JAPANESE HISTORY TIMELINE

Joman Culture
10,000-300 B.C.-  people crossing from northeast Asia Japan by way of Sakhalin and Korea.  These people were
hunters, gatherers and fishermen. They made tools of polished stone.

Yayoi Culture
300 B.C.E.-CE 300- New waves of immigrants came  from the Korean Peninsula.  They brought iron and bronze but their most important contribution was the introduction and the cultivation of rice.

Kofun
300-700 Tomb Culture - The name Tomb Culture comes from the huge earth-mounds that were used as burial grounds.
They are believed to be the tombs of local chieftains. During this time the chieftains fought each other for power.

Reign of Shotoku
593-622   -A region in west central Honshu called Yamato began to emerge as the most powerful state  in Japan.   Prince Shotoku, from Yamato took the lead in bringing Chinese culture to Japan. Buddhism entered  Japan during this time.

Taika period
645-710 - A Yamoto prince engineered a coup that set about consolidating the power of the central government and set about instituting a series of reforms.

Reform Edict - The Taika reforms abolished the clan chieftains control over local and people and dispatched provincial  officials to supplant them and institute a new system of ranks, taxation, and administration. These reforms marked the beginning of the Yamato ruler to an emperor of divinity and unquestioned supremacy.

Nara period
710-784 -   In 710 the reorganized imperial court established a new Chinese-style capital at the modern-day city of  Nara.

Early Heian period
794-857-  In 794 the capital was moved to the present day city of  Kyoto which is where the capital remained  until 1868.

Late Heian (Fujiwara period)
857-1160-  The Fujiwara family became the most important aristocratic family.  The heads of the Fujiwara family married their daughters into the imperial family and then served as chancellors .  Culture flourished during this era and it is often referred to as Japans classical age.  The Fujiwara family began to decline in influence as the Minamoto and Taira families began to increase in influence. As the influence of the court began to decline, the power of the samurai (warriors) in the provinces began to increase. The warriors constituted a powerful elite in local areas.

End of the Fujiwara Period
1156-   When the emperor died, the Fujiwara family attempted to regain power but the Tiara and Minamoto  families defeated them.  The Tiara family emerged as the victors.

Taira-Minamoto Wars
1180-85-  In 1180 a member of the Minamoto family tried to overthrow the Taira family.  This resulted in a civil war known as the Gempei War which ended in 1185 when the Taira family was finally defeated by Yoritomo Minamoto

Kamakura Bakufu
1185-1333-  Yoritomo moved the capital to Kamakura.  The new style of the military government was called a bakufu (shogunate)

Mongol Invasions
1274, 1281-  A Mongol force of 40,000 invaded in 1274 but a divine wind (or kamikaze) destroyed the fleet.  Seven years later a second attempt at an invasion met a similar force.

Ashikaga Bakufu
1333-1573-  Ashikaga Takuji spearheaded an uprising against the shogunate, a powerful warrior leader in eastern  Japan and Kamakura fell to the rebel forces bringing the Kamakura shogunate to an end. The Ashikaga shoguns established their political base near the imperial court in Kyoto.

Arrival of Portuguese
1543-  With the arrival of the Portuguese, the Japanese were introduced to the use of firearms which changed the nature of warfare in Japan.

Arrival of Christianity
    1549 1549-  Francis Xavier, a Jesuit missionary brought Roman Catholicism to Japan

Warring States Period
1467-1568-  A time when most of the country was plunged into constant internal warfare.  During this period, a  new type of feudal lord rose to power known as daimyo.  The daimyo had no loyalty to central authority. They built territorial fiefs that centered on castles and were supported by local warriors.

Reunification
  1567-1600 -  Oda Bobunaga began the process of reunifying the country.  By 1573 he was strong enough to depose the Ashikaga shogun, but he died before he could consolidate his rule.  Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of Nobunagas leading generals continued the process of unification. When Hideyoshi died, he left an infant heir.  His generals began to fight for power.  In 1600 Tokguawa Ieyasu emerged victorious in the battle of Sekigahara , assumed the title of shogun and moved the capital to Edo (modern day Tokyo)

Tokugawa Bakufu
1603-1868 -  The Tokugawa bakufu was an effective government but it was not a centralized monarchy like the old  imperial government.  The shogun shared power and authority with the local daimyo within a feudal system of government. In 1614 Ieyasu ordered the expulsion of Christian  missionaries, and in the 1620s Japanese converts to Christianity suffered form persecution and massacres.

Establishment of Isolationism
  1633-1639-  The shogunate issued a series of exclusion laws forbidding imports of Christian books, prohibiting travel or trade outside the country, and forbidding the construction of ocean-going vessels.  The only Westerners permitted to trade in Japan were the Dutch.

Arrival of Perry and
End of Isolation
    1853- Matthew Perry, the commodore of American gunboat expedition, sailed into Tokyo harbor and used the implied threat of his warships to force the Japanese to sign a treaty of friendship with the United Sates.  Foreign demands for further concessions began to escalate. The opening of the country to foreign influence helped undermine the influence of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

The Meiji Restoration
    1868-  The anti-foreign mood of the country undermined the authority of the shogunate.  In January of 1868 a palace coup brought to power the young emperor, Meiji.  The emperor abolished the office of shogun, ordered the Tokugawa family to surrender their ancestral lands, and announced the creation of a new imperial government.  The new imperial government began the process of modernizing and  unifying the country.

1870s-  The new imperial government dismantled the Tokugawa system.  Elementary education was made compulsory and a mandatory military conscription was promulgated. In 1876 the government abolished the privilege of carrying swords.  The result was a series of local samurai rebellions, culminating in the Satsuma Rebellion that was put down by the army.

1880s-  The emperor-centered government began establishing the modern state.  It established a cabinet system of government and instituted a civil service examination for high officials. In 1889 a constitution was written which placed most of the powers of the state in the hands of the emperor  but also established a bicameral national legislature called the Diet. The Meiji leaders also worked to  build a modern economy by acquiring new manufacturing technology and by the 1890s the  beginnings of industrialization were well underway.

First Sino-Japanese War
1894-1895-  Japan wanted to open trade with Korea and wanted to challenge Chinas dominance in Korea. Japan decided to resolve the tension with China by going to war.  The Japanese army and navy  quickly won over the larger but less prepared Chinese forces.  In the treaty that ended the war, Japan was given Taiwan and Japan was allowed to trade in China.

The Russo-Japanese War
1904-1905-  Tensions between Japan and Russia grew as both countries tried to expand their influence in Korea and Manchuria.  During the Boxer Rebellion in China, the Russians sent an occupation force into Manchuria thus building a military force on the Chinese-Korean border.  The Japanese decided to go to war to rid the area of the Russian forces and in 1904 the Japanese navy attacked the Russian fleet at Port Arthur.  The Treaty of Portsmouth gave Japan control over the Liaodong Peninsula, the railroad line in southern Manchuria, the southern half of the Sakhalin and the Russians recognized Japans interest in Korea.

Annexation of Korea
    1910-  After the Russo-Japanese War the Japanese established a protectorate over Korea.

World War I
  1914-1918-  Japan joined the side of Britain and the allies during World War I.  Despite limited participation, the war brought a great economic boom to Japan as industrial production increased.  By the end of the war Japan was the most powerful nation in Asia.  However, the war also brought unrest as inflation caused unrest between workers and management.

Taisho Period
  1912-192 5 -  Following the death of the Meiji emperor, his son Yoshihito succeeded him.  He was known as the Taisho Emperor.

Great Earthquake
    1923-  On September 1 an earthquake hit the Tokyo-metropolitan area killing 150,000.

1930s -  The 1930s saw social, economic, and political unrest.  The military began a new phase of political expansion  primarily against China.

Mukden Incident
     1931-  Officers of Japans army based on the Liaodong Peninsula blew up a section of track on the South Manchuria Railway outside of Mukden (Shenyang).  They then claimed that the action was that of Chinese saboteurs and within a few months Japanese forces occupied the region of Manchuria.

Withdrawal From League
Of Nations
      1933-  The League of Nations requested that Japan end hostilities in China.  Japan responded by withdrawing  from the league.

Army Mutiny
    1936-  The Japanese military intervened in domestic politics and, in Feb. of 1936 a branch of the military staged an insurrection in Tokyo to end civilian control of the military. The mutiny was put down but the military acquired greater political influence.

Marco Polo Bridge
 Incident& the Second
Sino-Japanese War
1937-  On July 7, a Chinese patrol and Japanese troops clashed near the Marco Polo Bridge on the outskirts of Beijing. This incident escalated into the Second Sino Japanese War.  By the end of 1937 the Japanese  had captured most of eastern China.  The Chinese government moved to the interior.

Axis Pact
1940-  The outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 encouraged the Japanese to begin military and political influence into Southeast Asia. In September of 1940 Japan signed an alliance with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy.

Attack on Pearl Harbor
1941-  Friction between the US and Japan began to increase as the US opposed Japanese aggression in China and Southeast Asia.  When the Japanese troops invaded Indochina in July of 1941, the US responded with a complete oil embargo on Japan.  This embargo threatened to halt the Japanese military which had limited oil reserves.  In October of 1941 Tojo Hideki, the Japanese Minister of War became the new prime minister and began to prepare for war.  On December 7, 1941 Japan launched a surprise attack on the US base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  The following day the US declared war on Japan.

Offensive Against Japan
1942-  By the summer of 1942 the Japanese occupied many Pacific Islands and countries in Southeast Asia and several Aleutian islands. Japan began to turn its attention to Australia and New Zealand.  The Americans adopted an island hopping in the Pacific in order to cut the Japanese off from their supplies.

Atomic Bomb
1945-  When Japan refused an unconditional surrender, the US decided to use its new atomic weapons.  On August 6 the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and on August 9 the second was dropped on Nagasaki.  Japan finally agreed to surrender on August 14, 1945.

Adoption of New
 Constitution
1947-  The United States, under the command of general Douglas MacArthur, occupied Japan and set about dismantling the social, political, and economic conditions that had made Japan an aggressor nation and to transform it into a democratic nation.  In 1947 a new constitution was written that stripped the emperor of much of his powers and placed the National Diet at the center of the political process. The most radical article of the new constitution was Article 9 under which Japan renounced war and the use of force to settle  international disputes.

Reverse Course
1947-1948-  American desire to reform Japan was overtaken by a desire to turn the country into a strong ally in the Cold War.  The US decided to actively promote the recovery of Japans economy.  The American occupation reversed its policy of breaking up big business concerns and it encouraged the Japanese government to stabilize business conditions through fiscal austerity.

Treaty of San Francisco
1951-  This treaty returned Japan to full independence.  Japan renounced all claims to Korea, Taiwan, and other Pacific islands.  It also gave up all special rights and interests in China and Japan.  In return, Japan did not  have to pay war reparations.  To countries that it had invaded and occupied it was allowed to pay in goods and services rather than cash.

Admittance to
United Nations
    1956

Era of Growth
1960s -   By 1968 Japan had become the third largest economy in the world.  Rising household incomes and savings  transformed Japan into a middle-class and modern society.

Return of Okinawa
1972-  Japan regained sovereignty over the Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa.  The United States however,a military base was retained there.

1970s-  Japan attempted to improve relations with its Asian neighbors.  Japan official recognized The Peoples Democratic Republic of China. The 1970s also saw some political scandals.  In 1974 the prime minister was forced to resign and in 1976 he was arrested for taking bribes from the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.

Oil Crisis
    1973 -  A 400% Arab increase in the price of oil  during the Yom Kippur war, ha a huge effect on the Japanese economy that was dependent on importing all of its oil for energy. The oil crisis demonstrated the  need for adjustments in their economic structure and society.

The Economic Bubble
    1980s -   During the latter half of the 1980s the value of the yen skyrocketed which encouraged Japanese  investment overseas.  Japanese businesses invested in businesses in Southeast Asia and in the United States.

Hirohito Dies
 1989-  After a 62-year reign the emperor, Hirohito died.  His son, Akihito succeeded him.

1990s -  An economic slowdown in the 1990s signaled the collapse of the bubble.

1995 -  A devastating earthquake hit Kobe
            A religious group, the AUM Supreme released Sarin gas in a Tokyo subway

2001-  In April Junichiro Koizumi was elected prime minister on an ambitious program of economic reform.

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