JAPANESE HISTORY CHRONOLOGY, 1600-2000 Period Dates Events/Characteristics
NB: *significant date/event outside Japan 1600 TOKUGAWA (1600-1867) 1603 --50 1633-40 *1644 1721 1789 1839 1840-3 *1840-54 1853-59 1860-6 1867-8 MEIJI (1868-1912) 1870-1874-84 1877 1889 1890 ca. 1890 1894-5 1898 1899 1900-1902 1904-5 1910 1911 TAISHÔ (1912-26) 1914-18 1915 *1917 1918 1918-Battle of Sekigahara; Tokugawa victory Establishment of Shogunate Intermittent and mounting persecution of Christianity; consolidation of bakuhan system "Closed country" (Sakoku) edicts Fall of Ming, estab. of Qing (Manchu) dynasty Kyôhô Reforms; first census Ban on Heterodox Learning Ôshio's Rebellion Tenpô Reforms Taiping Rebellion Perry; treaties; opening of ports Anti-Bakufu Coalition (Satsuma-Chôshû); terrorism; foreign involvement on all sides Meiji Restoration Ban on Christianity lifted; construction of RR; mining, munitions, textile industries Freedom and Popular Rights Movt. Satsuma Rebellion: last samurai revolt against new regime Meiji (Imperial) Constitution Education Rescript; summoning of 1st Diet "Industrial Revolution" Sino-Japanese War; colonial expansion to Korea, Taiwan Civil Code End of extraterritoriality Labor, Christian-socialist, anarchist, pacifist groups form; repressive legislation Anglo-Japanese Alliance Russo-Japanese War Formal annexation of Korea Tariff autonomy recovered; *Chinese revolution: collapse of empire Rise of political parties after death of Meiji oligarchs WWI; Japan (Allied) moves into Asian and other markets vacated by European belligerents; economic boom; inflation Twenty-One Demands Russian Revolution Rice Riots: largest mass uprising in Japanese history Party gov't; labor mvt; postwar econ. bust; agricultural depression; Japan intervenes w/ European powers against Bolshevik regime Korean Independence (March First) Movement
1919
1923 1925
*May Fourth Movement (China) Great Kantô Earthquake; massacre of Koreans; police murder of anarchists Universal Manhood Suffrage; growth of proletarian parties; Peace Preservation Law enacted against left
SHÔWA (1926-89) 1927 1928 1929 1931-32 1932-36 1936 1937 1938 1940 1941 Bank panic; Comintern's "1927 Theses" on Japan issued; Marxist "Debate over Japanese Capitalism" begins 1st election w/ univ. suffrage; mass arrests of Communists; anti-Nationalist military adventurism in China Great Depression Manchurian Incident; Manchuguo estab. Terror and attempted coups-d'état; end of party govt. Anti-Comintern Pact (w/ Nazi Germany and Italy) Invasion of China National Mobilization Law Axis Pact; "New Order" proclaimed; Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere proclaimed Neutrality Pact w/ USSR (April) *Germany invades USSR (June) Pearl Harbor; war declared w/ "ABCD" powers (December) Intense incendiary and atomic bombing of Japanese mainland; surrender Last phase of Chinese civil war Division of Korea; uprisings in South US Occupation begins; MacArthur Constitution; emperor renounces divinity; purge of right wing, military, party, business leaders; land reform; JCP legalized; explosive growth of labor union movt. Socialist Party in power; MacArthur bans general strike "Reverse Course" begins in Occupation policy: anti-Left measures along w/ industrial revival and militarization Stalinist regimes consolidated in E. Europe People's Republic of China estab. Korean war begins, spurs economic recovery Comintern (USSR) criticizes JCP for "loveable party" line Peace treaty negotiations; SF Treaty signed, along w/ US-Japan Security Treaty (Anpo); Socialists split (left vs. right) over treaty issue; Occupation ends Socialists reunite; Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) formed Economic White Paper declares "postwar" recovery over; return to 1936 level; "Jinmu" boom; Japan recognizes USSR; joins UN Kishi Nobusuke cabinet; Economic White Paper identifies "dual structure" as salient feature of economy "Iwato" boom
1945 *1945-9 1945-6
1947 1948 *1948 *1949 *1950 1950 1951-2
1955 1956
1957 1958-61
1960 1960-64 1964 1965 1966-70 1967-1968 1968-70 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 1982 1985-9 1989 HEISEI (1989-?) 1992-3 1994 1997-
Massive anti-Treaty demonstrations led by broad coalition of left, middle-class groups; fall of Kishi Ikeda Hayato cabinet: "income doubling plan" announced Tokyo Olympics Normalization of relations w/ ROK "Izanami" boom Anti-pollution measures; settlement of cases brought in 1950s Kawabata Yasunari wins Nobel Prize anti-Treaty, anti-Vietnam war movt. Expo ’70; suicide of Mishima "Nixon shocks": visit to China; allows dollar to float: value of yen rises PM Tanaka Kakuei visits PRC Oil shock Emp. Hirohito visits US Lockheed Incident; PM Tanaka arrested Textbook controversy; protests by PRC, ROK govts. "Bubble economy" Death of Hirohito; recession begins Economic downturn deepens; LDP corruption scandals Imperial marriages; signs of weakening LDP control? Ôe Kenzaburô wins Nobel Prize bank-centered recession