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Apr 12, 1400
Japanese Feudalism (esp. samurai warriors)
The collapse of aristocratic rule ushered in a new age, called the Warring States period. In this, military dictated who governed and who followed. The samurai warriors took as their creed what later became known as the "Way of the Warrior". This was a value system of discipline and honor that required them to live and die in the service of their lords. -
Tokugawa Shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate was the last feudal Japanese military government. The heads of government were known as the shoguns. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled from Edo Castle and the years of shogunate became known as the Edo period. Japan’s Tokugawa period was the final era of traditional Japanese government, culture and society before the Meiji Restoration. Tokugawa shoguns resulted in the rise of a new merchant class and increasing urbanization. They also worked to end -
Commodore Matthew Perry
Matthew Perry got the position to lead the expedition in 1851. Commodore Perry thought that diplomats would ruin the expedition, so he did not let them go. Perry wanted a larger group of ships for the expedition. He made the Secretary of the Navy increase the size of the ship if took command. Perry’s first visited Japan on July 8th, 1853. He went to the Japanese capital, Edo, and made demands. He demanded that ports be opened to Americans, that they treated prisoners -
Meiji Restoration
Meiji Restoration was the political revolution that caused the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate and reinstated the control of the country to direct imperial rule that was under the emperor beginning an era of major political, economic, and social change known as the Meiji period (1868–1912). This revolution brought about the modernization and Westernization of Japan. -
Japanese Territorial Expansion
Japan seized the Kuril Islands, which stretch from Japan's northern home island of Hokkaido to Russian Siberia. In 1876, Japan seized the Bonin Islands which lie in the Pacific Ocean about 1,300 kilometres to the south-east of the Japanese home islands. In 1879, the Ryuku Islands were taken by Japan and from Okinawa. These three island chain acquisitions provided Japan with defensive island perimeters to the north, east and south of its four main home islands. -
Great Depression
Asia was influenced by the Great Depression because of its dependence on the export of raw materials with Europe and America, especially rubber and tin for the automobile industry. Asian trade was hurt as America and Europe were gripped by the depression. Firms in Asia responded by cutting their workforce and lowering wages. In Japan, unemployment and poverty rose, disproportionately affecting the lower classes; these hardships were a factor in the rise of Japanese national -
Hiroshima
As WW2 was coming to an end, the United States used atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The two bombings, killed at least 129,000 people, remain the only use of nuclear weapons for war in history. -
Postwar Reforms
The first phase, roughly from the end of the war in 1945 through 1947, required mostly fundamental changes.. The Allies punished Japan for its past militarism and expansion by convening war crimes trials in Tokyo. At the same time, the Japanese army was completely dismantled. First, land reform took place and was designed to help tenant farmers and reduce the power of rich landowners, many of whom had helped in the war and supported Japanese expansion. MacArthur tried to br -
Tsunami (2011)
On March 11, 2011 a 9.0 magnitude earthquake occurred 231 miles northeast of Tokyo, Japan, at a depth of 15.2 miles. The earthquake causes a tsunami with 30 ft waves that damaged several nuclear reactors in the area.It is the fourth largest earthquake recorded and the largest to hit Japan. It killed a total of 15,890 people.
