Coordinates: 35°41′N 139°46′E

Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan (Japanese:
, Hepburn: Dai Nippon Empire of Great Japan
[10]
Teikoku) was a historical  (Japanese)
nation-state [nb 2] along with their
Dai Nippon Teikoku
colonies, protectorates, mandates,
and other territories that existed 1868–1947
from the Meiji Restoration in 1868
to the enactment of the 1947
constitution of modern Japan.[6]

Japan's rapid industrialization and

militarization under the slogan
Flag Imperial Seal
Fukoku Kyōhei ( , "Enrich the
Country, Strengthen her Armed Motto: 
Forces") and Shokusan Kōgyō ( 1868–1912:
, "Promote Industry") led to its
emergence as a great power and Gokajō no Goseimon
(Charter Oath or The Oath in Five Articles)
the establishment of a colonial
empire following the First Sino- 1926–1947:
Japanese War, the Boxer Hakkō ichiu
Rebellion, the Russo-Japanese (The World Under One Roof or All Eight Corners of the World)
War, and World War I. Economic
and political turmoil in the 1920s Anthem: 
led to the rise of militarism, Kimigayo
(His Imperial Majesty's Reign)
nationalism and totalitarianism,
eventually culminating in Japan's 0:00 / 0:00
membership in the Axis alliance
and the conquest of a large part of
the Asia-Pacific in World War
II.[13]

Japan's armed forces initially

achieved large-scale military
successes during the Second Sino-
Japanese War (1937–1945) and
the Pacific War. However, after
many Allied victories and
following the Soviet Union's
declaration of war against Japan
on August 9, 1945, and
subsequent invasion of Manchuria
and other territories, and the
The Empire of Japan at its peak in 1942:
atomic bombings of Hiroshima     Territory (1870–1895)
and Nagasaki, the Empire     Acquisitions (1895–1930)
surrendered to the Allies on     Acquisitions (1930–1942)
August 15, 1945. A period of Capital Kyoto (1868–1869)[1]
occupation by the Allies followed. Tokyo City (1869–1943)
In 1947, with American Tokyo (1943–1947)
involvement, a new constitution Common languages Japanese
was enacted, officially bringing
the Empire of Japan to an end. Religion De jure: None
De facto: State
Occupation and reconstruction
Shinto[nb 1]
continued until 1952, eventually
forming the current constitutional Government Daijō-kan under an
monarchy known as Japan. absolute monarchy[5]
(1868–1885)
The Emperors during this time, Constitutional
which spanned the entire Meiji, monarchy
(1885–1931)[6]
Taishō, and the lesser part of the
Shōwa era, are now known in Toseiha Military
dictatorship under a
Japan by their posthumous names,
constitutional
which coincide with those era monarchy
names: Emperor Meiji (1931–1940)
(Mutsuhito), Emperor Taishō Shōwa Statist one-
(Yoshihito), and Emperor Shōwa party totalitarian
(Hirohito). dictatorship under a
constitutional
monarchy
(1940–1945)

Contents Constitutional
monarchy under
Terminology Allied occupation
(1945–1947)
Background
Emperor  
Boshin War
• 1868–1912 Meiji
Meiji era (1868–1912) • 1912–1926 Taishō
Transposition in social order • 1926–1947 Shōwa
Prime Minister  
Political reform
• 1885–1888 (first) Itō Hirobumi
Economic development • 1946–1947 (last) Shigeru Yoshida
First Sino-Japanese War Legislature Imperial Diet
Boxer Rebellion • Upper house House of Peers
Russo-Japanese War • Lower house House of
Annexation of Korea Representatives

Taishō era (1912–1926) Historical era Meiji • Taishō • Shōwa

World War I • Meiji Restoration 3 January 1868[7]
• Meiji Constitution 11 February 1889
Siberian Intervention
• First Sino-Japanese War 25 July 1894
"Taishō Democracy" • Russo-Japanese War 8 February 1904
Early Shōwa (1926–1930) • World War I 23 August 1914
• Mukden Incident 18 September 1931
Expansion of democracy
• Second Sino-Japanese War 7 July 1937
Military and social • World War II 7 December 1941
organizations • Surrender of Japan 2 September 1945
Nationalist factors • Reconstituted 3 May 1947[6]
Economic factors Area
1938[8] 1,984,000 km2
Later Shōwa (1931–1941) – (766,000 sq mi)
expansionism and war
 Prewar expansionism Population
Manchuria • 1920 77,700,000a
Second Sino-Japanese
• 1940 105,200,000b
War Currency Japanese yen,
Korean yen,
Clashes with the Soviet Taiwanese yen,
Union Japanese military yen
Tripartite Pact
Preceded by Succeeded by
Pacific War (1941–1945)
Tokugawa shogunate Occupied
(World War II) Japan
Japanese conquests
Tide turns
a. 56.0 million lived in Japan proper.[9]
Surrender
b. 73.1 million lived in Japan proper.[9]
End of the Empire of Japan
Occupation of Japan Empire of Japan
Influential personnel Japanese name
Political Kanji
Diplomats Hiragana
Military
Imperial Japanese Army
Katakana
Early period
World War II
Kyūjitai
Imperial Japanese Navy
Early period Transcriptions

World War II Revised Dai Nippon

Hepburn Teikoku
Notable scholars/scientists Dai Nihon
19th century Teikoku
Anthropologists,
ethnologists, Empire of Japan
archaeologists, and
historians Official Term name

Medical scientists, Official Empire of Japan

biologists, evolutionary Term
theorists, and geneticists Literal Translation name
Inventors, industrialists,
Literal Imperial State of
engineers
Translation Great Japan
Philosophers, educators,
mathematicians, and
polymaths
Chemists, physicists, and
geologists
20th century
Timeline
Emperors
See also
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
External links

Terminology
The historical state is frequently referred to as the "Empire of Japan", the "Japanese
Empire", or "Imperial Japan" in English. In Japanese it is referred to as Dai Nippon
Teikoku ( ),[10] which translates to "Empire of Great Japan" (Dai "Great", Nippon
"Japanese", Teikoku "Empire"). Teikoku is itself composed of the nouns Tei "referring
to an emperor" and -koku "nation, state", so literally "Imperial State" or "Imperial
Realm" (compare the German Kaiserreich).

This meaning is significant in terms of geography, encompassing Japan, and its

surrounding areas. The nomenclature Empire of Japan had existed since the anti-
Tokugawa domains, Satsuma and Chōshū, which founded their new government
during the Meiji Restoration, with the intention of forming a modern state to resist
Western domination. Later the Empire emerged as a major colonial power in the
world.

Due to its name in kanji characters and its flag, it was also given the exonym "Empire
of the Sun".

Background
After two centuries, the seclusion policy, or sakoku, under the shōguns of the Edo
period came to an end when the country was forced open to trade by the Convention
of Kanagawa in 1854. Thus, the period known as Bakumatsu began.

The following years saw increased foreign trade and interaction; commercial treaties
between the Tokugawa shogunate and Western countries were signed. In large part
due to the humiliating terms of these unequal treaties, the shogunate soon faced
internal hostility, which materialized into a radical, xenophobic movement, the sonnō
jōi (literally "Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians").[14]

In March 1863, the Emperor issued the "order to expel barbarians". Although the
shogunate had no intention of enforcing the order, it nevertheless inspired attacks
against the shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan. The Namamugi Incident
during 1862 led to the murder of an Englishman, Charles Lennox Richardson, by a
party of samurai from Satsuma. The British demanded reparations but were denied.
While attempting to exact payment, the Royal Navy was fired on from coastal
batteries near the town of Kagoshima. They responded by bombarding the port of
Kagoshima in 1863. The Tokugawa government agreed to pay an indemnity for
Richardson's death.[15] Shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki and attacks
against foreign property led to the bombardment of Shimonoseki by a multinational
force in 1864.[16] The Chōshū clan also launched the failed coup known as the
Kinmon incident. The Satsuma-Chōshū alliance was established in 1866 to combine
their efforts to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu. In early 1867, Emperor Kōmei died
of smallpox and was replaced by his son, Crown Prince Mutsuhito (Meiji).

On November 9, 1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned from his post and authorities to
the Emperor, agreeing to "be the instrument for carrying out" imperial orders.[17]
The Tokugawa shogunate had ended.[18][19] However, while Yoshinobu's resignation
had created a nominal void at the highest level of government, his apparatus of state
continued to exist. Moreover, the shogunal government, the Tokugawa family in
particular, remained a prominent force in the evolving political order and retained
many executive powers,[20] a prospect hard-liners from Satsuma and Chōshū found
intolerable.[21]

On January 3, 1868, Satsuma-Chōshū forces seized the imperial palace in Kyoto, and
the following day had the fifteen-year-old Emperor Meiji declare his own restoration
to full power. Although the majority of the imperial consultative assembly was happy
with the formal declaration of direct rule by the court and tended to support a
continued collaboration with the Tokugawa, Saigō Takamori threatened the assembly
into abolishing the title shōgun and ordered the confiscation of Yoshinobu's lands.[22]

On January 17, 1868, Yoshinobu declared "that he would not be bound by the
proclamation of the Restoration and called on the court to rescind it".[23] On January
24, Yoshinobu decided to prepare an attack on Kyoto, occupied by Satsuma and
Chōshū forces. This decision was prompted by his learning of a series of arson
attacks in Edo, starting with the burning of the outworks of Edo Castle, the main
Tokugawa residence.

Boshin War

The Boshin War ( , Boshin Sensō) was fought

between January 1868 and May 1869. The alliance of
samurai from southern and western domains and
court officials had now secured the cooperation of the
young Emperor Meiji, who ordered the dissolution of
the two-hundred-year-old Tokugawa shogunate.
Tokugawa Yoshinobu launched a military campaign to
The Naval Battle of Hakodate, seize the emperor's court at Kyoto. However, the tide
May 1869; in the foreground, rapidly turned in favor of the smaller but relatively
Kasuga and Kōtetsu of the modernized imperial faction and resulted in
Imperial Japanese Navy defections of many daimyōs to the Imperial side. The
Battle of Toba–Fushimi was a decisive victory in
which a combined army from Chōshū, Tosa, and
Satsuma domains defeated the Tokugawa army.[24] A series of battles were then
fought in pursuit of supporters of the Shogunate; Edo surrendered to the Imperial
forces and afterwards Yoshinobu personally surrendered. Yoshinobu was stripped of
all his power by Emperor Meiji and most of Japan accepted the emperor's rule.

Pro-Tokugawa remnants, however, then retreated to northern Honshū (Ōuetsu

Reppan Dōmei) and later to Ezo (present-day Hokkaidō), where they established the
breakaway Republic of Ezo. An expeditionary force was dispatched by the new
government and the Ezo Republic forces were overwhelmed. The siege of Hakodate
came to an end in May 1869 and the remaining forces surrendered.[24]
Meiji era (1868–1912)
The Charter Oath was made public at the enthronement of Emperor Meiji of Japan on
April 7, 1868. The Oath outlined the main aims and the course of action to be
followed during Emperor Meiji's reign, setting the legal stage for Japan's
modernization.[25] The Meiji leaders also aimed to boost morale and win financial
support for the new government.

Japan dispatched the Iwakura Mission in 1871. The

mission traveled the world in order to renegotiate the
unequal treaties with the United States and European
countries that Japan had been forced into during the
Tokugawa shogunate, and to gather information on
western social and economic systems, in order to
effect the modernization of Japan. Renegotiation of
the unequal treaties was universally unsuccessful, but
close observation of the American and European
systems inspired members on their return to bring
Prominent members of the about modernization initiatives in Japan. Japan made
Iwakura mission. Left to right: a territorial delimitation treaty with Russia in 1875,
Kido Takayoshi, Yamaguchi gaining all the Kuril islands in exchange for Sakhalin
Masuka, Iwakura Tomomi, Itō
island.[26]
Hirobumi, Ōkubo Toshimichi
The Japanese government sent observers to Western
countries to observe and learn their practices, and
also paid "foreign advisors" in a variety of fields to come to Japan to educate the
populace. For instance, the judicial system and constitution were largely modeled on
those of Prussia. The government also outlawed customs linked to Japan's feudal
past, such as publicly displaying and wearing katana and the top knot, both of which
were characteristic of the samurai class, which was abolished together with the
caste system. This would later bring the Meiji government into conflict with the
samurai.

Several writers, under the constant threat of assassination from their political foes,
were influential in winning Japanese support for westernization. One such writer was
Fukuzawa Yukichi, whose works included "Conditions in the West," "Leaving Asia",
and "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization," which detailed Western society and his
own philosophies. In the Meiji Restoration period, military and economic power was
emphasized. Military strength became the means for national development and
stability. Imperial Japan became the only non-Western world power and a major force
in East Asia in about 25 years as a result of industrialization and economic
development.

As writer Albrecht Fürst von Urach comments in his booklet "The Secret of Japan's
Strength," published in 1942, during the Axis powers period:

The rise of Japan to a world power during the past

80 years is the greatest miracle in world history. The
mighty empires of antiquity, the major political
institutions of the Middle Ages and the early modern
era, the Spanish Empire, the British Empire, all
 needed centuries to achieve their full strength.
Japan's rise has been meteoric. After only 80 years,
it is one of the few great powers that determine the
fate of the world.[27]

Transposition in social order

In the 1860s, Japan began to experience great social turmoil

and rapid modernization. The feudal caste system in Japan
formally ended in 1869 with the Meiji restoration. In 1871, the
newly formed Meiji government issued a decree called Senmin Emperor Meiji, the
Haishirei ( Edict Abolishing Ignoble Classes) giving 122nd emperor of
outcasts equal legal status. It is currently better known as the Japan
Kaihōrei ( Emancipation Edict). However, the elimination
of their economic monopolies over certain occupations
actually led to a decline in their general living standards, while social discrimination
simply continued. For example, the ban on consumption of meat from livestock was
lifted in 1871, and many former eta moved on to work in abattoirs and as butchers.
However, slow-changing social attitudes, especially in the countryside, meant that
abattoirs and workers were met with hostility from local residents. Continued
ostracism as well as the decline in living standards led to former eta communities
turning into slum areas.

The social tension continued to grow during the Meiji period, affecting religious
practices and institutions. Conversion from traditional faith was no longer legally
forbidden, officials lifted the 250-year ban on Christianity, and missionaries of
established Christian churches reentered Japan. The traditional syncreticism
between Shinto and Buddhism ended. Losing the protection of the Japanese
government which Buddhism had enjoyed for centuries, Buddhist monks faced
radical difficulties in sustaining their institutions, but their activities also became
less restrained by governmental policies and restrictions. As social conflicts emerged
in this last decade of the Edo period, some new religious movements appeared,
which were directly influenced by shamanism and Shinto.

Emperor Ogimachi issued edicts to ban Catholicism in

1565 and 1568, but to little effect. Beginning in 1587
with imperial regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi's ban on
Jesuit missionaries, Christianity was repressed as a
threat to national unity. Under Hideyoshi and the
succeeding Tokugawa shogunate, Catholic
Christianity was repressed and adherents were
persecuted. After the Tokugawa shogunate banned
Ōura Church, Nagasaki, 1885 Christianity in 1620, it ceased to exist publicly. Many
Catholics went underground, becoming hidden
Christians ( , kakure kirishitan), while others
lost their lives. After Japan was opened to foreign powers in 1853, many Christian
clergymen were sent from Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox churches, though
proselytism was still banned. Only after the Meiji Restoration, was Christianity re-
established in Japan. Freedom of religion was introduced in 1871, giving all Christian
communities the right to legal existence and preaching.
Eastern Orthodoxy was brought to Japan in the 19th century by St. Nicholas
(baptized as Ivan Dmitrievich Kasatkin),[28] who was sent in 1861 by the Russian
Orthodox Church to Hakodate, Hokkaidō as priest to a chapel of the Russian
Consulate.[29] St. Nicholas of Japan made his own translation of the New Testament
and some other religious books (Lenten Triodion, Pentecostarion, Feast Services,
Book of Psalms, Irmologion) into Japanese.[30] Nicholas has since been canonized as
a saint by the Patriarchate of Moscow in 1970, and is now recognized as St.
Nicholas, Equal-to-the-Apostles to Japan. His commemoration day is February 16.
Andronic Nikolsky, appointed the first Bishop of Kyoto and later martyred as the
archbishop of Perm during the Russian Revolution, was also canonized by the
Russian Orthodox Church as a Saint and Martyr in the year 2000.

Divie Bethune McCartee was the first ordained Presbyterian minister missionary to
visit Japan, in 1861–1862. His gospel tract translated into Japanese was among the
first Protestant literature in Japan. In 1865, McCartee moved back to Ningbo, China,
but others have followed in his footsteps. There was a burst of growth of Christianity
in the late 19th century when Japan re-opened its doors to the West. Protestant
church growth slowed dramatically in the early 20th century under the influence of
the military government during the Shōwa period.

During the early 20th century, the government was suspicious towards a number of
unauthorized religious movements and periodically made attempts to suppress them.
Government suppression was especially severe from the 1930s until the early 1940s,
when the growth of Japanese nationalism and State Shinto were closely linked.
Under the Meiji regime lèse majesté prohibited insults against the Emperor and his
Imperial House, and also against some major Shinto shrines which were believed to
be tied strongly to the Emperor. The government strengthened its control over
religious institutions that were considered to undermine State Shinto or nationalism.

Political reform

The idea of a written constitution had been a subject of

heated debate within and outside of the government since
the beginnings of the Meiji government. The conservative
Meiji oligarchy viewed anything resembling democracy or
republicanism with suspicion and trepidation, and favored
a gradualist approach. The Freedom and People's Rights
Movement demanded the immediate establishment of an
elected national assembly, and the promulgation of a
constitution.

The constitution recognized the need for change and

modernization after removal of the shogunate:
Interior of the Japanese
Parliament, showing the
We, the Successor to the
Prime Minister speaking
prosperous Throne of Our
at the tribune from which
Predecessors, do humbly members address the
and solemnly swear to the House, 1915
Imperial Founder of Our
House and to Our other
Imperial Ancestors that,
 in pursuance of a great
policy co-extensive with
the Heavens and with the
Earth, We shall maintain
and secure from decline
the ancient form of
government. ... In
consideration of the
progressive tendency of
the course of human
Prince Aritomo affairs and in parallel with
Yamagata, twice the advance of
Prime Minister of civilization, We deem it
Japan. He was one of expedient, in order to give
the main architects clearness and distinctness
of the military and to the instructions
political foundations bequeathed by the
of early modern Imperial Founder of Our
Japan. House and by Our other
Imperial Ancestors, to
establish fundamental
laws. ...

Imperial Japan was founded, de jure, after the 1889 signing of Constitution of the
Empire of Japan. The constitution formalized much of the Empire's political structure
and gave many responsibilities and powers to the Emperor.

Article 4. The Emperor is the head of the Empire, combining in Himself the rights of
sovereignty, and exercises them, according to the provisions of the present
Constitution.
Article 6. The Emperor gives sanction to laws, and orders them to be promulgated
and executed.
Article 11. The Emperor has the supreme command of the Army and Navy.[31]

In 1890, the Imperial Diet was established in response to the Meiji Constitution. The
Diet consisted of the House of Representatives of Japan and the House of Peers. Both
houses opened seats for colonial people as well as Japanese. The Imperial Diet
continued until 1947.[6]

Economic development

The process of modernization was closely monitored and heavily subsidized by the
Meiji government in close connection with a powerful clique of companies known as
zaibatsu (e.g.: Mitsui and Mitsubishi). Borrowing and adapting technology from the
West, Japan gradually took control of much of Asia's market for manufactured goods,
beginning with textiles. The economic structure became very mercantilistic,
importing raw materials and exporting finished products — a reflection of Japan's
relative scarcity of raw materials.
Economic reforms included a unified modern currency based
on the yen, banking, commercial and tax laws, stock
exchanges, and a communications network. The government
was initially involved in economic modernization, providing a
number of "model factories" to facilitate the transition to the
modern period. The transition took time. By the 1890s,
however, the Meiji had successfully established a modern
institutional framework that would transform Japan into an
advanced capitalist economy. By this time, the government
had largely relinquished direct control of the modernization
process, primarily for budgetary reasons. Many of the former
daimyōs, whose pensions had been paid in a lump sum,
benefited greatly through investments they made in emerging
Baron Masuda
industries. Tarokaja, a member
of the House of Peers
Japan emerged from the
(kazoku). His father,
Tokugawa-Meiji transition as Baron Masuda
an industrialized nation. From Takashi, responsible
the onset, the Meiji rulers for transforming
embraced the concept of a Mitsui into a
market economy and adopted zaibatsu.
British and North American
Tokyo Industrial Exhibition, forms of free enterprise
1907 capitalism. Rapid growth and structural change
characterized Japan's two periods of economic
development after 1868.
Initially, the economy grew
only moderately and relied
heavily on traditional Japanese
agriculture to finance modern
industrial infrastructure. By
the time the Russo-Japanese
War began in 1904, 65% of
A 1-yen banknote, 1881
employment and 38% of the
gross domestic product (GDP)
were still based on agriculture,
but modern industry had begun to expand substantially. By the
Thomas Blake Glover
late 1920s, manufacturing and mining amounted to 34% of was a Scottish
GDP, compared with 20% for all of agriculture.[32] merchant in
Transportation and communications developed to sustain Bakumatsu and
heavy industrial development. received Japan's
second highest order
From 1894, Japan built an extensive empire that included from Emperor Meiji in
Taiwan, Korea, Manchuria, and parts of northern China. The recognition of his
Japanese regarded this sphere of influence as a political and contributions to
economic necessity, which prevented foreign states from Japan's
strangling Japan by blocking its access to raw materials and industrialization.
crucial sea-lanes. Japan's large military force was regarded as
essential to the empire's defense and prosperity by obtaining
natural resources that the Japanese islands lacked.

First Sino-Japanese War

The First Sino-Japanese War, fought in 1894 and 1895, revolved around the issue of
control and influence over Korea under the rule of the Joseon Dynasty. Korea had
traditionally been a tributary state of China's Qing Empire, which exerted large
influence over the conservative Korean officials who gathered around the royal
family of the Joseon kingdom. On February 27, 1876, after several confrontations
between Korean isolationists and Japanese, Japan imposed the Japan–Korea Treaty of
1876, forcing Korea open to Japanese trade. The act blocks any other power from
dominating Korea, resolving to end the centuries-old Chinese suzerainty.

On June 4, 1894, Korea requested aid from the Qing Empire in suppressing the
Donghak Rebellion. The Qing government sent 2,800 troops to Korea. The Japanese
countered by sending an 8,000-troop expeditionary force (the Oshima Composite
Brigade) to Korea. The first 400 troops arrived on June 9 en route to Seoul, and
3,000 landed at Incheon on June 12.[33] The Qing government turned down Japan's
suggestion for Japan and China to cooperate to reform the Korean government.
When Korea demanded that Japan withdraw its troops from Korea, the Japanese
refused. In early June 1894, the 8,000 Japanese troops captured the Korean king
Gojong, occupied the Royal Palace in Seoul and, by June 25, installed a puppet
government in Seoul. The new pro-Japanese Korean government granted Japan the
right to expel Qing forces while Japan dispatched more troops to Korea.

China objected and war ensued. Japanese ground troops

routed the Chinese forces on the Liaodong Peninsula, and
nearly destroyed the Chinese navy in the Battle of the Yalu
River. The Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed between Japan
and China, which ceded the Liaodong Peninsula and the island
of Taiwan to Japan. After the peace treaty, Russia, Germany,
and France forced Japan to withdraw from Liaodong
Peninsula. Soon afterwards Russia occupied the Liaodong
Peninsula, built the Port Arthur fortress, and based the
Russian Pacific Fleet in the port. Germany occupied Jiaozhou
Bay, built Tsingtao fortress and based the German East Asia
Squadron in this port.
Prince Katsura Tarō,
thrice Prime Minister
Boxer Rebellion and the Lord Keeper
of the Privy Seal of
In 1900, Japan joined an Japan. Katsura
commanded the IJA
international military coalition
3rd Division under his
set up in response to the Boxer
mentor, Field Marshal
Rebellion in the Qing Empire of
Yamagata Aritomo,
China. Japan provided the
during the First Sino-
largest contingent of troops:
Japanese War.
A map of the Japanese Empire 20,840, as well as 18 warships.
dating to 1895. This map was Of the total, 20,300 were
issued shortly after the 1895 Imperial Japanese Army troops
Japanese invasion of Taiwan of the 5th Infantry Division under Lt. General
and is consequently one of the Yamaguchi Motoomi; the remainder were 540 naval
first Japanese maps to include rikusentai (marines) from the Imperial Japanese
Taiwan as a possession of Navy.[34]
Imperial Japan.
At the beginning of the Boxer Rebellion the Japanese only had 215 troops in northern
China stationed at Tientsin; nearly all of them were naval rikusentai from the Kasagi
and the Atago, under the command of Captain Shimamura Hayao.[35] The Japanese
were able to contribute 52 men to the Seymour Expedition.[35] On June 12, 1900, the
advance of the Seymour Expedition was halted some 50 kilometres (30 mi) from the
capital, by mixed Boxer and Chinese regular army forces. The vastly outnumbered
allies withdrew to the vicinity of Tianjin, having suffered more than 300
casualties.[36] The army general staff in Tokyo had become aware of the worsening
conditions in China and had drafted ambitious contingency plans,[37] but in the wake
of the Triple Intervention five years before, the government refused to deploy large
numbers of troops unless requested by the western powers.[37] However three days
later, a provisional force of 1,300 troops commanded by Major General Fukushima
Yasumasa was to be deployed to northern China. Fukushima was chosen because he
spoke fluent English which enabled him to communicate with the British commander.
The force landed near Tianjin on July 5.[37]

On June 17, 1900, naval Rikusentai from the Kasagi and Atago
had joined British, Russian, and German sailors to seize the
Dagu forts near Tianjin.[37] In light of the precarious situation,
the British were compelled to ask Japan for additional
reinforcements, as the Japanese had the only readily available
forces in the region.[37] Britain at the time was heavily
engaged in the Boer War, so a large part of the British army
was tied down in South Africa. Further, deploying large
numbers of troops from its garrisons in India would take too
much time and weaken internal security there.[37] Overriding
personal doubts, Foreign Minister Aoki Shūzō calculated that
the advantages of participating in an allied coalition were too
attractive to ignore. Prime Minister Yamagata agreed, but Marquess Komura
others in the cabinet demanded that there be guarantees from Jutaro, 1911. Komura
the British in return for the risks and costs of the major became Minister for
deployment of Japanese troops.[37] On July 6, 1900, the 5th Foreign Affairs under
Infantry Division was alerted for possible deployment to the first Katsura
administration, and
China, but no timetable was set for this. Two days later, with
signed the Boxer
more ground troops urgently needed to lift the siege of the
Protocol on behalf of
foreign legations at Peking, the British ambassador offered the
Japan.
Japanese government one million British pounds in exchange
for Japanese participation.[37]

Shortly afterward, advance units of the 5th Division departed for China, bringing
Japanese strength to 3,800 personnel out of the 17,000 of allied forces.[37] The
commander of the 5th Division, Lt. General Yamaguchi Motoomi, had taken
operational control from Fukushima. Japanese troops were involved in the storming
of Tianjin on July 14,[37] after which the allies consolidated and awaited the
remainder of the 5th Division and other coalition reinforcements. By the time the
siege of legations was lifted on August 14, 1900, the Japanese force of 13,000 was
the largest single contingent and made up about 40% of the approximately 33,000
strong allied expeditionary force.[37] Japanese troops involved in the fighting had
acquitted themselves well, although a British military observer felt their
aggressiveness, densely-packed formations, and over-willingness to attack cost them
excessive and disproportionate casualties.[38] For example, during the Tianjin
fighting, the Japanese suffered more than half of the allied casualties (400 out of
730) but comprised less than one quarter (3,800) of the force of 17,000.[38] Similarly
at Beijing, the Japanese accounted for almost two-thirds of the losses (280 of 453)
even though they constituted slightly less than half of the assault force.[38]

After the uprising, Japan and the Western countries signed the Boxer Protocol with
China, which permitted them to station troops on Chinese soil to protect their
citizens. After the treaty, Russia continued to occupy all of Manchuria.

Russo-Japanese War

The Russo-Japanese War was a conflict for control of

Korea and parts of Manchuria between the Russian
Empire and Empire of Japan that took place from
1904 to 1905. The victory greatly raised Japan's
stature in the world of global politics. The war is
marked by the Japanese opposition of Russian
interests in Korea, Manchuria, and China, notably, the
Liaodong Peninsula, controlled by the city of Ryojun.
A French Illustration of a
Originally, in the Treaty of Shimonoseki, Ryojun had
Japanese assault on entrenched
been given to Japan. This part of the treaty was
Russian troops in the Russo-
overruled by Western powers, which gave the port to
Japanese War.
the Russian Empire, furthering Russian interests in
the region. These interests
came into conflict with
Japanese interests. The war
began with a surprise attack on
the Russian Eastern fleet
stationed at Port Arthur, which
was followed by the Battle of
Port Arthur. Those elements
that attempted escape were
defeated by the Japanese navy Japanese riflemen during the
under Admiral Togo Heihachiro Russo-Japanese War
at the Battle of the Yellow Sea.
Following a late start, the
Count Tadasu
Russian Baltic fleet was denied passage through the British-
Hayashi was the
controlled Suez Canal. The fleet arrived on the scene a year
resident minister to
later, only to be annihilated in the Battle of Tsushima. While
Great Britain. While
serving in London
the ground war did not fare as poorly for the Russians, the
from 1900, he Japanese forces were significantly more aggressive than their
worked to Russian counterparts and gained a political advantage that
successfully conclude culminated with the Treaty of Portsmouth, negotiated in the
the Anglo-Japanese United States by the American president Theodore Roosevelt.
Alliance and signed As a result, Russia lost the part of Sakhalin Island south of 50
on behalf of the degrees North latitude (which became Karafuto Prefecture),
government of Japan as well as many mineral rights in Manchuria. In addition,
on January 30, 1902. Russia's defeat cleared the way for Japan to annex Korea
outright in 1910.

Annexation of Korea
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, various
Western countries actively competed for influence,
trade, and territory in East Asia, and Japan sought to
join these modern colonial powers. The newly
modernised Meiji government of Japan turned to
Korea, then in the sphere of influence of China's Qing
dynasty. The Japanese government initially sought to
separate Korea from Qing and make Korea a Japanese
satellite in order to further their security and national
interests.[39] Port Arthur viewed from the Top
of Gold Hill, after capitulation in
In January 1876, following the Meiji Restoration, 1905. From left wrecks of
Japan employed gunboat diplomacy to pressure the Russian pre-dreadnought
Joseon Dynasty into signing the Japan–Korea Treaty of battleships Peresvet, Poltava,
Retvizan, Pobeda and the
1876, which granted extraterritorial rights to
protected cruisers Pallada
Japanese citizens and opened three Korean ports to
Japanese trade. The rights granted to Japan under
this unequal treaty,[40] were similar to those granted
western powers in Japan following the visit of Commodore Perry.[40] Japanese
involvement in Korea increased during the 1890s, a period of political upheaval.

Korea was occupied and declared a Japanese protectorate following the Japan–Korea
Treaty of 1905. After proclaimed the founding of the Korean Empire, Korea was
officially annexed in Japan through the annexation treaty in 1910.

In Korea, the period is usually described as the "Time of Japanese Forced

Occupation" (Hangul: ; Ilje gangjeomgi, Hanja: ). Other terms include
"Japanese Imperial Period" (Hangul: , Ilje sidae, Hanja: ) or "Japanese
administration" (Hangul: , Wae jeong, Hanja: ). In Japan, a more common
description is "The Korea of Japanese rule" ( , Nippon Tōchi-jidai no
Chōsen). The Korean Peninsula was officially part of the Empire of Japan for 35
years, from August 29, 1910, until the formal Japanese rule ended, de jure, on
September 2, 1945, upon the surrender of Japan in World War II. The 1905 and 1910
treaties were eventually declared "null and void" by both Japan and South Korea in
1965.

Taishō era (1912–1926)

World War I

Japan entered World War I on the side of the Allies in 1914, seizing the opportunity
of Germany's distraction with the European War to expand its sphere of influence in
China and the Pacific. Japan declared war on Germany on August 23, 1914. Japanese
and allied British Empire forces soon moved to occupy Tsingtao fortress, the German
East Asia Squadron base, German-leased territories in China's Shandong Province as
well as the Marianas, Caroline, and Marshall Islands in the Pacific, which were part
of German New Guinea. The swift invasion in the German territory of the Kiautschou
Bay concession and the Siege of Tsingtao proved successful. The German colonial
troops surrendered on November 7, 1914, and Japan gained the German holdings.
 With its Western allies, notably the
United Kingdom, heavily involved in the
war in Europe, Japan dispatched a
Naval fleet to the Mediterranean Sea to
aid Allied shipping. Japan sought
further to consolidate its position in
China by presenting the Twenty-One
Demands to China in January 1915. In
the face of slow negotiations with the
Chinese government, widespread anti-
Japanese sentiment in China, and
international condemnation, Japan
withdrew the final group of demands, Native Micronesian
Emperor Taishō, the
and treaties were signed in May 1915. constables of Truk
123rd emperor of
Island, circa 1930.
Japan The Anglo-Japanese Alliance was
Truk became a
renewed and expanded in scope twice,
possession of the
in 1905 and 1911, before its demise in
Empire of Japan
1921. It was officially terminated in 1923.
under a mandate
from the League of
Nations following
Siberian Intervention Germany's defeat in
World War I.
After the fall of the Tsarist regime and the later provisional
regime in 1917, the new Bolshevik government signed a
separate peace treaty with Germany. After this the Russians fought amongst
themselves in a multi-sided civil war.

In July 1918, President Wilson asked the Japanese government to supply 7,000
troops as part of an international coalition of 25,000 troops planned to support the
American Expeditionary Force Siberia. Prime Minister Terauchi Masatake agreed to
send 12,000 troops but under the Japanese command rather than as part of an
international coalition. The Japanese had several hidden motives for the venture,
which included an intense hostility and fear of communism; a determination to
recoup historical losses to Russia; and the desire to settle the "northern problem" in
Japan's security, either through the creation of a buffer state or through outright
territorial acquisition.

By November 1918, more than 70,000 Japanese

troops under Chief of Staff Yui Mitsue had occupied
all ports and major towns in the Russian Maritime
Provinces and eastern Siberia. Japan received 765
Polish orphans from Siberia.[41][42]

In June 1920, around 450 Japanese civilians and 350

Commanding Officers and
Chiefs of Staff of the Allied
Military Mission to Siberia,
Vladivostok during the Allied
Intervention
Japanese soldiers, along with Russian White Army
supporters, were massacred by partisan forces
associated with the Red Army at Nikolayevsk on the
Amur River; the United States and its allied coalition
partners consequently withdrew from Vladivostok
after the capture and execution of White Army leader
Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak by the Red Army.
However, the Japanese decided to stay, primarily due
to fears of the spread of Communism so close to
Japan and Japanese-controlled Korea and Manchuria. The Japanese army provided
military support to the Japanese-backed Provisional Priamurye Government based in
Vladivostok against the Moscow-backed Far Eastern Republic.

The continued Japanese presence concerned the United States, which suspected that
Japan had territorial designs on Siberia and the Russian Far East. Subjected to
intense diplomatic pressure by the United States and United Kingdom, and facing
increasing domestic opposition due to the economic and human cost, the
administration of Prime Minister Katō Tomosaburō withdrew the Japanese forces in
October 1922. Japanese casualties from the expedition were 5,000 dead from combat
or illness, with the expedition costing over 900 million yen.

"Taishō Democracy"

The two-party political system that had been developing in

Japan since the turn of the century came of age after World
War  I, giving rise to the nickname for the period, "Taishō
Democracy". The public grew disillusioned with the growing
national debt and the new election laws, which retained the
old minimum tax qualifications for voters. Calls were raised
for universal suffrage and the dismantling of the old political
party network. Students, university professors, and
journalists, bolstered by labor unions and inspired by a variety
of democratic, socialist, communist, anarchist, and other
thoughts, mounted large but orderly public demonstrations in
favor of universal male suffrage in 1919 and 1920.
Count Itagaki Taisuke
The election of Katō Komei as Prime
is credited as being
Minister of Japan continued democratic
the first Japanese
reforms that had been advocated by party leader and an
influential individuals on the left. This important force for
culminated in the passage of universal liberalism in Meiji
male suffrage in March 1925. This bill Japan.
gave all male subjects over the age of
25 the right to vote, provided they had
lived in their electoral districts for at least one year and were
not homeless. The electorate thereby increased from 3.3
million to 12.5 million.[43]

Count Katō Komei, In the political milieu of the day, there was a proliferation of
the 14th Prime new parties, including socialist and communist parties. Fear of
Minister of Japan a broader electorate, left-wing power, and the growing social
from June 11, 1924, change led to the passage of the Peace Preservation Law in
until his death on 1925, which forbade any change in the political structure or
January 28, 1926 the abolition of private property.

Unstable coalitions and divisiveness in the Diet led the

Kenseikai ( Constitutional Government Association) and the Seiyū Hontō (
True Seiyūkai) to merge as the Rikken Minseitō ( Constitutional Democratic
Party) in 1927. The Rikken Minseitō platform was committed to the parliamentary
system, democratic politics, and world peace. Thereafter, until 1932, the Seiyūkai
and the Rikken Minseitō alternated in power.
Despite the political realignments and hope for more orderly government, domestic
economic crises plagued whichever party held power. Fiscal austerity programs and
appeals for public support of such conservative government policies as the Peace
Preservation Law—including reminders of the moral obligation to make sacrifices for
the emperor and the state—were attempted as solutions.

Early Shōwa (1926–1930)

Expansion of democracy

In 1932, Park Chun-kum was elected to the House of

Representatives in the Japanese general election as
the first person elected from a colonial
background. [44] In 1935, democracy was introduced
in Taiwan and in response to Taiwanese public
opinion, local assemblies were established.[45] In
1942, 38 colonial people were elected to local
assemblies of the Japanese homeland.[44]
Emperor Shōwa during an Army
inspection on January 8, 1938
Overall, during the 1920s, Japan changed its direction
toward a democratic system of government. However,
parliamentary government was not rooted deeply
enough to withstand the economic and political pressures of the 1930s, during which
military leaders became increasingly influential. These shifts in power were made
possible by the ambiguity and imprecision of the Meiji Constitution, particularly as
regarded the position of the Emperor in relation to the constitution.

Military and social organizations

Important institutional links existed between the

Tokyo Kaikan was requisitioned
as the meeting place for
members of the Imperial Rule
Assistance Association (Taisei
Yokusankai) in the early days.
party in government (Kōdōha) and military and
political organizations, such as the Imperial Young
Federation and the "Political Department" of the
Kempeitai. Amongst the himitsu kessha (secret
societies), the Kokuryu-kai and Kokka Shakai Shugi
Gakumei (National Socialist League) also had close
ties to the government. The Tonarigumi (residents
committee) groups, the Nation Service Society
(national government trade union), and Imperial
Farmers Association were all allied as well. Other
organizations and groups related with the
government in wartime were the Double Leaf Society,
Kokuhonsha, Taisei Yokusankai, Imperial Youth Corps,
Keishichō (to 1945), Shintoist Rites Research Council,
Treaty Faction, Fleet Faction, and Volunteer Fighting
Corps.

Nationalist factors
Sadao Araki was an important figurehead and founder of the
Army party and the most important militarist thinker in his
time. His first ideological works date from his leadership of
the Kōdōha (Imperial Benevolent Rule or Action Group),
opposed by the Tōseiha (Control Group) led by General
Kazushige Ugaki. He linked the ancient (bushido code) and
contemporary local and European fascist ideals (see Statism in
Shōwa Japan), to form the ideological basis of the movement
(Shōwa nationalism).

From September 1931, the Japanese were becoming more

locked into the course that would lead them into the Second
World War, with Araki leading the way. Totalitarianism,
militarism, and expansionism were to become the rule, with Japanese Pan-Asian
fewer voices able to speak against it. In a September 23 news writer Shūmei Ōkawa
conference, Araki first mentioned the philosophy of "Kōdōha"
(The Imperial Way Faction). The concept of Kodo linked the
Emperor, the people, land, and morality as indivisible. This led to the creation of a
"new" Shinto and increased Emperor worship.

On February 26, 1936, a coup d'état was attempted (the

February 26 Incident). Launched by the ultranationalist
Kōdōha faction with the military, it ultimately failed due to
the intervention of the Emperor. Kōdōha members were
purged from the top military positions and the Tōseiha
faction gained dominance. However, both factions believed
in expansionism, a strong military, and a coming war.
Furthermore, Kōdōha members, while removed from the
military, still had political influence within the government.

The state was being transformed to serve the Army and the
Emperor. Symbolic katana swords came back into fashion as
the martial embodiment of these beliefs, and the Nambu
Rebel troops assembling pistol became its contemporary equivalent, with the implicit
at police headquarters message that the Army doctrine of close combat would
during the February 26 prevail. The final objective, as envisioned by Army thinkers
Incident such as Sadao Araki and right-wing line followers, was a
return to the old Shogunate system, but in the form of a
contemporary Military Shogunate. In such a government
the Emperor would once more be a figurehead (as in the Edo period). Real power
would fall to a leader very similar to a führer or duce, though with the power less
nakedly held. On the other hand, the traditionalist Navy militarists defended the
Emperor and a constitutional monarchy with a significant religious aspect.

A third point of view was supported by Prince Chichibu, a brother of Emperor

Shōwa, who repeatedly counseled him to implement a direct imperial rule, even if
that meant suspending the constitution.[46]

With the launching of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association in 1940 by Prime
Minister Fumimaro Konoe, Japan would turn to a form of government that resembled
totalitarianism. This unique style of government, very similar to fascism, was known
as Shōwa Statism.
In the early twentieth century, a distinctive style of architecture was developed for
the empire. Now referred to as Imperial Crown Style ( , teikan yōshiki), before
the end of World War II, it was originally referred to as Emperor's Crown
Amalgamate Style, and sometimes Emperor's Crown Style ( , Teikanshiki). The
style is identified by Japanese-style roofing on top of Neoclassical styled buildings;
and can have a centrally elevated structure with a pyramidal dome. The prototype
for this style was developed by architect Shimoda Kikutaro in his proposal for the
Imperial Diet Building (present National Diet Building) in 1920 – although his
proposal was ultimately rejected. Outside of the Japanese mainland, in places like
Taiwan and Korea, Imperial Crown Style architecture often included regional
architectural elements.[47]

Economic factors

At the same time, the zaibatsu trading groups (principally

Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Sumitomo, and Yasuda) looked towards
great future expansion. Their main concern was a shortage of
raw materials. Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe combined
social concerns with the needs of capital, and planned for
expansion.

The main goals of Japan's expansionism were acquisition and

protection of spheres of influence, maintenance of territorial
integrity, acquisition of raw materials, and access to Asian
markets. Western nations, notably Great Britain, France, and
the United States, had for long exhibited great interest in the A bank run during
commercial opportunities in China and other parts of Asia. the Shōwa financial
These opportunities had attracted Western investment crisis, March 1927
because of the availability of raw materials for both domestic
production and re-export to Asia. Japan desired these
opportunities in planning the development of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity
Sphere.

The Great Depression, just as in many other countries, hindered Japan's economic
growth. The Japanese Empire's main problem lay in that rapid industrial expansion
had turned the country into a major manufacturing and industrial power that
required raw materials; however, these had to be obtained from overseas, as there
was a critical lack of natural resources on the home islands.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Japan needed to import raw materials such as iron, rubber,
and oil to maintain strong economic growth. Most of these resources came from the
United States. The Japanese felt that acquiring resource-rich territories would
establish economic self-sufficiency and independence, and they also hoped to jump-
start the nation's economy in the midst of the depression. As a result, Japan set its
sights on East Asia, specifically Manchuria with its many resources; Japan needed
these resources to continue its economic development and maintain national
integrity.

Later Shōwa (1931–1941) – expansionism and war

 Prewar expansionism

Manchuria

In 1931, Japan invaded

and conquered
Northeast China
(Manchuria) with little
resistance. Japan
claimed that this
invasion was a
liberation of the local
Manchus from the
National Diet Building, 1930 Chinese, although the Japanese troops entering
majority of the Shenyang, Northeast China
population were Han during the Mukden Incident,
Chinese as a result of the large scale settlement of 1931
Chinese in Manchuria in the 19th century. Japan then
established a puppet regime called Manchukuo
(Chinese: ), and installed the last Manchu Emperor of China, Puyi, as the official
head of state. Jehol, a Chinese territory bordering Manchukuo, was later also taken
in 1933. This puppet regime had to carry on a protracted pacification campaign
against the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies in Manchuria. In 1936, Japan created a
similar Mongolian puppet state in Inner Mongolia named Mengjiang (Chinese: ),
which was also predominantly Chinese as a result of recent Han immigration to the
area. At that time, East Asians were banned from immigration to North America and
Australia, but the newly established Manchukuo was open to immigration of Asians.
Japan had an emigration plan to encourage colonization; the Japanese population in
Manchuria subsequently grew to 850,000.[48] With rich natural resources and labor
force in Manchuria, army-owned corporations turned Manchuria into a solid material
support machine of the Japanese Army.[49]

Second Sino-Japanese War

Japan invaded China proper in 1937, creating what was essentially a three-way war
between Japan, Mao Zedong's communists, and Chiang Kai-shek's nationalists. On
December 13 of that same year, the Nationalist capital of Nanjing surrendered to
Japanese troops. In the event known as the "Nanjing Massacre", Japanese troops
massacred a large number of the defending garrison. It is estimated that as many as
200,000 to 300,000 including civilians, may have been killed, although the actual
numbers are uncertain and possibly inflated coupled with the fact that the
government of the People's Republic of China has never undertaken a full accounting
of the massacre. In total, an estimated 20 million Chinese, mostly civilians, were
killed during World War II. A puppet state was also set up in China quickly
afterwards, headed by Wang Jingwei. The Second Sino-Japanese War continued into
World War II with the Communists and Nationalists in a temporary and uneasy
nominal alliance against the Japanese.

Clashes with the Soviet Union

 In 1938, the Japanese
19th Division entered
territory claimed by
the Soviet Union,
leading to the Battle of
Lake Khasan. This
incursion was founded
in the Japanese belief
that the Soviet Union
misinterpreted the The Japanese occupation of
IJN Special Naval Landing demarcation of the Peiping (Beijing) in China, on
August 13, 1937. Japanese
Forces armed with the Type 11 boundary, as
Light Machine Gun during the troops are shown passing from
stipulated in the
Battle of Shanghai, 1937 Peiping into the Tartar City
Treaty of Peking,
through Zhengyangmen, the
between Imperial
main gate leading onward to
Russia and Manchu the palaces in the Forbidden
China (and subsequent supplementary agreements on City.
demarcation), and furthermore, that the demarcation
markers were tampered with.

On May 11, 1939, in the Nomonhan Incident (Battle of Khalkhin Gol), a Mongolian
cavalry unit of some 70 to 90 men entered the disputed area in search of grazing for
their horses, and encountered Manchukuoan cavalry, who drove them out. Two days
later the Mongolian force returned and the Manchukoans were unable to evict them.

The IJA 23rd Division and other units of the Kwantung Army then became involved.
Joseph Stalin ordered Stavka, the Red Army's high command, to develop a plan for a
counterstrike against the Japanese. In late August, Georgy Zhukov employed
encircling tactics that made skillful use of superior artillery, armor, and air forces;
this offensive nearly annihilated the 23rd Division and decimated the IJA 7th
Division. On September 15 an armistice was arranged. Nearly two years later, on
April 13, 1941, the parties signed a Neutrality Pact, in which the Soviet Union
pledged to respect the territorial integrity and inviolability of Manchukuo, while
Japan agreed similarly for the Mongolian People's Republic.

Tripartite Pact

In 1938, Japan prohibited the expulsion of the Jews in

Japan, Manchuria, and China in accordance with the
spirit of racial equality on which Japan had insisted
for many years.[50][51]

The Second Sino-Japanese War had seen tensions rise

between Imperial Japan and the United States; events
such as the Panay incident and the Nanjing Massacre
turned American public opinion against Japan. With Signing ceremony for the Axis
the occupation of French Indochina in the years of Powers Tripartite Pact
1940–41, and with the continuing war in China, the
United States and its allies placed embargoes on
Japan of strategic materials such as scrap metal and oil, which were vitally needed
for the war effort. The Japanese were faced with the option of either withdrawing
from China and losing face or seizing and securing new sources of raw materials in
the resource-rich, European-controlled colonies of Southeast Asia—specifically
British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia).

On September 27, 1940, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy.
Their objectives were to "establish and maintain a new order of things" in their
respective world regions and spheres of influence, with Germany and Italy in Europe,
and Japan in Asia. The signatories of this alliance became known as the Axis Powers.
The pact also called for mutual protection—if any one of the member powers was
attacked by a country not already at war, excluding the Soviet Union—and for
technological and economic cooperation between the signatories.

For the sake of their own people and nation, Prime Minister
Konoe formed the Taisei Yokusankai (Imperial Rule Assistance
Association) on October 12, 1940, as a ruling party in Japan.

Pacific War (1941–1945) (World War

II)
Facing an oil embargo by
the United States as well
as dwindling domestic
reserves, the Japanese
government decided to
Founding ceremony execute a plan developed
of the Hakkō ichiu by Isoroku Yamamoto to
(All the world under attack the United States
one roof) monument Pacific Fleet in Hawaii.
in 1940
While the United States
was neutral and continued
negotiating with Japan for A map of the Japanese advance from
possible peace in Asia, the Imperial Japanese 1937 to 1942
Navy at the same time made its surprise attack
on Pearl Harbor in Honolulu on December 7,
1941. As a result, the U.S. battleship fleet was decimated and almost 2,500 people
died in the attack that day. The primary objective of the attack was to incapacitate
the United States long enough for Japan to establish its long-planned South East
Asian empire and defensible buffer zones. The American public saw the attack as
barbaric and treacherous and rallied against the Japanese. Four days later, Adolf
Hitler of Germany, and Benito Mussolini of Italy declared war on the United States,
merging the separate conflicts. The United States entered the European Theatre and
Pacific Theater in full force, thereby bringing the United States to World War II on
the side of the Allies.

Japanese conquests

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese launched offensives against Allied
forces in East and Southeast Asia, with simultaneous attacks in British Hong Kong,
British Malaya and the Philippines. Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese on
December 25. In Malaya the Japanese overwhelmed an Allied army composed of
British, Indian, Australian and Malay forces. The Japanese were quickly able to
advance down the Malayan Peninsula, forcing the Allied forces to retreat towards
Singapore. The Allies lacked aircover and tanks; the Japanese had complete air
superiority. The sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse on December 10,
1941, led to the east coast of Malaya being exposed to Japanese landings and the
elimination of British naval power in the area. By the end of January 1942, the last
Allied forces crossed the strait of Johore and into Singapore.

In the Philippines, the Japanese pushed the combined

American-Filipino force towards the Bataan Peninsula
and later the island of Corregidor. By January 1942,
General Douglas MacArthur and President Manuel L.
Quezon were forced to flee in the face of Japanese
advance. This marked one of the worst defeats
suffered by the Americans, leaving over 70,000
American and Filipino prisoners of war in the custody
of the Japanese. On February 15, 1942, Singapore, Victorious Japanese troops
due to the overwhelming superiority of Japanese march through the city center
forces and encirclement tactics, fell to the Japanese, of Singapore following the city's
causing the largest surrender of British-led military capture in February 1942
personnel in history. An estimated 80,000 Australian, (Photo from the Imperial War
British and Indian troops were taken as prisoners of Museum)
war, joining 50,000 taken in the Japanese invasion of
Malaya (modern day Malaysia). The Japanese then
seized the key oil production zones of Borneo, Central Java, Malang, Cebu, Sumatra,
and Dutch New Guinea of the late Dutch East Indies, defeating the Dutch forces.[52]
However, Allied sabotage had made it difficult for the Japanese to restore oil
production to its pre-war peak.[53] The Japanese then consolidated their lines of
supply through capturing key islands of the Pacific, including Guadalcanal.

Tide turns

Japanese military strategists were keenly aware of

the unfavorable discrepancy between the industrial
potential of Japan and the United States. Because of
this they reasoned that Japanese success hinged on
their ability to extend the strategic advantage gained
at Pearl Harbor with additional rapid strategic Imperial Japanese Army
victories. The Japanese Command reasoned that only paratroopers are landing during
decisive destruction of the United States' Pacific Fleet the Battle of Palembang,
and conquest of its remote outposts would ensure February 13, 1942.
that the Japanese Empire would not be overwhelmed
by America's industrial might.

In April 1942, Japan was bombed for the first time in the Doolittle Raid. During the
same month, after the Japanese victory in the Battle of Bataan, the Bataan Death
March was conducted, where 5,650 to 18,000 Filipinos died under the rule of the
imperial army.[54] In May 1942, failure to decisively defeat the Allies at the Battle of
the Coral Sea, in spite of Japanese numerical superiority, equated to a strategic
defeat for the Japanese. This setback was followed in June 1942 by the catastrophic
loss of four fleet carriers at the Battle of Midway, the first decisive defeat for the
Imperial Japanese Navy. It proved to be the turning point of the war as the Navy lost

A model representing the attack
by dive bombers from
USS Yorktown and
USS Enterprise on the Japanese
aircraft carriers Sōryū, Akagi
and Kaga in the morning of June
4, 1942, during the Battle of
Midway
its offensive strategic capability and never managed
to reconstruct the "'critical mass' of both large
numbers of carriers and well-trained air groups".[55]
Australian land forces defeated Japanese Marines in
New Guinea at the Battle of Milne Bay in September
1942, which was the first land defeat suffered by the
Japanese in the Pacific. Further victories by the Allies
at Guadalcanal in September 1942 and New Guinea
in 1943 put the Empire of Japan on the defensive for
the remainder of the war, with Guadalcanal in
particular sapping their already-limited oil
supplies.[53] During 1943 and 1944, Allied forces,
backed by the industrial might and vast raw material
resources of the United States, advanced steadily
towards Japan. The Sixth United States Army, led by
General MacArthur, landed on Leyte on October 20,
1944. The Palawan massacre was committed by the
imperial army against Filipinos in December 1944.[56]
In the subsequent months, during the Philippines
campaign (1944–45), the Allies, including the
combined United States forces together with the
native guerrilla units, recaptured the Philippines.

Surrender

Group of Type 2 Ka-Mi tanks on

By 1944, the Allies had
board of 2nd class transporter
seized or bypassed
of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and neutralized many
1944-1945 of Japan's strategic
bases through
amphibious landings
and bombardment. This, coupled with the losses
inflicted by Allied submarines on Japanese shipping
routes, began to strangle Japan's economy and
The rebuilt battlecruiser Haruna
undermine its ability to supply its army. By early
sank at her moorings in the
1945, the US Marines had wrested control of the naval base of Kure on July 24
Ogasawara Islands in several hard-fought battles during a series of bombings.
such as the Battle of Iwo Jima, marking the beginning
of the fall of the islands of Japan. After securing
airfields in Saipan and Guam in the summer of 1944, the United States Army Air
Forces conducted an intense strategic bombing campaign by having B-29
Superfortress bombers in nighttime low altitude incendiary raids, burning Japanese
cities in an effort to pulverize Japan's war industry and shatter its morale. The
Operation Meetinghouse raid on Tokyo on the night of March 9–10, 1945, led to the
deaths of approximately 120,000 civilians. Approximately 350,000–500,000 civilians
died in 67 Japanese cities as a result of the incendiary bombing campaign on Japan.
Concurrent with these attacks, Japan's vital coastal shipping operations were
severely hampered with extensive aerial mining by the US's Operation Starvation.
Regardless, these efforts did not succeed in persuading the Japanese military to
surrender. In mid-August 1945, the United States dropped nuclear weapons on the
Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These bombings were the first and only
combat use of nuclear weaponry. These two bombs killed approximately 120,000
people in a matter of minutes, and as many as a result of nuclear radiation in the
following weeks, months and years. The bombs killed as many as 140,000 people in
Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki by the end of 1945.

At the Yalta agreement, the US, the UK, and the USSR had agreed that the USSR
would enter the war on Japan within three months of the defeat of Germany in
Europe. This Soviet–Japanese War led to the fall of Japan's Manchurian occupation,
Soviet occupation of South Sakhalin island, and a real, imminent threat of Soviet
invasion of the home islands of Japan. This was a significant factor for some internal
parties in the Japanese decision to surrender to the US[57] and gain some protection,
rather than face simultaneous Soviet invasion as well as defeat by the US and its
allies. Likewise, the superior numbers of the armies of the Soviet Union in Europe
was a factor in the US decision to demonstrate the use of atomic weapons to the
USSR, just as the Allied victory in Europe was evolving into the division of Germany
and Berlin, the division of Europe with the Iron Curtain and the subsequent Cold
War.

Having ignored (mokusatsu) the Potsdam Declaration,

the Empire of Japan surrendered and ended World
War II after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, the declaration of war by the Soviet Union
and subsequent invasion of Manchuria and other
territories. In a national radio address on August 15,
Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender to the
Japanese people by Gyokuon-hōsō.

The Japanese archipelago and

the Korean Peninsula in 1945
End of the Empire of Japan
(National Geographic)

Occupation of Japan

A period known as occupied Japan followed after the

war, largely spearheaded by US Army General
Douglas MacArthur to revise the Japanese
constitution and de-militarize the nation. The Allied
occupation, including concurrent economic and
political assistance, continued until 1952. Allied
forces ordered Japan to abolish the Meiji Constitution
and enforce the 1947 Constitution of Japan. This new
constitution was imposed by the United States under A drawing depicting a speech in
the supervision of MacArthur. MacArthur included the Imperial Japanese Diet on
Article 9 which changed Japan into a pacifist November 1, 1945, the end of
country.[58] the Second World War. In the
foreground there are several
Upon adoption of the 1947 constitution, the Empire of Allied soldiers watching the
Japan became simply the state of Japan, and all proceedings from the back of
overseas territories were lost. Japan was reduced to the balcony.
the territories that were traditionally within the
Japanese cultural sphere pre-1895: the four main
islands (Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku), the Ryukyu Islands, and the
Nanpō Islands. The Kuril Islands also historically belonged to Japan[59] and were first
inhabited by the Ainu people before coming under the control of the Matsumae clan
during the Edo Period.[60] However, the Kuril Islands were not included due to a
dispute with the Soviet Union.[6]

Japan adopted a parliamentary-based political system, and the role of the Emperor
became symbolic. The US occupation forces were fully responsible for protecting
Japan from external threats. Japan only had a minor police force for domestic
security. Japan was under the sole control of the United States. This was the only
time in Japanese history that it was occupied by a foreign power.[61]

General MacArthur later commended the new Japanese government that he helped
establish and the new Japanese period when he was about to send the American
forces to the Korean War:

The Japanese people, since the war, have undergone the greatest
reformation recorded in modern history. With a commendable will,
eagerness to learn, and marked capacity to understand, they have, from
the ashes left in war's wake, erected in Japan an edifice dedicated to the
supremacy of individual liberty and personal dignity; and in the ensuing
process there has been created a truly representative government
committed to the advance of political morality, freedom of economic
enterprise, and social justice. Politically, economically, and socially Japan is
now abreast of many free nations of the earth and will not again fail the
universal trust. ... I sent all four of our occupation divisions to the Korean
battlefront without the slightest qualms as to the effect of the resulting
power vacuum upon Japan. The results fully justified my faith. I know of no
nation more serene, orderly, and industrious, nor in which higher hopes
can be entertained for future constructive service in the advance of the
human race.

For historian John W. Dower:

In retrospect, apart from the military officer corps, the purge of alleged
militarists and ultranationalists that was conducted under the Occupation
had relatively small impact on the long-term composition of men of
influence in the public and private sectors. The purge initially brought new
blood into the political parties, but this was offset by the return of huge
numbers of formerly purged conservative politicians to national as well as
local politics in the early 1950s. In the bureaucracy, the purge was
negligible from the outset. ... In the economic sector, the purge similarly
was only mildly disruptive, affecting less than sixteen hundred individuals
spread among some four hundred companies. Everywhere one looks, the
corridors of power in postwar Japan are crowded with men whose talents
had already been recognized during the war years, and who found the
same talents highly prized in the 'new' Japan.[62]

Influential personnel
Political

In the administration of Japan dominated by the military

political movement during World War II, the civil central
government was under the management of military men and
their right-wing civilian allies, along with members of the
nobility and Imperial Family. The Emperor was in the center of
this power structure as supreme Commander-in-Chief of the
Imperial Armed Forces and head of state.

Early period:

Prince Yamagata Aritomo

Prince Itō Hirobumi
Prince Itō Hirobumi
Prince Katsura Tarō

World War II:

Prince Fumimaro Konoe

Kōki Hirota
Hideki Tojo

Diplomats

Early period

Marquess Komura Jutarō: Boxer Protocol & the Treaty of His Imperial Highness
Portsmouth Prince Kitashirakawa
Count Mutsu Munemitsu: Treaty of Shimonoseki Naruhisa, the 3rd
Count Hayashi Tadasu: Anglo-Japanese Alliance head of a collateral
branch of the
Count Kaneko Kentarō: envoy to the United States Japanese Imperial
Viscount Aoki Shūzō: Foreign Minister of Japan, Anglo- Family.
Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation
Viscount Torii Tadafumi: Vice Consul to the Kingdom of
Hawaii
Viscount Ishii Kikujiro: Lansing–Ishii Agreement

World War II

Baron Hiroshi Ōshima: Japanese ambassador to Nazi Germany

Military

The Empire of Japan's military was divided into two main branches: the Imperial
Japanese Army and the Imperial Japanese Navy. To coordinate operations, the
Imperial General Headquarters, headed by the Emperor, was established in 1893.
Prominent generals and leaders:
Imperial Japanese Army

Early period

Marshal Prince Yamagata Aritomo: Chief of staff of the Army,

Prime Minister of Japan, Founder of the IJA
Marshal Prince Ōyama Iwao: Chief of staff of the Army
Marshal Prince Komatsu Akihito: Chief of staff of the Army
Marshal Marquis Nozu Michitsura:
General Count Nogi Maresuke: Governor of Taiwan
General Count Akiyama Yoshifuru: Chief of staff of the Army
General Count Kuroki Tamemoto His Imperial Highness
General Count Nagaoka Gaishi Marquess Michitsune
Lieutenant General Baron Ōshima Ken'ichi: Chief of staff of Koga, a member of
the Army, Minister of War during World War I the Imperial Family,
descending from
General Viscount Kodama Gentarō: Chief of staff of the Emperor Murakami.
Army, Governor of Taiwan He is the former
Governor of Tokyo
Prefecture.
World War II
Marshal Prince Kotohito Kan'in: Chief of staff of the Army
Marshal Hajime Sugiyama: Chief of staff of the Army
General Senjūrō Hayashi: Chief of staff of the Army, Prime
Minister of Japan
General Hideki Tōjō: Prime Minister of Japan
General Yoshijirō Umezu: Chief of staff of the Army

Imperial Japanese Navy

Early period His Imperial Highness

Count Nagayoshi
Admiral Prince Higashifushimi Yorihito (1867–1922) Ogasawara, a
Admiral Marquess Tōgō Heihachirō (1847–1934), Battle of member of the
Tsushima Imperial Family

Admiral Count Itō Sukeyuki (1843–1914)

Admiral Count Kawamura Sumiyoshi (1836–1904)
Admiral Viscount Inoue Yoshika (1845–1929)
Admiral Baron Ijuin Gorō (1852–1921)
Admiral Baron Katō Tomosaburō (1861–1923)
Admiral Baron Akamatsu Noriyoshi (1841–1920)
Vice Admiral Akiyama Saneyuki (1868–1918), Battle of Tsushima

World War II

Admiral Mineichi Koga (1885–1944)

 Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (1884–1943), attack on
Pearl Harbor, Battle of Midway
Admiral Osami Nagano (1880–1947)
Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo (1887–1944), attack
on Pearl Harbor, Battle of Midway[63]
Rear Admiral Viscount Morio Matsudaira (1878–
1944)

Notable scholars/scientists

From left to right: Marshal

19th century
Admiral of the Navy Heihachirō
Tōgō (1848–1934), Marshal
General of the Army Oku
Anthropologists, ethnologists, archaeologists,
Yasukata (1847–1930), Marshal
and historians Admiral of the Navy Yoshika
Ōtsuki Fumihiko (1847–1928) Inoue (1845–1929), Marshal
Yusuke Hashiba (1851–1921) General of the Army Kageaki
Kawamura (1850–1926), at the
Koganei Yoshikiyo (1859–1944) unveiling ceremony of bronze
Naitō Torajirō (1866–1934) statue of Marshal General of the
Inō Kanori (1867–1925) Army Iwao Ōyama
Torii Ryūzō (1870–1953)
Fujioka Katsuji (1872-1935)
Masaharu Anesaki (1873–1949)
Kunio Yanagita (1875–1962)
Ushinosuke Mori (1877–1926)
Ryūsaku Tsunoda (1877–1964)
Kōsaku Hamada (1881–1938)
Kyōsuke Kindaichi (1882–1971)
Tetsuji Morohashi (1883–1982)
Tsuruko Haraguchi (1886–1915)
Shinobu Orikuchi (1887–1953)
Ōtsuki Fumihiko,
Zenchū Nakahara (1890–1964)
editor of two well-
known Japanese-
Medical scientists, biologists, evolutionary theorists, language
dictionaries, Genkai
and geneticists
( , "sea of words",
Keisuke Ito (1803–1901) Takaki Kanehiro (1849– 1891) and its
Kusumoto Ine (1827–1903) 1920) successor Daigenkai
Kitasato Shibasaburō ( , "great sea of
Nagayo Sensai (1838–
(1853–1931) words", 1932–1937)
1902)
Tanaka Yoshio (1838–1916) Hirase Sakugorō (1856–
Nagai Nagayoshi (1844– 1925)
1929) Jinzō Matsumura (1856–
Miyake Hiizu (1848-1938) 1928)
 Juntaro takahashi (1856–
1920)
Aoyama Tanemichi (1859–
1917)
Yoichirō Hirase (1859–
1925)
Ishikawa Chiyomatsu
(1861–1935)
Tomitaro Makino (1862–
1957)
Yamagiwa Katsusaburō
(1863–1930)
Yu Fujikawa (1865–1940)
Fujiro Katsurada (1867–
1946)
Kamakichi Kishinouye
(1867–1929)
Yasuyoshi Shirasawa
(1868–1947)
Takuji Iwasaki (1869–1937)
Kiyoshi Shiga (1871–1957)
Heijiro Nakayama (1871–
1956)
Sunao Tawara (1873–
1952)
Bunzō Hayata (1874–1934)
Ryukichi Inada (1874–
1950)
Kensuke Mitsuda (1876–
1964)
Hideyo Noguchi (1876–
1928)
Fukushi Masaichi (1878–
1956)
Takaoki Sasaki (1878–
1966)
Gennosuke Fuse (1880–
1946)
Inventors, industrialists, engineers
Tanaka Hisashige (1799–
1881)
Ōshima Takatō (1826–
1901)
Yamao Yōzō (1837–1917)
Kono Yasui (1880–1971)
Hakaru Hashimoto (1881–
1934)
Ichiro Miyake (1881–1964)
Kunihiko Hashida (1882–
1945)
Takenoshin Nakai (1882–
1952)
Kyusaku Ogino (1882–
1975)
Gen-ichi Koidzumi (1883–
1953)
Baron Keisuke Ito
Makoto Nishimura (1883– (1803–1901), a
1956) biologist and a
Shintarō Hirase (1884– professor at the
1939) University of Tokyo.
Tamezo Mori (1884–1962)
Kanesuke Hara (1885–
1962)
Chōzaburō Tanaka (1885–
1976)
Michiyo Tsujimura (1888–
1969)
Yaichirō Okada (1892–
1976)
Ikuro Takahashi (1892–
1981)
Hitoshi Kihara (1893–
1986)
Satyu Yamaguti (1894– Baron Aoyama
1976) Tanemichi, a medical
scientist and court
Kinichiro Sakaguchi (1897–
physician in the Meiji
1994)
period
Minoru Shirota (1899–
1982)
Genkei Masamune (1899–
1993)
Murata Tsuneyoshi (1838-
1921)
Masuda Takashi (1848–
1938)
Sasō Sachū (1852–1905)
 Arisaka Nariakira (1852- Masatoshi Ōkōchi (1878–
1915) 1952)
Furuichi Kōi (1854–1934) Yoshisuke Aikawa (1880–
Hirai Seijirō (1856–1926) 1967)
Dan Takuma (1858–1932) Miekichi Suzuki (1882–
1936)
Mikimoto Kōkichi (1858–
1954) Chikuhei Nakajima (1884–
1949)
Shimose Masachika (1860-
1911) Hidetsugu Yagi (1886–
1976)
Kotaro Shimomura (1861– Kiyoo Wadati, a
1937) Michio Suzuki (1887–1982)
seismologist and
Chūhachi Ninomiya (1866– Yasujiro Niwa (1893– laureate of the
1936) 1975) Imperial Prize of the
Sakichi Toyoda (1867– Tokuji Hayakawa (1893– Japan Academy
1980) (1932)
1930)
Kijirō Nambu (1869-1949) Kōnosuke Matsushita
Namihei Odaira (1874– (1894–1989)
1951) Kinjiro Okabe (1896–
Jujiro Matsuda (1875–1952) 1984)
Masuda Tarokaja (1875– Toshiwo Doko (1896–1988)
1953) Kenjiro Takayanagi (1899–
Ryōichi Yazu (1878–1908) 1990)

Philosophers, educators, mathematicians, and

polymaths
Teiji Takagi, a
Inoue Enryō (1799–1881) Kintarô Okamura (1867–
mathematician. He
Nishimura Shigeki (1828– 1935)
was one of the
1902) Totsudō Katō (1870-1949) pioneers of class field
Nishi Amane (1829–1897) Tsuruichi Hayashi (1873– theory.
Kikuchi Dairoku (1855– 1935)
1917) Yoshio Mikami (1875–1950)
Hōjō Tokiyuki (1858–1929) Teiji Takagi (1875–1960)
Rikitaro Fujisawa (1861– Matsusaburo Fujiwara
1933) (1881–1946)
Mitsutaro Shirai (1863– Yoshishige Abe (1883–
1932) 1966)
Nitobe Inazō (1862–1933) Sōichi Kakeya (1886–
Paul Tsuchihashi (1866– 1947)
1965)

Chemists, physicists, and geologists

Umetaro Suzuki Jōkichi Takamine
Masataka Ogawa Tanakadate Aikitsu
Akira Ogata Yamakawa Kenjirō
Hantaro Nagaoka Akitsune Imamura
 Fusakichi Omori Okuro Oikawa
Sekiya Seikei Harutaro Murakami
Masuzo Shikata Shinzo Shinjo
Yoshio Nishina Tokushichi Mishima
Jun Ishiwara Torahiko Terada
Kikunae Ikeda Satoyasu Iimori
Keiichi Aichi Ozawa Yoshiaki
Kotaro Honda Hakaru Masumoto
Hisashi Kimura Yasuhiko Asahina
Kiyotsugu Hirayama Suekichi Kinoshita
Shin Hirayama

20th century
Yoji Ito Takahiko Yamanouchi
Satosi Watanabe Shigeyoshi Matsumae
Seiji Naruse Shigeo Shingo
Takeo Doi Nobuchika Sugimura
Tatsuo Hasegawa Jisaburo Ohwi
Kiro Honjo Yo Takenaka
Jiro Horikoshi Sanshi Imai
Hideo Itokawa Kikutaro Baba
Soichiro Honda Katsuzo Kuronuma
Yanosuke Hirai Yasunori Miyoshi
Katsuji Miyazaki Katsuma Dan
Shinroku Momose Hiroshi Nakamura
Ryoichi Nakagawa Ukichiro Nakaya
Jiro Tanaka Yusuke Hagihara
Noriaki Fukuyama Isao Imai
Eizaburo Nishibori Shintaro Uda
Shin'ichirō Tomonaga Kinjiro Okabe
Kiyoo Wadati Ozawa Yoshiaki
Shokichi Iyanaga Issaku Koga
Hideki Yukawa Yuzuru Hiraga
Takeo Hatanaka Jiro Horikoshi
Kazuo Kubokawa Yoshiro Okabe
Tomizo Yoshida Motonori Matuyama
Kiyosi Itô Masauji Hachisuka
Shoichi Sakata Tokubei Kuroda
Yutaka Taniyama Hikosaka Tadayoshi
Kôdi Husimi Bunsaku Arakatsu
Seishi Kikuchi Shinji Maejima
Taketani Mitsuo Takahito, Prince Mikasa
 Toshihiko Izutsu Katsutada Sezawa
Kawachi Yoshihiro Katsura Kotaro

Timeline
1926: Emperor Taishō dies (December 25).
1927: Tanaka Giichi becomes prime minister (April 20).
1928: Emperor Shōwa is formally installed as emperor (November 10).
1929: Osachi Hamaguchi becomes prime minister (July 2).
1930: Hamaguchi is wounded in an assassination attempt (November 14).
1931: Hamaguchi dies and Wakatsuki Reijirō becomes prime minister (April 14).
Japan occupies Manchuria after the Mukden Incident (September 18). Inukai
Tsuyoshi becomes prime minister (December 13) and increases funding for the
military in China.
1932: After an attack on Japanese monks in Shanghai (January 18), Japanese forces
shell the city (January 29). Manchukuo is established with Henry Pu Yi as emperor
(February 29). Inukai is assassinated during a coup attempt and Saitō Makoto
becomes prime minister (May 15). Japan is censured by the League of Nations
(December 7).
1933: Japan leaves the League of Nations (March 27).
1934: Keisuke Okada becomes prime minister (July 8). Japan withdraws from the
Washington Naval Treaty (December 29).
1936: Coup attempt (February 26 Incident). Kōki Hirota becomes prime minister
(March 9). Japan signs its first pact with Germany (November 25) and reoccupies
Tsingtao (December 3). Mengjiang established in Inner Mongolia.
1937: Senjūrō Hayashi becomes prime minister (February 2). Prince Fumimaro
Konoe becomes prime minister (June 4). Battle of Lugou Bridge (July 7). Japan
captures Beijing (July 31). Japanese troops occupy Nanjing (December 13),
beginning the Nanjing Massacre.
1938: Battle of Taierzhuang (March 24). Canton falls to Japanese forces (October
21).
1939: Hiranuma Kiichirō becomes prime minister (January 5). Abe Nobuyuki
becomes prime minister (August 30).
1940: Mitsumasa Yonai becomes prime minister (January 16). Konoe becomes
prime minister for a second term (July 22). Hundred Regiments Offensive (August–
September). Japan occupies French Indochina in the wake of the fall of Paris, and
signs the Tripartite Pact (September 27).
1941: General Hideki Tojo becomes prime minister (October 18). Japanese naval
forces attack Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (December 7), prompting the United States to
declare war on Japan (December 8). Japan conquers Hong Kong (December 25).
1942: Battle of Ambon (January 30 – February 3). Battle of Palembang (February
13–15). Singapore surrenders to Japan (February 15). Japan bombs Australia
(February 19). Indian Ocean raid (March 31 – April 10). Doolittle Raid on Tokyo
(April 18). Battle of the Coral Sea (May 4–8). U.S. and Filipino forces in the Battle of
the Philippines (1942) surrender (May 8). Allied victory at the Battle of Midway
(June 6). Allied victory in the Battle of Milne Bay (September 5). Battle of the Santa
Cruz Islands (October 25–27).
 1943: Allied victory in the Battle of Guadalcanal (February 9). Allied victory at the
Battle of Tarawa (November 23).
1944: Tojo resigns and Kuniaki Koiso becomes prime minister (July 22). Battle of
Leyte Gulf (October 23–26).
1945: Allied bombers begin firebombing of major Japanese cities. Allied victory at
the Battle of Iwo Jima (March 26). Admiral Kantarō Suzuki becomes prime minister
(April 7). Allied victory at the Battle of Okinawa (June 21). The US drops atomic
bombs on Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9), the Soviet Union and
Mongolia invade Japanese colonies of Manchukuo, Mengjiang (Inner Mongolia),
northern Korea, South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands (August 9 – September 2).
Japan surrenders (September 2): Allied occupation begins.
1947: The Constitution of Japan comes into force.[6]

Emperors
Posthumous name1 Given name2 Childhood name3 Period of reign Era name4
Meiji Tennō Mutsuhito Sachi-no-miya 1868–1912
Meiji
( ) ( ) ( ) (1890–1912)5
Taishō Tennō Yoshihito Haru-no-miya
1912–26 Taishō
( ) ( ) ( )
Shōwa Tennō Hirohito Michi-no-miya
1926–896 Shōwa
( ) ( ) ( )
1 Each posthumous name was given after the respective era names as Ming and Qing Dynasties of China.
2 The Japanese imperial family name has no surname or dynastic name.
3 The Meiji Emperor was known only by the appellation Sachi-no-miya from his birth until November 11, 1860, when he
was proclaimed heir apparent to Emperor Kōmei and received the personal name Mutsuhito.
4 No multiple era names were given for each reign after Emperor Meiji.
5 Constitutionally
6 Constitutionally. The reign of the Shōwa Emperor in fact continued until 1989 since he did not abdicate after World War
II. However, he lost his status as a living god and autocratic power after the 1947 constitution was adopted.

See also
Agriculture in the Empire of Japan
Demography of the Empire of Japan
Education in the Empire of Japan
Foreign commerce and shipping of the Empire of Japan
Germany–Japan industrial co-operation before World War II
Industrial production in Shōwa Japan
Japanese mining and energy resources (World War II)
Japanese nationalism
Japanese nuclear weapon program
List of territories occupied by Imperial Japan
Police services of the Empire of Japan
Political parties of the Empire of Japan
Notes
1. Although the Empire of Japan officially had no state religion,[2][3] Shinto played an
important part for the Japanese state: As Marius Jansen, states: "The Meiji
government had from the first incorporated, and in a sense created, Shinto, and
utilized its tales of the divine origin of the ruling house as the core of its ritual
addressed to ancestors "of ages past." As the Japanese empire grew the
affirmation of a divine mission for the Japanese race was emphasized more
strongly. Shinto was imposed on colonial lands in Taiwan and Korea, and public
funds were utilized to build and maintain new shrines there. Shinto priests were
attached to army units as chaplains, and the cult of war dead, enshrined at the
Yasukuni Jinja in Tokyo, took on ever greater proportions as their number grew."[4]
2. "During the second half of the nineteenth century, Japan's nation-builders forged
the Meiji nation-state out of an older, heterogeneous Tokugawa realm, integrating
semi-autonomous domain states into a unified political community."[11] "Rather
than restore an ancient (and probably imaginary) center-periphery order, the Meiji
Restoration hastened the creation of a new and unambiguously centralized and
modern nation-state. Within a few decades of the official beginning of the nation-
building project, Tokyo had become the political and economic capital of a state
that replaced semi-autonomous domains with newly created prefectures
subordinate to central laws and centrally appointed administrators."[12]

References

Citations
1. Schellinger and Salkin, ed. (1996). "Kyoto" (https://books.google.com/books?id=vW
LRxJEU49EC&pg=PA515). International Dictionary of Historic Places: Asia and
Oceania. UK: Routledge. p. 515+. ISBN 9781884964046.
2. Josephson, Jason Ānanda (2012). The Invention of Religion in Japan. University of
Chicago Press. p. 133. ISBN 0226412342.
3. Thomas, Jolyon Baraka (2014). Japan's Preoccupation with Religious Freedom (htt
p://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01xp68kg357) (Ph.D.). Princeton University.
p. 76.
4. Jansen 2002, p. 669.
5. Hunter 1984, pp. 31–32.
6. "Chronological table 5 1 December 1946 – 23 June 1947" (http://www.ndl.go.jp/con
stitution/e/etc/history05.html). National Diet Library. Retrieved September 30,
2010.
7. One can date the "restoration" of imperial rule from the edict of January 3, 1868.
Jansen, p.334.
8. Harrison, Mark (2000). The Economics of World War II: Six Great Powers in
International Comparison (https://books.google.com/books?id=ZgFu2p5uogwC).
Cambridge University Press. p. 3. ISBN 9780521785037. Retrieved October 2,
2016.
9. Taeuber, Irene B.; Beal, Edwin G. (January 1945). "The Demographic Heritage of
the Japanese Empire". Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social
Science. Sage Publications. 237: 65. doi:10.1177/000271624523700108 (https://do
i.org/10.1177%2F000271624523700108). JSTOR 1025496 (https://www.jstor.org/st
able/1025496).
10. Shillony, Ben-Ami (2013). Ben-Ami Shillony - Collected Writings (https://books.goog
le.com/books?id=jQoNuRfzqNMC&pg=PA83). Routledge. p. 83. ISBN 978-
1134252305.
11. Tsutsui 2009, p. 234.
12. Tsutsui 2009, p. 433.
13. Townsend, Susan (July 17, 2018). "Japan's Quest for Empire 1931–1945" (https://w
ww.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/japan_quest_empire_01.shtml). BBC.
14. Hagiwara, p. 34.
15. Jansen 2002, pp. 314–315.
16. Hagiwara, p. 35.
17. Satow, p. 282.
18. Keene 2002, p. 116.
19. Jansen 2002, pp. 310–311.
20. Keene, pp. 120–121, and Satow, p. 283. Moreover, Satow (p. 285) speculates that
Yoshinobu had agreed to an assembly of daimyōs in the hope that such a body
would reinstate him.
21. Satow, p. 286.
22. During a recess, Saigō, who had his troops outside, "remarked that it would take
only one short sword to settle the discussion" (Keene, p. 122). Original quotation
(Japanese): " ." in Hagiwara, p. 42. The word used for "dagger" was
tantō.
23. Keene 2002, p. 124.
24. Jansen 2002, p. 312.
25. Keene, p. 340, notes that one might "describe the Oath in Five Articles as a
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External links
Media related to Empire of Japan at Wikimedia Commons

Succeeded by
Preceded by History of Japan Post-war Japan
Edo period Empire of Japan 1945–present
1603−1868 1868−1947 Occupation of Japan
1945–1952

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