Japanese History

Geography

• Mountainous archipelago• 11% arable land• Earthquake prone region• Able to keep themselves fairly isolated from

the rest of Asia and the world.

Historical Government System

• 100 A.D. Local Clans ruled small areas of Japan• Yamato Clan = most important (emperor)

• Japan’s emperor has always come from the Yamato Clan BUT the emperor’s power has fluctuated throughout history.• Emperor = powerful leader• Emperor = puppet of aristocrat (rich) clans• Emperor = puppet of the shogun (military leader)

Japan Finally United

• Japan could not become a unified country if the Daimyo resisted.• Daimyo – heads of the aristocrat clans• Daimyos had their own samurai security forces (militaries)• Samurai protected the Daimyo, his family, and patrolled the

Daimyo’s vast estates

• Tokugawa Ieyasu = Daimyo of Edo• He was able to bring the other Daimyos under his control to

unify Japan (1603).• He took the title Shogun.

Hostage System Ensured Loyalty

• Tokugawa shogun (ruler) created 250 hans or local communities in Japan.

• One Daimyo controlled each han.• Daimyo had to keep 2 houses:• One in their han.• One in Edo (the capital city).

• When the Daimyo wasn’t in Edo, he had to leave his family there under the shogun’s control.

• This prevented the Daimyo from plotting against the shogun, because his family would pay the price.

Isolationism Ends

• For centuries, Japan kept to itself.• This was easy for an island nation.• They allowed some limited trade with Korea, China, and the

Dutch.

• American Commodore Matthew Perry (1853)• Arrived in Edo Bay (Tokyo) with 4 warships• Japan agreed to Treaty of Kanagawa• Trade access for Americans• U.S. Consulate opened

Meiji Rule 1870s

• Meiji means enlightened rule• Japanese government realized they needed to modernize.• Visited and studied western countries.

• Land and government was reorganized.• Emperor Mutsuhito = figurehead• Prime Minister and Cabinet held power• Two house legislative branch

• Focus on industrial development.• Focus on military build-up.

Meiji Japan = Imperial Power

• Japan was an island nation with limited space and resources (similar to Europe).

• Japan followed expansion plans of the Europeans.• Wanted sources of raw materials.• Wanted markets for their industrial products.

• Japan took control of various islands, the Korean Peninsula, Port Arthur from China and Russia.

Meiji Military

• Meiji Rule transitioned into Military Rule.• Invaded Manchuria in 1931 for its plentiful natural resources.• Emperor Hirohito approved of the military’s rise to power.

• Goals were to assert Japanese dominance all throughout Asia.• International community was against Japan’s expansionist

policies, but Japan continued with them anyway.• Japan and China started a war in 1937.• Japan also aligned itself with rising Nazi Party Germany.

December 7, 1941“A date that will live in infamy”

• Japanese military launched a simultaneous attack against:• Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (American Territory)• Philippines (American Colony)• Malaya (British Colony)• Dutch East Indies• Various islands in the Pacific region

December 7, 1941“A date that will live in infamy”

WWII – The Pacific Front

• Japan hoped the attack on the US fleet would remove them from the Pacific.• Instead it made the Americans united and in favor of

entering WWII.

• Island Hopping Campaign – U.S. Army, Marine, & Navy forces moved from island to island in the Pacific fighting and forcing the Japanese to retreat.

• U.S. forces fought all the way to the main Japanese islands…choice:• Invade or Bomb?

WWII – The Pacific Front

The Atom Bomb

• President Harry S. Truman decided to drop the newly invented atom bomb on Japan instead of invading the main islands of Japan.

• His goal was the spare American lives.• Hiroshima 8/6/45• Nagasaki 8/9/45• Japan surrendered 8/14/45