1. Meaning of Japan's Name
Nihon or Nippon is the Japanese word for Japan and it means "the origin of the sun". The popular Western epithet of Japan is however "Land of the Rising Sun". The earliest recorded use of the name was in a letter sent in the year 607 to the Chinese Sui Dynasty. Terms like "Yamato" or "Wakoku" were used prior to the adoption of Nihon. The English word Japan comes from the Old Mandarin or possible the Wu Chinese pronunciation, which Marco Polo recorded to be Cipangu. Besides the name of Japan also their mythology links the country to the sun. According to the legend Jimmu, the son of the sun goddess Amaterasu, founded the Japanese Empire in 660BC.
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| Rising sun on the background of a Japanese torii |
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| Amaterasu sun goddess |
2. Isolation of Japan
First foreigners arrive 1500s
The first Europeans arrived in Japan in the 1500s bringing with them Christianity, firearms and goods from Europe.
Tokugawa Shogunate isolates Japan 1600-1854
In 1600 Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated his opponents and unified the country again. He founded the Tokugawa Shogunate with Edo (Tokyo) as the capital. The Imperial Palace remained in Kyoto.
During the Tokugawa Shogunate Japan isolated itself from the outside world, Christianity was banned, foreigners were expelled from the country and it was forbidden to trade with them. Also traveling abroad was forbidden.
USA forces Japan to end isolation 1854
This isolation of Japan lasted two and half centuries until 1854, when the American Commodore Matthew C. Perry with the Black Ships of the US Navy forced the opening of Japan to the outside world with the convention of Kanagawa. After the arrival of the Americans and Europeans the Shogun's power declined.
Meiji Restoration 1868
In 1867 the last Tokugawa was forced to resign as the young Emperor Mutsuhito Meiji was declared the new leader of the country. This was called the Meiji Restoration when the imperial rule was restored. The Meiji Restoration transformed Japan into an industrialized world power that pursued military conflict to expand its sphere of influence.
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| Arrival of Commodore Perry and the black ships of the US Navy |
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| Commodore Matthew C. Perry in the right |
3. Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905
Shocking Japanese victory
Japan shocked the whole world by winning Russia in the war of 1904-1905. Japan's victory was the first military victory in the modern era of an Asian power over a European one. The result transformed the balance of power in East Asia, resulting in a reassessment of Japan's recent entry onto the world stage.
Background of the war
Both Russia and Japan wanted to expand the sphere of their influence in the region. Russia had demonstrated an expansionist policy in the Siberian Far East already since the reing of Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century. Japan feared that Russia was a threat to its plans to create a sphere of influence in Korea and Manchuria. Japan offered a deal to Russia, they were ready to recognize Russia's dominance in Manchuria in exchange for recognition of Korea being within the Japanese sphere of influence.
Beginning of war 1904
Russia refused the offer and demanded Korea north of the 39th parallel to be a neutral buffer zone between Russia and Japan. The Japanese government then decided to go to war with Russia, because they perceived Russia to be a threat to Japan's plans for expansion into Asia. In 1904 the Japanese Navy opened hostilities carried out a surprise attack against the Russian Eastern Fleet at Port Arthur, China. Russia had leased this naval base from China, because it was operational all year in the Pacific Ocean, unlike Russia's Vladivostok.
End of war 1905
Russia suffered several defeats, but Tsar Nicholas II was convinced that Russia would win the war in the end. In the end Russia had to conclude the war in a humiliating defeat with the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt.
Shocking Japanese victory
Japan shocked the whole world by winning Russia in the war of 1904-1905. Japan's victory was the first military victory in the modern era of an Asian power over a European one. The result transformed the balance of power in East Asia, resulting in a reassessment of Japan's recent entry onto the world stage.
Background of the war
Both Russia and Japan wanted to expand the sphere of their influence in the region. Russia had demonstrated an expansionist policy in the Siberian Far East already since the reing of Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century. Japan feared that Russia was a threat to its plans to create a sphere of influence in Korea and Manchuria. Japan offered a deal to Russia, they were ready to recognize Russia's dominance in Manchuria in exchange for recognition of Korea being within the Japanese sphere of influence.
Beginning of war 1904
Russia refused the offer and demanded Korea north of the 39th parallel to be a neutral buffer zone between Russia and Japan. The Japanese government then decided to go to war with Russia, because they perceived Russia to be a threat to Japan's plans for expansion into Asia. In 1904 the Japanese Navy opened hostilities carried out a surprise attack against the Russian Eastern Fleet at Port Arthur, China. Russia had leased this naval base from China, because it was operational all year in the Pacific Ocean, unlike Russia's Vladivostok.
End of war 1905
Russia suffered several defeats, but Tsar Nicholas II was convinced that Russia would win the war in the end. In the end Russia had to conclude the war in a humiliating defeat with the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt.
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| Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905 |
4. Japanese Colonial Empire 1895-1945
The Japanese colonial Empire lasted from 1895 until the end of World War II in 1945. Japan lost all its overseas colonies and areas that it occupied after the end of World War II, when Japan had to surrender unconditionally after the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Japanese acquisition of colonies:
- 1870-1880s Japan established control over Nanpo, Ryukyu and Kurile Islands
- 1895-1945 Taiwan was a Japanese dependency after Qing China lost the war to Japan in 1895
- 1910-1945 Korea was officially annexed by Japan in 1910
- 1917-1925 Japan controlled Outer Manchuria
- 1919-1920 Treaty of Versailles formally recognized the Japanese occupation of former German in Micronesia north of the equator
- 1931-1945 Japanese puppet government ruled Manchuria
- 1941-1945 Japan occupied Hong Kong during World War II
- 1940-1945 Vietnam occupation
- 1940-1945 Cambodia occupation
- 1940-1945 Laos occupation
- 1941-1945 Thailand occupation
- 1941-1945 New Guinea occupation
- 1941-1945 Kiribati occupation
- 1942-1945 Guam occupation
- 1942-1945 Nauru occupation
- 1942-1945 Malaysia occupation
- 1942-1945 Philippines occupation
- 1942-1945 Indonesia occupatin
- 1942-1945 Singapore occupation
- 1942-1945 Myanmar occupation
- 1942-1945 East Timor occupation
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| Japanese Colonial Empire |
5. Flag of Japan
The flag of Japan, commonly called as the Hinomaru (circle of the sun) embodies Japan's nickname as the Land of the Rising Sun. The flag was adopted in 1870. The use of a flag representing a sun had already been recorded in the court of Emperor Monmu's court in the year 701. The sun symbol was also in the military flags of many Samurais in the Sengoku period. When Commodore Perry with the US Navy fleet arrived to Japan and forced the country to end its isolation, they also demanded that the Japanese ships should have their own flag. The Japanese chose the ancient sun-disc symbol of the Yamato Dynasty, which was also the same as Emperor Monmu's symbol. During the Allied occupation of Japan in 1945-1952 the use of the flag was restricted.
The flag of Japan, commonly called as the Hinomaru (circle of the sun) embodies Japan's nickname as the Land of the Rising Sun. The flag was adopted in 1870. The use of a flag representing a sun had already been recorded in the court of Emperor Monmu's court in the year 701. The sun symbol was also in the military flags of many Samurais in the Sengoku period. When Commodore Perry with the US Navy fleet arrived to Japan and forced the country to end its isolation, they also demanded that the Japanese ships should have their own flag. The Japanese chose the ancient sun-disc symbol of the Yamato Dynasty, which was also the same as Emperor Monmu's symbol. During the Allied occupation of Japan in 1945-1952 the use of the flag was restricted.
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| War Flag of the Imperial Japanese Army1870-1945 |
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| Yamato Dynasty symbol |
Timeline
30,000BC First known habitation of the Japanese archipelago
14,000BC Ainu and Yamato people inhabited the area
300BC The Yayoi people began to enter the Japanese islands
200s Yamataikoku was the most powerful kingdom in Japan
592-710 Asuka period, Buddhism got widespread acceptance
710-784 Nara period, emergence of the centralized Japanese state centered on the Imperial Court
735-737 Smallpox epidemy is believed to kill as much as a third of Japan's population
784 Emperor Kanmu moved the capital from Nara to Nagaoka-kyo
794 The capital was moved from Nagaoka-kyo to Heian-kyo
794-1185 Heian period, distinctly Japanese culture emerged, noted for its art, poetry and prose
1185 Samurai Minamoto Yoritomo was appointed shogun by Emperor Go-Toba
1192 Yoritomo defeated his rivals and established the Kamakura shogunate in which the shoguns had the real power instead of the emperor
1274 and 1281 the Kamakura shogunate repelled Mongol invasions
1333-1336 Kenmu restoration, the Kamakura shogunate was overthrown by Emperor Go-Daigo
1336-1575 Ashikaga or Muromachi period, Emperor Go-Daigo was overthrown by a new shogunate
1467-1603 Sengoku period or the Age of Warring States, when Japan was marked by social upheaval, political intrigue and near-constant military conflict
1500s Jesuit missionaries from Portugal reached Japan for the first time and started commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West
1590 Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified the country and launched the unsuccessful invasions of Korea in the years 1592 and 1597
1600 Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated his rivals and reunified Japan and became the shogun
1600-1868 Tokugawa shogunate, Edo (Tokyo) became the new capital, Japan isolated itself from outside world, foreigners were expelled from the country and traveling abroad was banned
1854 Commodore Matthew C. Perry with US Navy forced Japan open itself to the world with the Convention of Kanagawa
1868-1869 Boshin War, a civil war in Japan between the forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the Imperial Court
1868 Meiji Restoration, imperial rule was restored
1467-1603 Sengoku period or the Age of Warring States, when Japan was marked by social upheaval, political intrigue and near-constant military conflict
1500s Jesuit missionaries from Portugal reached Japan for the first time and started commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West
1590 Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified the country and launched the unsuccessful invasions of Korea in the years 1592 and 1597
1600 Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated his rivals and reunified Japan and became the shogun
1600-1868 Tokugawa shogunate, Edo (Tokyo) became the new capital, Japan isolated itself from outside world, foreigners were expelled from the country and traveling abroad was banned
1854 Commodore Matthew C. Perry with US Navy forced Japan open itself to the world with the Convention of Kanagawa
1868-1869 Boshin War, a civil war in Japan between the forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the Imperial Court
1868 Meiji Restoration, imperial rule was restored
1879 Ryukyu Islands were annexed to Japan
1890 Meiji constitution was made
1894-1895 Japan won the Sino-Japanese War against China and got Taiwan
1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War, Japan got the first military victory in the modern era over a European state
1910 Korea became a Japanese colony
1894-1895 Japan won the Sino-Japanese War against China and got Taiwan
1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War, Japan got the first military victory in the modern era over a European state
1910 Korea became a Japanese colony
1914-1918 Japan was on the side of victorious Allies in World War I and after the war it got a lot of territories in the Pacific that were formerly ruled by Germany
1931 Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria
1933 Japan resigned from the League of Nations
1936 Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany
1937-1938 Nanking massare in China by the Japanese
1937-1945 Second Sino-Japanese War, Chinese victory
1940 Tripartite Pact between Germany, Italy and Japan
1941 Japan started the war against USA by bombing Pearl Harbor
1945 USA launched atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which led Japan to agree an unconditional surrender
1947 Japan adopted a new constitution
1952 The Allied occupation in Japan ended with the Treaty of San Fransisco
1972 USA gave Japan back the Ryukyu Islands
1931 Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria
1933 Japan resigned from the League of Nations
1936 Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany
1937-1938 Nanking massare in China by the Japanese
1937-1945 Second Sino-Japanese War, Chinese victory
1940 Tripartite Pact between Germany, Italy and Japan
1941 Japan started the war against USA by bombing Pearl Harbor
1945 USA launched atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which led Japan to agree an unconditional surrender
1947 Japan adopted a new constitution
1952 The Allied occupation in Japan ended with the Treaty of San Fransisco
1972 USA gave Japan back the Ryukyu Islands
2011 One of the largest earthquakes in Japan triggered the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
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