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Feudal era of JAPAN

 Japan's feudal era was characterized by the emergence of a ruling class of warriors, the samurai. In 1185, following the defeat of the rival Taira clan, Minamoto no Yoritomo was appointed Shōgun and established a base of power in Kamakura near present-day Tokyo. After Yoritomo's death, another warrior clan, the Hōjō, came to rule as regents for the shoguns. The Kamakura shogunate managed to repel Mongol invasions in 1274 and 1281, with assistance from a storm that the Japanese interpreted as a kamikaze, or Divine Wind. The Kamakura shogunate lasted another fifty years and was eventually overthrown by Ashikaga Takauji in 1333. The succeeding Ashikaga shogunate failed to manage the feudal warlords — the daimyo — and a civil war erupted. The Ōnin War (1467 to 1477) is generally regarded as the onset of the "Warring States" or Sengoku period.

 During the 16th century, traders and missionaries from Portugal reached Japan for the first time, initiating the Nanban ("southern barbarian") period of active commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West. Oda Nobunaga conquered numerous other daimyo by using European technology and firearms, and had almost unified the nation when he was assassinated in 1582. Toyotomi Hideyoshi succeeded Nobunaga and united the nation in 1590. Hideyoshi invaded Korea twice, but was thwarted by Korean and Ming Chinese forces. Following several defeats and Hideyoshi's death, Japanese troops were withdrawn in 1597.

 After Hideyoshi's death, Tokugawa Ieyasu utilized his position as the regent of Hideyoshi's son Toyotomi Hideyori as well as the conflicts among loyalists of the Toyotomi clan, to gain the support of warlords. When open war broke out, he defeated rival clans in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Ieyasu was appointed shōgun in 1603 and established the Tokugawa shogunate at Edo (modern Tokyo).

 After defeating Toyotomi clan, at the Siege of Osaka in 1614 and 1615, the Tokugawa clan became the rulers of Japan, setting up a centralized feudal system. The Tokugawa shogunate enacted a variety of measures to control the daimyo, among them the sankin-kōtai policy of enforced rotation between fiefs and attendance in Edo. In 1639, the shogunate began the isolationist sakoku ("closed country") policy that spanned the two and a half centuries of tenuous political unity known as the Edo period. This is often considered to be the height of Japan's medieval culture. The study of Western sciences, known as rangaku, continued during this period through contacts with the Dutch enclave at Dejima in Nagasaki. The Edo period also gave rise to kokugaku. Literally translated, this means "Japanese studies," though it more correctly is represented by the study of native Japan by the Japanese themselves.

Modern JAPAN

 On March 31, 1854, Commodore Matthew Perry and the "Black Ships" of the United States Navy forced the opening of Japan to the West with the Convention of Kanagawa. The Boshin War of 1867-1868 led to the resignation of the shogunate, and the Meiji Restoration established a government centered around the emperor. Japan adopted numerous Western institutions, including a modern government, legal system, and military. A parliamentary system modeled after the British parliament was introduced, with Ito Hirobumi as the first Prime Minister in 1882.

 The Meiji era reforms helped transform the Empire of Japan into a world power that embarked on a number of military conflicts to increase access to natural resources, with victories in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), which was the first time that an Asian country defeated an European imperial power. By 1910, Japan controlled Korea, and the southern half of Sakhalin.

 The early 20th century saw a brief period of "Taisho democracy" overshadowed by the rise of Japanese expansionism and militarization. World War I enabled Japan, which joined the side of the victorious Allies, to expand its influence and territorial holdings. Japan continued its expansionist policy by occupying Manchuria in 1931. In 1936, Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany, later joining the Axis Powers in 1941.

 In 1937, Japan invaded other parts of China, starting the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). As a result of its aggression, the United States placed an oil embargo on Japan. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States naval base in Pearl Harbor and declared war on the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. This brought the United States into the Pacific Theatre of World War II, having entered the European Theatre when Germany declared war.

 During the course of the Pacific War, Japanese forces in occupied territory were neutralized. Strategic bombing of major cities like Tokyo and Osaka killed thousands of civilians. After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Japan agreed to an unconditional surrender.[6] The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed on September 2, 1945 (V-J Day). The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (on May 3, 1946) was convened to prosecute Japanese leaders for crimes against peace and humanity. Emperor Hirohito received immunity from prosecution and retained his position as emperor.

 The war cost Japan millions of lives and left much of the country's industry and infrastructure destroyed. In 1947, Japan adopted a new pacifist constitution, seeking international cooperation and emphasizing human rights and democratic practices. Official American occupation lasted until 1952 and Japan was granted membership in the United Nations in 1956. Under a program of aggressive industrial development and with US assistance, Japan achieved spectacular growth to become the second largest economy in the world, with a growth rate averaging 10% for four decades. This ended in the late 1990s when Japan suffered a major recession from which it has since been slowly recovering.

Based on the article "Japan" from Wikipedia
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