In 1467, the Ōnin War broke out, a civil war that began with a dispute over power and economic hardship.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Initially, fighting was confined to Kyoto and its surroundings, where the devastation was severe.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The war itself ended in 1477 without any settlement, but fighting still continued in the capital and now spread to other parts of Japan as well.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Hundred Years' Wars season, which began with the Ōnin War, has been called the Sengoku Period, the Warring States Period.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The power of local leaders increased considerably.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In the context of the rural revolts caused by the fighting, many of their samurai leaders emerged as county lords, challenging the local shugos.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The previous shugos almost completely disappeared after the new county lords, the daimies, took their place.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The political power of the Bakufu was reduced to non-existent and effectively passed to the Hosokawa clan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In the first half of the 16th century, the provinces controlled by the daimies were practically completely detached from the rule of the shōgun.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[56] [66] The first Europeans, the Portuguese shipwrecked on Tanegashima south of Kyūshūn, arrived in civil warring Japan in 1543.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

They were well received, and the muskets they brought, of which copies were made, quickly revolutionised warfare in Japan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Gradually, regular trade from Japan to Portugal began to develop.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

It took the Portuguese karaks, called “black ships” (kurofune) by the Japanese, two or three years to get from Portugal to Japan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[67] The first Jesuit missionary, Francisco Xavier, arrived in Kagoshima in 1549.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Xavier stayed in the country for only two years, but after him Jesuits arrived in the country continuously.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Jesuits faced a number of difficulties: the denunciation of Buddhism as idolatry infuriated Buddhist monks; the rejection of the Shinthian camis was inconsistent with Buddhist tolerant attitudes; and the samurai, who had both hetero and homosexual relationships, became angry on Jesuits' attacks on homosexuality.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The missionaries used trade to help spread Christianity: the Daimians, who benefited from foreign trade and new weapons technology, welcomed the religion, and some of them also converted to Christians.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Christianity also attracted the rural population, partly because of the social work practiced by the Jesuits.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In 1582, Alessandro Valignano reported that Japan already had about 150,000 Christians and 200 churches.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[66] [68] [69] [70] The Azuchi-Momoyama period in the late 16th century, the actions of three daimios, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu led to the gradual reunification of Japan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

According to one metaphor, Nobunaga mined the stones of New Japan, Hideyoshi sanded them, and Ieyasu placed them in place.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

For the most part, the reign of Nobunaga and Hideyoshi in 1573—1600 or 1603 is called the Azuchi-Momoyama period after the administration castles of the daimies, Azuchi Castle and Momoyama Castle.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[71] [72] [69] In the battles between the Daimias of the Sengoku period, Oda Nobunaga gradually rose to influence.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

He was a brave, if remarkably brutal, opportunist and the first daimio to successfully use firearms brought by Europeans in combat.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[73] In 1573, he overthrew the shōgun and helped power the last Ashikaga ruler Yoshiaki.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, this tried to be more than just a puppet ruler, causing Nobunaga to eject him from power and the period of the Ashikaga shōgunate coming to an end.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

A testament to Nobunaga's ruthlessness is the massacre in 1571 of three thousand monks from the Mount of Hei who opposed him.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Nobunaga's fate was struck by his own rebellious general, Akechi Mitsuhide, in 1582.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

While heading to the western part of the country to quash the unrest that had broken out, Nobunaga stopped at Honnō-ji Temple in Kyoto, where he found himself surrounded by Mitsuhide's forces.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

After struggling, Nobunaga ended his day by committing suicide by slicing his stomach open.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Nobunaga missed his goal of a unified Japan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[74] [69] Nobunaga's mission was continued by one of his most powerful commanders, Toyotomi Hideyoshi.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

He quickly defeated several of his rivals.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In 1587, he amassed a huge army of 200,000 against the rebelling Satsuma region on Kyūshū and returned victorious to Kyoto, where the other feudal lords pledged their allegiance to Hideyoshi and the emperor.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Three years later, he had gained control of all of Japan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

At the centre of Hideyoshi's policies was the binding of the people to their social classes, where what mattered was the strict separation of soldiers and farmers.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The mission was aided by extensive land clearance, census and disarming of peasants in the so-called “sword hunt” in 1588.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Earlier Sengoku period egalitarian alliances between daimies were replaced by a clearer feudal ruler-vassal relationship.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[75] [73] [76] [69] [72] Hideyoshi's feudal administration, however, did not have sufficient land in its possession for the eventual unification of Japan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The regime's internal problems and Hideyoshi's megalomania drove him to pursue the takeover of China, which he initiated by invading Korea in 1592.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The takeover went well at first, with the Japanese advancing as far as Pyongyang after taking Seoul as early as the same year, but resistance from the Koreans forced the troops to gradually withdraw.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In 1597, Hideyoshi, with a force of 100,000 men, launched a new offensive.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, he died the following year, so the new attack failed.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Power was gained by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who emerged as the most powerful daimio in the country.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Hideyoshi's invasions were useless for Japanese expansion and caused permanent hostility between the two countries.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Paradoxically, they brought numerous Korean craftsmen to Japan, who had considerable influence on Japanese ceramics in particular.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[77] [73] [69] [72] The Azuchi-Momoyama period is especially remembered as the era of castles.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Nobunaga and Hideyoshi highlighted their achievements with their grandiose administrative palaces, especially known for their glorious fusuma doors and large and rich-colored murals of the Kanō school.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

They form a counterpoint to the monochrome nature of painting art of the Muromachi period.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Also, the tea ceremony lived its Golden Age under master Sen no Rikyūn.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[73] [69] Nanban trade to Western countries and the spread of Christianity continued during the Azuchi-Momoyama period.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

At its most abundant in the early 17th century, of Japan's population of around 20—25 million people, more than half a million were Christians, in proportion more than today.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Nobunaga favored Christianity in his fight against Buddhist monks, and Hideyoshi was also initially sympathetic to Christians.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, he changed his line and issued the first statutes opposing Christianity in 1587.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Ten years later, he executed 26 Franciscans and Christian Japanese; however, the actual repression did not begin until later in the 17th century.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

When the Dutch and British, who had a fist attitude towards Catholics, began trading to Japan in the early 17th century, the Japanese no longer had to fear trade being cut off for religious reasons.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[78] [79] Edo period New bakufu and closure After Hideyoshi's death, Ieyasu and the daimias opposing him clashed at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Perhaps the victor of Japan's most significant internal struggle emerged as Ieyasu, who in 1603 founded a new bakufu in Edo, present-day Tokyo.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

After assuming the title of shōgun, he ejected from power or transferred to new territories numerous daimies who opposed him, whose lands were confiscated to the Tokugawa family.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Once and for all, opponents of the Tokugawa shōgunate were defeated in 1615 when Ieyasu defeated in the siege of Osaka Castle, Hideyoshi's son Hideyori.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

From the position of Shōgun, he abdicated in favour of his son as early as 1605, but nevertheless kept power in his hands until his death in 1616.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[80] [81] [82] [69] under Ieyasu's successors, the new system of government took its final form.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The main towns and mines were taken under the direct control of the bakufu.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The loyalty of the daimies was ensured not only through effective reconnaissance activities, but also by the so-called sankin kōtai system, in which daimios were obliged to reside seasonally in Edo while their wives and children remained in the city permanently hostage.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Daimies also had to assist with public works projects.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Trips to Edo, lavish gifts for the shōgun, and construction work ensured that the daimias would not get too rich.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Management of the agricultural population was also intensified.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Peasants were forbidden from changing their professions or selling their land, and residents of villages were required to form solidarity gonin-gumi groups ().


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[80] [83] Ieyasu was initially acquiescent towards the Christians, and encouraged trade with Europeans in the hope of profits.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, the Japanese now realised they could continue foreign trade without the monopoly of the Portuguese.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Dutch and British fueled Japanese suspicions of Catholics' quest for conquest — Ieyasu also feared Christians would support Toyotomi Hideyori before his overthrow in Osaka.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The first laws banning Christianity were enacted in 1612 and 1614, and over the next two decades persecution against Christians progressively increased.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In 1630, all literature referring to Christianity was banned.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Under Tokugawa Iemitsu, Japanese people were forbidden from traveling abroad under threat of capital punishment, and all citizens were required to register in Buddhist temples.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Eventually, in 1637, peasants and Christians opposed to taxes and repression rose up against their local daimio in the Shimabara Rebellion.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

After five months of resistance, the rebellion was brutally crushed by the bakufu with the assistance of a Dutch ship that had joined the bombardments.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The sakoku laws, which isolated Japan from the outside world, were completed in 1639 when Portuguese ships were banned from entering the country.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[84] [80] [69] [85] Within a few decades, the desire of the Sengoku period to expand abroad had switched to almost complete isolation.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

After 1639, foreign trade was allowed only to the Chinese and Dutch, whose activities were restricted to the artificial island of Dejima in Nagasaki.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

On the one hand, isolationism allowed for the development of an original culture and a period of peace lasting 250 years; on the other hand, it again created an introverted and rigid, old-fashioned feudal regime.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, isolationism was relative too: foreign influences sifted into Japan through the Dutch, convenience trade with Koreans and Ryūkyūs continued, and in the 17th century, for example, Japan was the world's largest exporter of silver.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Practices of Christianity also continued to be hidden in small communities for over 200 years until they came into public view in the 1860s.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[80] [86] [87] Society, economy, and education by the late 17th century, the bakuhan system of the Edo period (a connecting word for bakufu and daimio-dominated territory, han) was well established.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Japanese society was strictly divided into four classes, samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Further excluded from the categories were the Etas who performed jobs deemed “impure”, the Hinins, or “non-people,” who were beggars who were forced labour but also actors, for example, and some small groups such as doctors and court people.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Movement between classes was minimal.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The sharpest difference was between the samurai, who made up about seven percent of the population, and the other classes.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In a long period of peace, the samurai had no real function: the class began to pay increasing attention to themselves and their past, and developed a mythical behavioral ideal, the bushidō.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Among the samurai, the status of women was the worst of all, and as patriarchal society grew stronger, it generally deteriorated during the Edo period.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Hostless and unemployed samurai, the Rōninis, formed a social problem throughout the Edo period.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[83] [80] [88] The bakufu of their official ideology was derived from the Chinese Neo-Confucianism developed by Zhū Xī.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Emphasized on order and loyalty, conservative ideology was perfectly suited to the needs of feudal government—unlike, for example, rather Buddhism that looked after the afterlife.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Despite this, the ideology also received criticism, and different interpretations of Confucian doctrines emerged in the country.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

At the end of the Edo period, more emphasis was placed on the synthesis of Confucianism and Shinthism than before, leading to the Shōguns being seen as usurpers of imperial power.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The synthesis also prompted an interest in classical Japanese culture, the study of which began to be referred to as kokugaku, a national doctrine.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In the Edo period, education was especially based on Confucianism, whose doctrines were absorbed into the thinking of all social classes.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Awareness of oneself and surrounding reality increased considerably during the period: at the end of the period, about 15 per cent of women and 40 to 50 per cent of men could read.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The spread of education among the common people was helped by temple schools (terakoya).


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[89] [80] [90] The state of peace created by the Bakufu brought about economic growth in the 17th century, the key factor of which was the unification of the country into a single economic region.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Trade increased and led to large-scale urbanization.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Trade and economic growth was also helped by improved transport links, widened by businesses of daimies and increased mobility by the sankin kōtai system.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The standard of living of the agricultural population also gradually rose.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The merchant class, which had been defined as the lowest class in society, now prospered considerably.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

At the beginning of the 18th century, Edo had more than one million inhabitants including soldiers, making it one of the largest cities in the world.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The next largest cities were the Religion and Cultural Center Kyoto with about 400,000 inhabitants and the slightly smaller market city of Osaka.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[91] [80] [92] In the 18th century, the bakuhan system began to show signs of decline.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The core of Japan's economy continued to be formed by agriculture, from which the state derived the bulk of its tax revenue.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Because of urbanization, its productivity had to be constantly increased.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Japan was entirely dependent on rice grown in the country, the price of which could vary considerably.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Sometimes, when the crop failed, the price became so high that starvation ensued.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The military class living on fixed incomes became poorer.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

As the monetary economy spread across the countryside, income inequality widened, and before long rural grievances led to ongoing unrest.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In the second half of the Edo period, several attempts were made to reform the system: first in the Kyōhō reforms in the first half of the 18th century, the Kansei reforms in the late 18th century, and lastly in the Tenpō reforms in the 1830s.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Some of the reforms eased the country's economic situation temporarily, but as it entered the 19th century it became clear that rigid feudal rule no longer had the capacity to respond to Japan's complex social and economic problems.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

From the end of the 18th century onwards, the threat posed by foreign countries to the country's isolation also began to pose a problem for the bakufu.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[93] [80] [94] Culture and Science The closed Edo period did not mean a regression in culture, but rather an unprecedented flourishing.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The urban population (chōnin) formed for the first time a large, distinct population group that, with economic growth and peace, had more time to enjoy the arts and literature.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

They emerged as patrons of the country's culture and were precursors to the core group of Japan's post-opening economy.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

During the Edo period, many customs of the court and military class became established and spread even among the common people.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The culture of food, costume and housing became standardized.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

For the first time, Japan was also able to embrace Chinese erudition in its entirety, which could already be viewed critically and innovatively.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[94] [91] [95] To meet the needs of the growing urban population, two new popular forms of theatre developed during the Edo period: kabuki theatre and bunraku puppet theatre born of jōruri ballads.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Their success owed largely to the brilliance of the playwrights.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The most famous of them included Chikamatsu Monzaemon, who influenced Kyoto and Osaka in the 17th and 18th centuries.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[96] In the 17th century books became more common as printing technology developed, and works using predominantly chicken syllable characters began to be published in abundance.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Some of the most famous novelists of the time include Ihara Saikaku, who wrote about merchant life, eroticism and samurai.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

His works achieved immense popularity.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The 18th century is particularly remembered by Ueda Akinari's work Ugetsu monogatari, published in 1776, which deals mainly with supernatural phenomena.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Later fiction split into several different genres, collectively referred to by the term gesaku ().


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In poetry, ring-chain poems evolved into a vignetted, season-descriptive haiku and its humorous counterpart senryū.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The master and developer of Haiku was Matsuo Bashō, who lived in the 17th century, who was particularly influenced by Zen Buddhism.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[97] [98] In terms of art, the Edo period was the most prolific ever.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The military aristocracy supported the development of art, and the influence of the townspeople gave rise to new art forms.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The most notable of them was the woodcut, ukiyo-e, which especially for many Westerners is synonymous with Japanese art and had a considerable influence on the Impressionists.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Some of the most notable woodcut artists of the late Edo period included Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In addition to visual arts, the Edo period also marked the remarkable development and maturation of ceramics, lacquer work, metal processing, silk production, tea ceremony, and bonsai art, among others.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[99] Despite isolationism, knowledge of Western countries and their culture did not disappear, and some Japanese had an early interest in Western science.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The importation of books was first rumbled in 1720, gradually leading to the emergence of Dutch doctrine, or rangaku, towards the end of the 18th century.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The first work translated from Dutch by Kaitai shinsho, or “new book on anatomy”, appeared in 1774.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Rangaku movement therefore focused specifically on medicine, but later also on topics such as astronomy, chemistry and physics.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Private academies were set up to teach Western science, which may have housed hundreds of students at a time.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In 1811, the bakufu set up their own office for the translation and study of Western books.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

As the social condition became more unstable in the 19th century, however, many rangaku scholars began to criticize the country's isolationist policies and faced persecution.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Although they formed only a small part of Japan's intelligentsia, they played a significant role in keeping the country informed of events in the outside world.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[100] [101] [102] Bakumatsu and opening the last years of Bakufu 1853—1868 are referred to as Bakumatsu.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Russian pressure on Japan had been increasing in the North as early as the early 19th century, and in the following decades the bakufu were incapable of applying a coherent policy to Western ships violating sakoku isolationism.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The sense of crisis was heightened by the Opium War waged by the British against the Chinese in the early 1840s.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Many young and ambitious samurai understood the need for change and called for the overthrow of the bakufu and the restoration of emperor rule.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

They derived their philosophy from Neo-Confucianism and from Shinto-nationalist kokugaku scholars stressing the uniqueness of Japan, especially from the Mito school.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Their motto formed sonnō jōi, “respect the emperor and expel the barbarians”.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Among the most prominent promoters of the ideology was Yoshida Shōin, the samurai of Chōshūn han, who was executed for anti-bakufu activities in 1859.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[103] [104] [102] [105] [106] The 1840s saw increasing pressure on the Western powers.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

American interest in Pacific trade had grown with the colonization of the country's west coast, and industrialized European superpowers sought new destinations for their products.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Western powers no longer accepted Japan's refusal of international trade.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In 1853, U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in the Gulf of Uraga to demand the opening of trade relations.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The following year he returned with a force of eight ships to sign the Treaty of Kanagawa, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to trade.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

It was followed by treaties of the same type with the United Kingdom, Russia and the Netherlands.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, they did not satisfy merchants operating in East Asia, so a new Harris Treaty between Japan and the United States was concluded in 1858 and treaties with other Western powers still that year.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In these “unequal agreements”, foreigners were exempted from Japanese law and new ports were opened to traffic.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The threat of use of force against Japan was a constant presence.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[103] [104] Bakufu advisor (tairō) Ii Naosuke wanted to restore military rule by gradually opening and strengthening the country.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, he was slain in the spring of 1860, and his death was followed by acts of violence committed by activist samurai towards foreigners.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Imperial Court now emerged as a key tool of the Bakufu's opponents, and the military regime was pressured into action against foreigners.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Hans of Chōshūn and Satsuma served as leaders of the opposition.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Troops in the Chōshū area bombarded foreign ships in the Shimonoseki Strait in 1863, but the following year a joint attack by Western powers forced the Chōshūn daimio to reopen the strait.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Bakufu attempted to gain control of Chōshūn, but with the alliance of Chōshū and Satsuma in 1866, its forces were defeated.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The last shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu, who came to power the same year, resigned in 1867 to avoid open confrontation with the daimies.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, the activist Samurai opposed Yoshinobu's continued administration of the state and wanted to deprive the Tokugawoi of their fiefdoms.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In the Boshin War of 1868, the forces of Satsuma, Chōshū and Tosa, now regrouped as the imperial army of the young Emperor Meiji, who had just come to power, were defeated by Shōgun backers.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In the same year, the emperor and capital were moved to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo, the eastern capital.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The new regime was quickly recognized by foreign powers.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[107] [105] Modern Japan The beginning of the Meiji period The restoration of the Empress in 1868 is commonly referred to as the Meiji Restoration.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

It began a period of intense westernization lasting several decades, during which Western culture and technology were consciously adopted in order to enable Japan to meet the challenge posed to it by the West.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

By the 1890s, the country had gone through a huge social and political revolution and emerged largely on an equal footing with Western nations.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[108] [105] [109] After the Boshin War there was consensus on the need for reforms, but their pace and scale divided conservatives and reformists.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In particular, the samurai of Satsuma and Chōshū rose to the leadership of the new administration.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Their main goals were to renew unequal treaties shameful to Japan and form a strong, unified state that could challenge Western powers militarily and technologically.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Since immediate “expulsion of barbarians” could not be achieved, fukoku kyōhei, “rich state and strong army”, was adopted as the new motto.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Emperor Meiji practically acted as a figurehead, the symbolic leader of a people content to his largely symbolic position.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, his cooperation was essential to the success of the new administration.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Japanese embassies visiting abroad reinforced the perception of the need for modernization.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[105] [110] Social reforms began with the dissolution of feudalism.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In 1871, the daimiots were invited to consult Tokyo on the formal abolition of their fiefdoms, and all land was taken into the possession of the emperor.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

A prefectural system was established to replace the former fiefdoms and provinces.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The biggest losers included the samurai, whose standard of living deteriorated drastically.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

General conscription, begun in 1873, further weakened the status of the samurai, and many of them moved on to other jobs, for example as police officers, civil servants, or in business.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Another key reform measure saw the industrialisation of the country.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Since there was almost no private capital, the development of the industry was mainly in the hands of the state.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In the economy, the early part of the Meiji period was dominated by state capitalism.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Beginning in 1880, industry was privatized inexpensively, and industrial plants drifted into the hands of groups such as Mitsui and Mitsubishi, which later evolved into zaibatsu conglomerates.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The even close relationship between politics and economics was strengthened.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[111] [112] [105] The adoption of Western technology required an educated workforce, but education was also needed to establish national unity and identity.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

A universal, centralized education system was introduced in 1872.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Initially, education followed Western liberalist features, but in the 1880s, in order to oppose overachieving Westernization, nationalist moral education and increased respect for the emperor institution became prominent features of education.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Unity had initially been desired to be created by elevating Shintholism to the state religion, but due to the negative attitude of Western and Buddhists, education began to be seen as a better means of achieving unity.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[113] [114] The new leaders' preference for Shinthism implied a negative attitude towards Buddhist tradition.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

A national cult was created out of Šinthism, supporting the divine power of the emperor and the unique nature of Japan (kokutai).


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

On the other hand, as society became more materialistic, the importance of religion generally declined.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Persecution of Christianity continued during the early years of the Meiji period until it was reluctantly legalized in 1873.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Freedom of religion was enacted in 1889.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[105] [115] As Western ideas spread to the country, the Meiji oligarchy realized that Japan could no longer be governed by traditional authoritarian means alone.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Created in 1868, the first council of daimies and samurai did not work.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

A more democratic, participatory system is demanded by village chiefs on the one hand and former samurai who want to regain power on the other.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The administration promised a constitution to the country, led by Itō Hirobumi, who was attracted to Otto von Bismarck.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

He saw the balance between the Prussian empress and constitutional institutions as befitting Japan, and the 1889 Constitution was drawn up largely following the German example.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

A European-style nobility was created for the future House of Lords.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

At the same time, a Western-shaped government with ministries was formed to replace the old dajōkan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The new constitution was clearly addressed as a gift from the emperor to his people, and extensive privileges of power were reserved for him.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The government was answerable to the emperor, not to parliament.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Despite its undemocratic features, however, the new constitution guaranteed a better opportunity for dissent than in the past, and civil rights and freedoms were broader than before.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

With the constitution, the most revolutionary part of the Meiji period came to its decision.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[105] [116] Imperialist Japan Expansion in Asia Extraterritoriality rights of foreigners were revoked in 1894, first by treaties with the British and later with other Western powers.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[117] A relatively well-equipped army had been built on Earth.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Interest in the rest of Asia had awakened even earlier: the Ryūkyūū Islands were annexed by Japan in 1879.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

There was no clear plan for conquering additional territories in Asia, but as the army's influence grew, imperialist ambitions increased.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Ultra-nationalism is fuelled by a number of factors: the desire of Japan's leaders to be implicated in the proceeds of European colonialism; the imagined or perceived racism of Westerners against the Japanese; the xenophobia brought on by the poor farmer origins of many members of the military class; and the xenophobia brought on by big business dependence on war success.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Popular support for the leaders' actions was gained through the management of education and media.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The fascist system that emerged in the 1930s differed from those of Germany and Italy; according to Masao Maruyama, “the process was more about the gradual maturation of the fascist structure within the state, brought about by existing political parties, the military and the bureaucracy”.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[118] [119] China regarded Korea as its vassal state and was concerned about Japanese influence in the region.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

An expedition sent by the Japanese to Taiwan in 1874 had worsened relations with China.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

War between the two countries broke out after several incidents in Korea in the 1880s finally occurred in 1894.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In the First Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese were superior both on land and at sea, and in the Shimonoseki Peace Treaty the following year, China was forced to cede Taiwan, the Pescadores Islands, and the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan and make several economic concessions.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

France, Germany and Russia did not accept Japan's imperialist aspirations and did not want their influence in China threatened, forcing Japan to cede the Liaodong Peninsula back to China in what is known as the triple intervention.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Japan now had to be more cautious about the aspirations of Western powers.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

With the war, the influence of the military in the administration of the country increased


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[120] [119] [109] Japan helped Western powers in defeating the Chinese Boxar Rebellion in 1900, and Britain and Japan concluded a treaty of alliance two years later.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The purpose of the treaty was to protect Japanese and British interests against the third imperialist superpower, Russia.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

An even broader treaty, recognizing Japanese interests in Korea, was concluded in 1905.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Japan hoped the first alliance treaty would help mediate Russian-Japanese objectives in Northeast Asia.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In February 1904, however, the Japanese Navy unexpectedly attacked Russian ships at Port Arthur on the coast of China — in the Russo-Japanese War, Japan gained a decisive victory over the Russian Baltic Fleet under Tōgō Heihachirō in the Naval Battle of Tsushima.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In the peace treaty, Russia recognized Japan's supremacy in Korea, its economic interests in southern Manchuria, and ceded to Japan the southern part of Sakhalin.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, the war had caused Japan great human and economic losses, and Chauvinist public opinion was strongly against the treaty.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Still, Japan had achieved a significant victory and demonstrated for the first time an Asian state could defeat a European superpower in the war.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[121] [119] [122] [109] After the war, Japan was given free rein to take over Korea.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Korea was formally annexed to Japan in 1910, with the tacit approval of Western powers.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The country was subject to a colonial policy in which the Japanese took complete control of Korean economic and political life.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Several thousand Koreans died at the hands of the occupying forces even before the union.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In Manchuria, Japan expanded its influence, particularly through the Southern Manchurian Railway Company, supported by Japanese garrisons stationed in major centres.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

By the time of Emperor Meiji's death in 1912, Japan had become Asia's most significant superpower.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Into World War I, Japan set out to expand its influence in China.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

It declared war on Germany in August 1914 and occupied German territories in China and the North Pacific.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The following year, it made what it called 21 demands to China, which, if implemented in practice, would have made China a vassal state of Japan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

After World War I, Japanese forces remaining in Siberia, which supported the Allies in the Russian Civil War, raised further concerns about Japanese expansion.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, the Washington Conference of 1921—1922 and the treaties concluded during it eased tensions in East Asia temporarily, and Japan withdrew from Siberia, Northern Sakhalin, and China's Qīngdảo.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[119] [123] [124] Economic and social development Although the Japanese parliament acted ostensibly like a European parliament, political life in the country was dominated by the turn of the 20th century rather by intra-party factions and personal loyalties.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War unified contentious politics, and the government no longer had trouble increasing funding for the military, for example.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Parliament and the people took a more chauvinistic approach to foreign policy than the government.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[125] Japan's population grew rapidly, and by 1920 it had risen to nearly 57 million.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The increase was influenced by improved hygiene and lower infant mortality, but living standards remained low despite everything, especially in rural areas where 72% of Japanese still lived in 1913.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Rice production more than doubled from the 1880s to the 1930s to feed the growing population.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Industry gradually increased in importance: by World War I, the textile industry had emerged as the most significant industry in the country.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Industrial growth was aided by access to cheap labour from rural areas and, in heavy industry, state-owned banks from which needed capital was provided.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

World War II marked significant growth for the country's economy, as demand for Japanese products in other parts of Asia increased.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, economic growth caused inflation, leading to labor disputes, the 1918 rice riots, and finally the Depression in 1920.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The difficulties were exacerbated by the Great Kantō earthquake that struck Tokyo in 1923, killing over 100,000 lives.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[126] [119] [127] The 1920s still marked a new, international orientation and the emergence of modern mass culture.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

It was influenced by new media, radio, audio discs and film through which, for example, Western, especially US, music and fashion grew in popularity and Western sports became more common.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Modernization took place, especially in large cities, while the countryside was still poor and undeveloped.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The rebuilding of Tokyo after the earthquake into a modern metropolitan city was a symbol of the new urban society.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In politics, the 1920s saw a brief era of party politics, which has been called the “Taishō democracy”.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In 1925, the right to vote was extended to men over the age of 25, and Katō Takaaki's government cut bureaucracy and military funding.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Societal issues such as the labour movement and the women's movement were featured more than before.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Socialism was viewed extremely negatively by the state, and the Communist Party, founded in the 1920s, found itself crushed by the police.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[119] [128] However, growing in propaganda, a larger electorate than previously thought enthusiastically supported militaristic policies of expansion, and ultra-nationalists increased their influence, especially after the global economic depression of the late 1920s.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[129] The disarray and weakness of Parliament reduced confidence in the representative system.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The parliament and the Meiji constitution remained in operation throughout the militaristic period, but on the other hand, the constitution was so ambiguous in terms of executive power that, throughout party politics, the prime ministers had little choice but to engage in cooperation with forces hostile to democracy.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[119] The success of the new middle class had depended on the growth of international trade, and with the Depression, accusations of party politics, which were considered unsuccessful and corrupt, dominated by the Zaibatsu, increased.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[119] A foothold was gained by the conception of new territorial conquests as a solution to Japan's economic problems and shortages of raw materials.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The country's military leadership was aware of Japan's weaker position compared to Western countries interested in East Asia and the Pacific region.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Japan was left increasingly isolated internationally after Western countries imposed import tariffs on lower-cost Japanese products.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Japan began to experience the United States and Great Britain as hostile states, eventually being a part of the reason for the Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[127] [130] Fascism and the Road to War on September 18, 1931, the Mukden Incident initiated Japanese aggression in East Asia.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Japanese Guandong Army abruptly attacked the Chinese garrison at Mukden and soon occupied southern Manchuria.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Japanese government was incapable of preventing an independently operated army establishing a Manchukuo puppet state in the region.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Inukai Tsuyoshi, who had risen to become prime minister in December 1931, was killed the following year, and the military announced that it would not accept any further party government.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

After the League of Nations condemned Japan's actions, the country seceded from the union in 1933.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, the violence was not confined to Manchuria: in January 1932, an incident in Shanghai led to heavy fighting and bombardment.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In 1934, the Japanese installed Manchukuo as puppet ruler of the Qing Dynasty's last emperor, Pần Yí — in reality, the entire Manchurian administration was in the hands of the Guandong army.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[131] [132] Success in Manchuria emboldened ultra-nationalists.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Several far-right organizations were affected in the country, which opposed Western influence as well as party politics and advocated more aggressive expansion.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The organizations managed to terrorize their opponents and massacred a number of prominent business and political influencers in the early 1930s.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The most significant resistance to party politics was formed by young officers, several of whom had National Socialist ambitions.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The most serious incident was the February 26 incident in which a mob of 1400 soldiers, led by young officers, took control of central Tokyo and murdered several individuals.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The emperor became enraged, a state of war was declared in the country and the troops, who had thought they were acting in the name of the emperor, surrendered.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Nineteen lives were executed after a secret trial.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The more conservative officer corps that came to power after the incident largely shared the ambitions of young fanatics in foreign policy, and the military used the case to increase its power.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Japanese fascism had now gained a grip on the country's military leadership.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[119] [133] Full-out war between China and Japan broke out on 7 July 1937 outside Beijing in the Marco Polo Bridge incident.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Japanese army quickly occupied Peking and Tianjin and gradually advanced to the Yangtze and by 13 December to Nanjing, the capital of the Guomindang government of Chiang Kai-šek.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In the Nanjing Massacre, in one of the worst war crimes committed by Japanese forces, the Japanese killed 42000 civilians, as well as 100,000 prisoners of war and raped 20,000 women, according to evidence presented at the Tokyo war crimes trials.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In war, the worst atrocities were often perpetrated by the military police kenpeitai, who were General Hideki Tōjō's favourite instrument.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Japanese now took control of China's main ports, but never managed to properly conquer the hinterland.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In Nanjing, the Japanese established a puppet government led by Wāng Jīngwèi in March 1940.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The British and American, despite their sympathies, were unable to prevent the Japanese military's actions in China.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[134] [135] In 1936, Japan entered into an anticomintern treaty first with Germany and later with Italy, and in 1940 the Tri-Pact directed specifically against the United States.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

But German-Japanese relations were never particularly warm: the two sides were spelled out by claims of racial superiority, spacing and mistrust by both.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Japanese were unaware of the Nazi goal of invading the Soviet Union.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Nor did Japan's political and social structure ever reach Germany's extreme totalitarianism.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Relations with the Soviet Union were worse, and between 1938 and 1939 the Japanese Army got into border battles with the Red Army in Outer Mongolia and Manchuria.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

A neutrality pact between the Great Powers was concluded in April 1941.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The difficult war situation in Europe and the defeat of France allowed the Japanese army to advance into French Indochina, which was recaptured in July 1941.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[132] [136] [135] [127] Japan in World War II As an obstacle to Japan's advance south, the United States emerged, which initiated a series of economic sanctions against the country due to U.S. concern over Japan's conquests in the Pacific Ocean.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Exports of steel and iron to Japan were blocked.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

To the occupation of Indochina, the United States reacted with an oil embargo and freezing all Japanese property in the United States.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

When negotiations with the Americans failed, the Japanese decided to initiate military action against the United States by December 1941, as the embargo threatened to cripple the entire Japanese war machine.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

As civilian members of Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe's government did not approve of the army's plans, the Prime Minister resigned in October 1941.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

He was succeeded by former Minister of War Hideki Tōjō.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Americans continued to refuse any concessions, and on December 7, 1941, the Japanese, without warning, struck the Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii, which was the initial impetus for the Pacific War.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[132] [136] [127] The Japanese had expected that the recapture of the territories they had gained would be too costly and difficult for the “soft” democracies.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, the surprise attack brought renewed resolve to the United States, which declared war on Japan and the country's navy was rebuilt from the trail of the devastations at Pearl Harbor in record time.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Initially, the Japanese achieved several victories: Manila was recaptured in January 1942, Singapore in February, and Rangoon from the Brits in March.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Japanese did not face great difficulty in their takeover of the Dutch East Indies, and in the Pacific the Japanese forces advanced as far as the Solomon Islands.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Japanese were now already threatening Australia and India, where they invaded Assam in 1944.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, the resources of the country's military had been stretched to the extreme.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, the Japanese advance was successfully halted in the Battle of the Coral Sea.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The United States Navy was unable to drive from the South Pacific, where the Japanese lost several ships at the Battle of Midway in June 1942.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The defeat at the Battle of Midway was a turning point for Japan's success and from the Solomon Islands the Japanese were forced to withdraw in the spring of 1943.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[137] [138] After the victories achieved by the United States, many Japanese leaders realized that the war would come to an end with the defeat of Japan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, the army's fanaticism thwarted serious efforts for peace.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The stubborn battle against the Americans continued and the Japanese were well fortified as well as fighting to the last man.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Japanese lost the Battle of Leyte Gulf on 20 October 1944.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Saipan was recaptured from Japan in July 1944 and the Philippines progressively by March 1945.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

On 7 April 1945, the United States sank the largest warship of the Japanese Navy, Yamato.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In February 1945, U.S. troops entered Japanese territory in the victorious Battle of Iwo Jima.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In April 1945, more than 150,000 civilians were killed in heavy and bitter fighting on Okinawa.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In March, the US forces had begun massive bombardment of Japan's home islands, in which almost all Japanese cities except Kyoto and Nara were destroyed to the ground.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

By May, an estimated 13 million Japanese had been made homeless and the country's economy was mired in chaos.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

When Kuniaki Koiso's government fell after Okinawa fell into control by the Americans, Admiral Kantarō Suzuki came to power.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The dangerously long road to peace began.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[137] [139] A peace negotiator was first hoped for from the Soviet Union, which had nevertheless decided to join the war on the Allied side and who participated with the Western powers at the Potsdam Conference.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In the Potsdam Declaration of July 1945, the leaders of the United States, China and the United Kingdom called for the blocking of Japan's ability to war and transforming the country into a democratic state.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The declaration promised that “Japan would not be destroyed as a nation.”


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, when Japan ignored the declaration and Allied forces approached the country's main islands, President Truman decided to use a new weapon, the atomic bomb, against Japan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August and the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on 9 August.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Now, too, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Emperor Hirohito demanded a surrender, which he announced to the nation in a radio speech on 15 August.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Even the night before, extremist militarians had tried to destroy the disc containing the speech.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The surrender treaty was formally signed on 2 September 1945 aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[137] [140] Occupied Japan After the war, the Allies occupied Japan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In theory, the occupation was administered by the Multinational East Asia Council in Washington and the Allied Council in Tokyo, but effectively occupied by US forces under General Douglas MacArthur.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Unlike, for example, in Germany, the Japanese authorities were still in operation and the occupation administration operated through them.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The occupation marked extensive and rapid social and political changes: its purpose was to establish a democratic and peaceful regime in Japan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

After the ravages of the war, the Japanese were vulnerable to change and were pragmatic about it.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Horror images of the occupier also did not prove true, and there was little opposition to the occupation regime.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The success of the occupation was also influenced by the emperor institution left in force, although the Emperor formally rejected his divinity, and MacArthur's persona.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[141] [142] [143] [144] First, the occupation regime began the demilitarization of Japan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Japanese overseas troops, some 3.5 million people, were called home and the country's army was disbanded.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The arms industry was broken up and all weapons in private hands were confiscated.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Nationalist organizations were disbanded.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

An important goal was in some ways the separation of persons guilty of war from their posts and public life: by May 1946, a total of 210288 Japanese had been “purged”.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Although the rapid purge was inevitably accompanied by injustices, it helped the rise of new individuals to positions of influence and the success of other democratic reforms.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Towards the end of the occupation, many of the purified were again reinstated as members of society.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In Allied rights, 920 Japanese were sentenced to death for war crimes and the 1946—1948 International War Crimes Tribunal for the Far East indicted 28 political and military leaders for war and other crimes, seven of whom were executed.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[142] [145] To eradicate militarism, reforms were needed in an education system that was formulated to suit the American model.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

“Moral education” was discontinued and higher education expanded.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Shintolism and the state were separated.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Economic reforms included the disbanding of zaibatsu groups, who had been in close cooperation with the militarists.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The actions against the Zaibatsu, which remained limited, succeeded in loosening the business conglomerates, but did not prevent the emergence of new types of keiretsu groups later.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

What was significant in labour policy was allowing trade unions and strikes.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Trade unions developed rapidly, and by 1949 they already numbered six and a half million people.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, the ignition of the Cold War and the threat of a general strike in 1947 led to new restrictions and purges on the left.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Most of the Japanese army had been made up of poor rural dwellers: efforts were made to improve their situation through extensive land reform, in which a large proportion of sharecroppers gained title to their lands.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[146] [147] [142] The single most significant reform measure of the occupation regime, however, was the new constitution, which went into effect in 1947.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

It implemented universal and equal suffrage for all Japanese for the first time.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In the first paragraph of the constitution, the emperor was declared “a symbol of the unity of the state and the people, obtaining his power from the will of the people” and completely subordinate to the government.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The third article of the constitution dealt with individual rights and guaranteed equality before the law.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The old nobility was abolished.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The constitution convened an elected bicameral parliament, the more influential part of which was made the lower house.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Of particular significance was the ninth, the only article of the second paragraph, in which “war as the sovereign right of the people and the use of force or the threat thereof as a means of settlement of international disputes is abandoned for ever” and in which the maintenance of the military was forbidden.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The constitution became very popular.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

No political group has got behind them the necessary two-thirds support to amend the constitution since its introduction.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, the interpretation of the Ninth Article changed and a self-defence force, or practically armed forces, was established in the country in 1954.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[148] [142] [149] [150] Japan's economy was in ruins after the war, and the country was close to famine.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Industrial production was only 30% of pre-war levels.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

As economic conditions continued to be difficult, in 1948, the Occupation Administration appointed Joseph Dodge, a US banker, to recommend ways of solution.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The so-called Dodge line, despite its rancor, marked a turning point in the country's economic development.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Later, the Korean War, which broke out in June 1950, dragged the country's economy into a new boom, as U.S. Army soldiers needed provisions and supplies.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Production exceeded pre-war levels for the first time in 1951.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The war increased American hostility towards communist China and underlined Japan's role as a stabilising factor in the region and a new ally of the United States.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

A peace treaty was now needed quickly, and the focus of occupation policy shifted away from society to achieving economic and political stability.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The Treaty of San Francisco between Japan and the Allies was concluded on relatively easy terms for Japan on 8 September 1951, and at the same time a security treaty with the United States was signed.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In it, US troops were allowed to remain in Japan and Japan was asked to take more responsibility for its own defense.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The occupation ceased and Japan regained its formal independence the following year.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Economic recovery now emerged as the country's top goal.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[151] [150] From the 1950s to the bubble economy and the Depression Economy Huge economic growth in the 1950s and 1960s has been referred to as the economic crisis of Japan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Between 1955 and 1970, the economy grew at an average rate of about 10% per year.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[152] Growth was aided by several factors: after the war, the country's industry was almost destroyed, so the new factories built in Japan were modern and more efficient than those abroad, the country had a rich young and well-educated workforce, and economic growth was actively supported by the state.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In addition, the Japanese were greatly influenced by William Edwards Deming's ideas on quality control.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Population planning, begun in the late 1940s, succeeded in curbing and equalizing the increase in population to the point that it did not eat into the economic growth that caused a major structural change to all aspects of society.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Japan was now achieving full employment, and the country even experienced a shortage of labour.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Two important developments related to economic growth were the emergence of a consumer society influenced by Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda's “Income Doubling Plan” in 1960, and the concentration of industrial production on high-tech goods.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Japan became the world's leading manufacturer of cars, ships and electronics: in the 1960s, the country's exports grew by more than 15 percent a year.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Great economic growth continued right up until the oil crisis of the early 1970s.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

During the Ikeda period, the national sense of Japanese people was boosted by the Summer Olympics held in Tokyo in 1964.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[142] [153] In addition to the declining birth rate, Japanese society was transformed by rapid urbanization and rising living standards that restrained population growth in addition to society's actions.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

With the advent of a more educated population and restrictions on urban living, traditional family relationships changed.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Women's status improved.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Due to labour shortages, workers from rural areas were needed for urban large-scale industries.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

By 1970, no longer only 20% of Japanese people lived in rural areas.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The rural look also changed: agriculture mechanized and intensified, and the traditional rustic landscape began to be replaced by concrete and factories.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Television tied rural dunks to an internationalising world and Western popular culture.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The cities were particularly attracted to Tokyo, the culmination of Japanese urbanisation, which was home to one in nine Japanese in 1972.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Despite its attractiveness, city life was not without problems.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

More noticeable grievances in cities included housing, for which many Japanese had less space than Westerners.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

By 1972, the price of land in many major cities had increased 25-fold since 1955.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[153] Urbanisation, despite problems such as congestion, meant an increase in living standards and a new entertainment society, department stores, cinemas and restaurants.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Young townspeople were particularly influenced by American popular culture, which they embraced with devotion.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In general, the transition to cities went more smoothly in Japan than in many Western countries, and crime, for example, did not increase particularly.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The interveners were invoked by so-called “neo-religions” such as the Sōka Gakkai, which flourished in the 1950s and 1960s.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The pre-march of the new urban culture caused a rift between the freer young generation and the more traditional old generation, prompting conflicts in places such as universities.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Although no longer lived in cities as conformistically as in rural areas, hierarchical structures of rural society were now visible, for example, in businesses.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[153] Significant, real social changes after the war have often been due to physical changes in lifestyles rather than outside cultural influences.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[154] After the oil crisis entered the 1970s, the strongest economic growth ceased: cheap labour was no longer available, technology had advanced considerably, and competition in heavy industry diminished.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Environmental concerns were also now raising more concern than previously thought.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The oil crisis and the recession it caused highlighted weaknesses in Japan's economy, dependence on Middle Eastern oil and foreign food, and oversubsidized agriculture.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In the 1970s and 1980s, Japan began to diversify its economic base and integrate it more strongly into the global economy.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The country's high-energy heavy industry has been allowed to make way for companies in the information technology, mechatronics, and biotechnology sectors.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[155] [156] [153] After the oil crisis, the use of nuclear power was increased as a solution to the energy problem and energy saving was greatly increased in enterprises.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In the 1980s, Japan emerged as one of the world's largest economies, with a higher gross domestic product per capita than the United States.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Japan was now the world's largest donor of development aid.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Behind the success of the economy were huge exports, growing which was seen as important after the crises of the 1970s and offset limited growth domestically.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, exports and falling oil prices brought a hugely large positive trade balance to the country, which caused disputes with the US and European states.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

They accused Japan of shutting down its own market, and Japan began successfully opening up its economy by lowering tariffs and removing regulation and restrictions.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[156] [153] In the late 1980s, however, a so-called bubble economy emerged in Japan, which skyrocketed the country's real estate and capital prices.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The bubble burst in the early 1990s, leaving Japan mired in a deep and long-lasting recession.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Time has been called the “lost decade.”


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The recession delayed reforms and exacerbated trade tensions, but the positive trade balance continued to grow.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Economic difficulties continued right into the 21st century — unemployment rose above 5% in 2000 for the first time since the war.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The sweeping reforms proposed by Prime Minister Ryūtarō Hashimoto in the mid-1990s, dubbed by the nickname “Big Bang”, caused plenty of opposition.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The problems facing Japan's economy have been a rapidly ageing population and rising income inequality.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[153] In recent decades urbanisation and population growth has continued, and living standards have also risen considerably.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

By the mid-1980s, the birth rate was no longer high enough to regenerate the population, and by 2000, the proportion of people over 65 in the population had exceeded that of those under 15.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Servicing the elderly population and reducing the share of the working-age population presents major challenges for Japan's economy and society.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Another problem has been a lack of living space, which has pushed up house prices and made it impossible for many to buy their own home.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

As Japan urbanized and internationalized, Japanese values have also changed: the hierarchicism of society has somewhat diminished, individualism increased, and women's status continued to improve.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In the latter part of the 20th century, Japanese people have travelled more overseas than before, and the proportion of foreigners living in the country has also increased considerably to about 1.3 million at the end of the 20th century.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[157] Foreign relations Since the Soviet Union did not sign the San Francisco Peace Treaty, a dispute remained between the two countries over four Kuril north of Hokkaidō.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

However, diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union were established in 1956.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In this case, Japan was accepted as a member of the United Nations when the Soviet Union no longer prevented the country from joining the organization.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[158] The San Francisco Peace Treaty also left open war reparations for Japanese-occupied territories with which reparations were to be agreed on a case-by-case basis.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Treaties were concluded with Burma in 1954, the Philippines in 1956, and Indonesia in 1958.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Under the influence of the United States, Japan established relations with the Republic of China, with which a lively trade developed.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

With mainland China, trade developed slowly, as diplomatic relations between the two countries did not exist.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Gradually, however, Japan became the most significant trading partner of the People's Republic of China.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

When President Nixon made a surprise visit to China, Japan was forced to reconsider its stance.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In 1972, Japan entered into an agreement with the People's Republic of China to normalize relations, severing official ties with the Republic of China.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

A peace treaty with Communist China was concluded in 1978.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The end of the Cold War allowed Japan to adopt a more independent relationship with China, and by the early 1990s China had already elevated to the country's second-largest trading partner after the United States.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Until the 21st century, the countries' relations have been strained by war crimes committed by Japan in China.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[157] The most significant foreign relationship for Japan was and is, however, the relationship with the United States, particularly through the cooperation agreement between the two countries but also through trade relations.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The renewal of the treaty in 1960 caused major protests and tensions between the LDP and the left, as many feared it would anger the communist superpowers and tie Japan to a looming nuclear war.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Beginning in the late 1960s, territories still occupied by the United States were ceded back to Japan: the Ogasawara Islands during Prime Minister Eisaku Satō's term in 1967 and the Ryūkyō Islands in 1972.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, however, the nature of the cooperative relationship has hardly changed


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Friction between the two countries has often arisen over economic issues as Japan has gradually emerged as an economic rival to the United States.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[158] [153] [157] After the war, Japanese political leaders often kept a low profile in international politics.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In the 1980s, Japan was often portrayed as an economic giant and a political dwarf.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[159] However, Japan's role in world politics and economy has changed considerably during the latter part of the 20th century.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Japan has transformed itself into a leading industrialized country and an important lender: Japanese investment and holdings abroad have tied it more closely to international economics and politics than in the past.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Japan has therefore actively participated in activities such as the World Trade Organisation and other economic organisations and the United Nations.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In 2003, Japan sent troops under Prime Minister Jun'ichirō Koizumi to support the American occupation of Iraq.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

In the operation, Japanese troops were in action in a war zone for the first time since World War II.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

The operation divided opinion in Japan, where many believed it violated the country's constitution 9.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

of the article.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

[153] [157] The politics of Japanese politics had during the occupation period been unstable and governments short-lived.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Significant was the year 1955, when the Left merged into the Socialist Party of Japan (JSP) and the Liberals and Democrats into the new Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

A two-party system was practically formed in Japan.


Question: How long did Imperial Japan exist?

History of Japan

Stronger than the parties, the conservative LDP remained in power continuously until the 1990s.