History of Japan

Traditional Japanese legend maintains that Japan was founded in 600 BC by the Emperor Jimmu a direct descendant of the sun goddess and ancestor of the present ruling imperial family. About AD 405, the Japanese court officially adopted the Chinese writing system. During the sixth century Buddhism was introduced. These two events revolutionized Japanese culture and marked the beginning of a long period of Chinese cultural influence.

Japanese leaders of the late 19th century regarded the Korean Peninsula as a "dagger pointed at the heart of Japan." It was over Korea that Japan became involved in war with the Chinese Empire in 1894-95 and with Russia in 1904-05. The war with China established Japan's dominant interest in Korea while giving it the Pescadores Islands and Formosa (now Taiwan). After Japan defeated Russia in 1905 the resulting Treaty of Portsmouth awarded Japan certain rights in Manchuria and in southern Sakhalin which Russia had received in 1875 in exchange for the Kurile Islands. Both wars gave Japan a free hand in Korea which it formally annexed in 1910.

World War I permitted Japan which fought on the side of the victorious Allies to expand its influence in Asia and its territorial holdings in the Pacific. The postwar era brought Japan unprecedented prosperity. During the 1920s Japan progressed 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. Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and set up the state of Manchukuo. In 1933, Japan resigned from the League of Nations. The Japanese invasion of China in 1937 followed Japan's signing the "anti-Comintern pact" with Nazi Germany the previous year and was part of a chain of developments culminating in the Japanese attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor Hawaii on December 7 1941. After almost 4 years of war resulting in the loss of 3 million Japanese lives and including the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan signed an instrument of surrender on the U.S.S. As a result of World War II, Japan lost all of its overseas possessions and retained only the home islands. Manchukuo was dissolved and Manchuria was returned to China; Japan renounced all claims to Formosa; Korea was granted independence; southern Sakhalin and the Kuriles were occupied by the U.S.S.R.; and the United States became the sole administering authority of the Ryukyu Bonin and Volcano Islands. The 1972 reversion of Okinawa completed the United States' return of control of these islands to Japan. After the war Japan was placed under international control of the Allies through the Supreme Commander General Douglas MacArthur. U.S. objectives were to ensure that Japan would become a peaceful nation and to establish democratic self-government supported by the freely expressed will of the people. Political economic and social reforms were introduced such as a freely elected Japanese Diet (legislature). The country's Constitution took effect on May 3 1947. The April 28 1952 Treaty of Peace with Japan afforded a progressive and orderly transition to the restoration of full sovereignty from the stringent controls immediately following the surrender.

The post-World War II years saw tremendous economic growth in Japan with the political system dominated by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). That total domination lasted until the Diet Lower House elections on July 18 1993. The LDP in power since the mid-1950s failed to win a majority and saw the end of its four-decade rule. A coalition of new parties and existing opposition parties formed a governing majority and elected a new Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa in August 1993. In April 1999, he resigned and Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata formed the successor coalition government. 2 months later he resigned. Eventually, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi took office on July 30 1998.