: Bushido_boy Thread :

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[b]Japan - Nippon
[i]InfoPedia Sources - Encyclopedia: Clothing[/i][/b]

Modern Japanese dress incorporates both Eastern and Western styles. Western clothes, worn by both men and women, are virtually universal. The traditional kimono, a loose-fitting garment with wide sleeves, is now worn principally at home or on certain special occasions. Men's kimonos differ from women's primarily in color and fabric. Women wear their kimonos at ankle length, bound with a sash called an obi. Men's kimonos are shorter and on very formal occasions are worn with a wide, divided skirt called a hakama. A kimono-shaped cloak called a haori may be worn over a kimono by both sexes. The clothes Japanese children wear are much like those worn by children in the United States. Boys wear short or long pants and shirts or sweaters. Girls wear skirts with blouses or sweaters. Japanese girls still wear kimonos for festivals, however.
The Japanese usually wear shoes like those worn in Western nations. However, geta, or wooden clogs, and zori, or rubber or straw sandals, are still worn with kimonos. Socks called tabi are worn with geta and zori. The tabi have a separate place for the big toe--the geta or zori strap is held between it and the other toes. Japanese now wear Western hairstyles. The elaborate hairstyles Japanese women formerly wore are now used only at weddings or by entertainers in the theater and hostesses at geisha houses.

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[b]Excerpted from Infopedia: The Complete Reference Collection
Copyright © 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.[/b]

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[b]Japan - Nippon
[i]InfoPedia Sources - Encyclopedia: Religious Practices[/i][/b]

Most contemporary Japanese are not members of any formal religion, yet their ethics are strongly Confucian, their concerns with life after death are Buddhist, and their participation in community activities often centers on Shinto celebrations. Shinto is essentially animistic, recognizing millions of kami, or spirits, in nature (see Animism). Because Shinto and Buddhism focus on different aspects of a person's life, most Japanese have no trouble following both Shinto and Buddhist practices.
Shinto, the only religion that originated in Japan, was based on worship of local spirits in nature. Among its many objects of worship were the kami of the creator, the moon, stars, mountains, rivers, waterfalls, seas, winds, fire, and some animals. Shinto became the state religion after the Meiji Restoration of 1868. As such, it assumed that the Japanese were descendants of the sun goddess Amaterasu and members of one family headed by the emperor. The nationalists and militarists who rose to power in the 1930s adapted Shinto to their purposes, telling the Japanese that they were destined to rule all Eastern Asia.
After World War II, state support of Shinto was abolished by the United States occupation authorities, and the emperor renounced claims of his divinity. Today Shinto shrines dot the landscape, and community festivals honoring local kami abound. Shinto is valued because it creates a bond between the individual, his community, and his native land.

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Confucianism is a system of ethics for social relationships, not a religion. It originated in China during the 6th century BC and was introduced into Japan from Korea around the 6th century AD. Its ethical teachings were adopted primarily by the ruling elite. Centuries later, during the Tokugawa era (1603-1868), Confucian principles of absolute obedience to one's father and lord also greatly influenced the samurai. During World War II, Confucianism was used to arouse patriotism. After the war, Confucianism was excluded from the Japanese educational curriculum. Nevertheless, although people in Japan are not strictly Confucian, Japanese ethics and social behavior are still profoundly influenced by Confucian social ethics. (See also Confucius.)
Buddhism arose in India and was introduced into Japan from Korea in the 6th century. Several major branches of Buddhism developed in Japan, including the well-known Zen Buddhism. All branches taught that life continues after death, but each differed on how to find salvation. Buddhism was highly influential in early Japanese history for training the warriors who ruled the country (see Samurai). In contemporary Japan, Buddhist practices center around funerals and later memorial rites for deceased family members.
Christianity was introduced into Japan in the 16th century by Francis Xavier, a Spanish Jesuit. During the Tokugawa shogunate, Japanese Christianity was banned, and tens of thousands of Japanese Christians were killed. After Japan was opened to the West in the 19th century, Christianity was reintroduced, mainly by Protestant missionaries. Japanese Christians tended to become involved in social welfare movements.

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[b]Excerpted from Infopedia: The Complete Reference Collection
Copyright © 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.[/b]

[MorphRC]

[b]Japan - Nippon
[i]InfoPedia Sources - Encyclopedia: The Japanese Language[/i][/b]

The language of Japan has many dialects, and speakers of one dialect do not always understand everything a speaker of another dialect might say. But almost everyone in Japan uses standard Japanese as well as the dialect of his or her home area. Standard Japanese, originally the dialect spoken by the educated people of Tokyo, is now taught and understood throughout the country. Television, radio, and the Japanese educational system played prominent roles in standardizing the speech patterns of the population.
Broadly speaking, the accent in Japanese is musical. To say "bridge" (hashi) in standard Japanese, the voice begins with a low pitch on ha and rises on shi. If the voice is high for ha and low for shi, the word means "chopsticks." The pitch of a word can also change in a sentence. As a word, hi (fire) has a low pitch. But in the sentence Hi ga deta (Fire has broken out), the pitch pattern is high for hi, low for the rest of the sentence.
Japanese sentences are not put together in the same way as sentences in English. For one thing, the verb comes at the end of a statement in Japanese. In Japanese, the word order for "Kenji saw the book" is "Kenji the book saw." In addition, two language particles--wa and wo--are added. Wa often follows the subject of a clause (Kenji). Wo follows the direct object of a verb (the book). So the sentence in Japanese is Kenji wa hon wo mimashita. To make a question of a statement, the particle ka is usually added. Thus Kenji wa hon wo mimashita ka means "Did Kenji read the book?"
In Japanese, different styles of speech are used to show degrees of politeness and familiarity. A plain style is generally used in speaking to close friends. For strangers, a polite style may be used. To show honor and respect, a deferential style is often used toward parents, older people, teachers, and so on. Thus, when meeting a stranger for the first time, the Japanese are very concerned to determine appropriate social distinctions as soon as possible. Different styles are also used in talking about people and things. One of them, the exalted style, is almost entirely limited to references to the emperor and the imperial family.
The Japanese writing system is unique. Chinese characters, called kanji, were adopted by the Japanese more than 1,500 years ago. Because Japanese is very different from Chinese, additional sets of symbols, called kana, were developed, each standing for a syllable rather than a separate consonant or vowel. After World War II the Japanese government modified the system of writing. Kanji were reduced from many thousands of characters to 1,850 basic characters, and their forms were simplified. Many words are written with kanji only. Some words are written with kana (hiragana or katakana) only. And other words are written using both kanji and hiragana.
Most Japanese writing is a mixture of kanji and kana. In newspapers and magazines, Japanese is usually printed from top to bottom, in columns running from right to left. But in many textbooks, Japanese is printed horizontally from left to right. , In the Japanese culture, the surname, or family name, comes before a person's given name.

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[b]Excerpted from Infopedia: The Complete Reference Collection
Copyright © 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.[/b]

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[b]Japan - Nippon
[i]InfoPedia Sources - Encyclopedia: Architecture and gardens[/i][/b]

Japanese architecture, like painting and sculpture, made its greatest advances following the introduction of Buddhism. As with sculpture, wood was the primary material. The design of traditional Japanese architecture emphasizes horizontal lines. Even in taller structures like pagodas, the use of sloping roofs helps minimize the impression of height.
Great temples and monasteries and feudal castles and palaces are the major architectural monuments. The temples are characterized by vast halls and soaring roofs. Based on Chinese examples, the temples and storied pagodas feature elaborate bracketing systems to support their roofs.
Major constructions mirror the taste of the periods which produced them. Horyu Temple near Nara reflects the simple elegance favored in the 7th century. It is Japan's oldest surviving wooden temple, in a region known for many such national treasures. The Toshogu Shrine in Nikko illustrates the opulence of the Edo period.
Secular architecture of nearly all periods reveals the Japanese love for refined simplicity. Interior and exterior finishes depend on the fine grain of wood and textured stucco.
Handsome gardens are created to so complement the buildings they surround that the landscape and structures appear to be part of one another. Moss, trees, pebbles and rocks may be combined with artificial hills, ponds, and a stream to suggest the natural beauty of a lake, seascape, or mountain waterfall. Profound simplicity is achieved in the garden of Ryoan-ji Temple near Kyoto, for example, by the use of five artfully placed rock formations set in moss in a patterned field of white sand. Whatever its proportions or the materials used, the Japanese garden is designed to invite entry and inspire meditation.

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[b]Excerpted from Infopedia: The Complete Reference Collection
Copyright © 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.[/b]

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[b]Japan - Nippon
[i]InfoPedia Sources - Encyclopedia: Interior decoration and home arts[/i][/b]

The art of raising bonsai--dwarfed potted trees--has enabled the Japanese to admire nature in an indoor setting. Bonsai are able to bear fruit and to drop their leaves in season, thus reproducing nature in miniature. A skillful bonsai artist can prune, bend, and shape branches to suggest trees standing tall and upright in a field or bent and gnarled by age or weather. The beauty of a natural landscape is evoked in the viewer's imagination. (See also Bonsai.)
Another means of enjoying nature in the home is through the arrangement of flowers, which has been refined in Japan to an art known as ikebana. Unlike Western arrangements, which emphasize the color and form of flowers, ikebana favors the flowing lines of stems, leaves, and branches.
In any arrangement, the plant materials used must convey a feeling of continuing growth as well as be symbolic of time and the season. Full blossoms might suggest the past; buds, the future. A full and spreading arrangement of various blossoms or other plant materials might suggest summer; a sparse one, autumn. A graceful floral design and a symbolic ornamental scroll often decorate the alcove called the tokonoma, the place of honor in a Japanese home.
Chanoyu, the ceremonial art of making tea, is a notable aesthetic discipline in Japan. Through the delicate flavor of the tea and the simplicity of the ceremony, participants in the ritual hope to achieve serenity and an understanding of true beauty. (See also Tea.)

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[b]Excerpted from Infopedia: The Complete Reference Collection
Copyright © 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.[/b]

[MorphRC]

[b]Japan - Nippon
[i]InfoPedia Sources - Encyclopedia: Calligraphy[/i][/b]

Turning handwriting into an art form is called calligraphy (see Calligraphy). Chinese writing and literary classics probably arrived in Japan by the 4th century AD. Three centuries later Japanese scholars started traveling to China to study. It was Buddhist monks especially, both Chinese and Japanese, who brought calligraphy to Japan and made it into a fine art. Among the first practitioners of the art were the priests of Zen Buddhism.
In time, the Japanese departed from reliance on Chinese patterns and created their own, in a style called hiragana. This became the most distinctive Japanese type of calligraphy, though the use of Chinese script, called kanji, persisted. In one kind of hiragana, the letters are written together, without a break, and spacing plays a large role. In another style, hiragana and kanji are used together. This is a very demanding art which requires many years of training. Calligraphy was not confined to the Buddhist monks, however. Some of the most adept calligraphers were emperors and warriors.

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[b]Excerpted from Infopedia: The Complete Reference Collection
Copyright © 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.[/b]

[MorphRC]

[b]Japan - Nippon
[i]InfoPedia Sources - Encyclopedia: The Martial Arts[/i][/b]

The martial arts in Japan originated with medieval warriors, the samurai, who mastered at least one or two of them for use in battle. Today they are more important as competitive sports and as aids to physical and mental fitness. The martial arts were traditionally acquired through the family, but schools to teach them now thrive in Japan.
Sumo is one of the country's most popular sports. Professional sumo matches between two huge wrestlers dressed only in mawashi, or loincloths, are held in rings of sand. The actual bout is preceded by a ritual during which the wrestlers face each other, squatting and touching the ground with their fists. The match does not begin until both wrestlers come up at the same time. It ends only when a wrestler has been pushed out of the ring or when any part of a wrestler's body except his feet touches the ground. Several professional sumo tournaments are held each year in Japan. A grand champion wrestler is called Yokozuna.
Judo developed from jujitsu, an art of self-defense that was popular during the Tokugawa period. Judo has three basic strategies--attacking the opponent's vital points, throwing the opponent, and grappling. One referee and two assistants preside at a judo match. The winner is the first man to throw his opponent to the floor, to lift his opponent over his shoulders, to pin him down until he gives up, or to pin him for at least 30 seconds. If neither contestant accomplishes any of these goals, the match is awarded to the more aggressive of the two. Colored belts are worn to indicate degrees of mastery in judo.
Aikido also developed from jujitsu. In aikido, the purpose is to throw the opponent to the floor or to attack him at his weakest point by applying a painful hold. The opponent is then easier to overcome. Opponents in aikido try to stay apart from each other as much as possible. Aikido does not require great muscular strength. It is practiced to enhance body flexibility and to foster graceful movement.

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Karate evolved in ancient China and was introduced into Japan in the 17th century. Only in the 20th century, however, did it gain wide popularity. Karate involves jabbing, hitting, and kicking at the most vulnerable parts of the opponent's body. One of the most destructive of the martial arts, karate is usually practiced on tiles, boards, and other hard objects rather than on human opponents.
Kendo developed in ancient Japan. In kendo, two opponents hit or jab at each other with bamboo swords. Both wear protective masks, bamboo armor, leg padding, and thick gloves. In a match, a point is given to the fencer who makes a clean hit on the throat, head, body, or hand of his opponent. The first to make two points is declared the winner.
Kyudo, or archery, was used in early Japan for fishing and hunting. Later it became a military art. In medieval times, samurai displayed their skill as bowmen in exhibitions. After the introduction of firearms in the 16th century, however, kyudo declined as an effective technique of combat and became a sport. Kyudo archers use a 7-foot (2-meter) bow made of wood glued to bamboo. Arrows consist of a bamboo shaft, three feathers, and an arrowhead. Each archer in a match usually shoots 10 to 20 arrows. (See also Martial Arts.)

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[b]Excerpted from Infopedia: The Complete Reference Collection
Copyright © 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.[/b]

[MorphRC]

[b]Japan - Nippon
[i]InfoPedia Sources - Encyclopedia: HISTORY[/i][/b]

Japan has been inhabited since the Stone Age. The early inhabitants were hunters and gatherers, who made jomon, or cord-pattern pottery. By about 250 BC they were supplanted by a people who lived in small villages, growing rice in irrigated fields. They were organized into extended families headed by chieftains. These early people had no writing system. They worshiped nature spirits and the mythic founders of clan lines.
Ancient Japan (to 1185)
According to legend, the Japanese state was founded in 660 BC by Jimmu, the first emperor. In fact, it emerged by the 6th century AD, when the chieftains of one family became dominant. Their base was the eastern end of the Inland Sea, centered on the Kinai (Osaka) Plain and the Nara Basin. Claiming the sun-goddess Amaterasu as their ancestor, the Yamato clan founded the imperial dynasty that has reigned in Japan ever since.
The Japanese borrowed from the civilization of neighboring China. This included the Buddhist religion (in the second half of the 6th century), Confucian ethics, and Chinese writing, art, architecture, and dress. In 604 the Yamato ruler, Prince Shotoku, began to infuse the life of the imperial court with Chinese ideals, and in 607 the court's first official emissaries were sent to China.
The Chinese model of government was also imported but modified to fit Japanese needs. The Taika reforms, beginning in 646, transformed the Yamato ruler into an absolute sovereign--the emperor. An elaborate bureaucracy was established. In theory, all land belonged to the emperor. Large landholdings were abolished; some farmland was redistributed among the peasants. The government started collecting taxes on a regular basis. However, in order to encourage agricultural development, the Yamato regime allowed tax exemptions on newly cultivated land. This practice actually stimulated the growth of huge estates called shoen. Similar to the manors of medieval Europe, the shoen were owned by powerful families, court aristocrats, or religious institutions and worked by thousands of peasants. The peasants became permanently dependent on the landholders.

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In 710 an imperial capital was built at Heijo (Nara) on the model of Ch'ang-an, the Chinese capital. In 794 the capital was moved to Heian-kyo (Kyoto). From the 9th to the 12th century an aristocracy controlled by the Fujiwara family dominated Japan. This period was a classic age of art and literature. Japan's culture no longer borrowed from China but became distinctively Japanese.
The Feudal Age (1185-1600)
Beginning in the 12th century the samurai, provincial warriors who resembled medieval European knights, began to assume power, though the emperor continued to hold authority in theory. The samurai often managed the estates of aristocrats, and sometimes they held land in their own right.
Rivalry between two warrior clans--the Taira and the Minamoto--led to the Heiji War (1159-60). The Taira won, but a revolt begun in 1180 ended in 1185 with the victory of the Minamoto.
Yoritomo Minamoto then established a new government at Kamakura, and in 1192 he was named shogun, or chief military commander, by the imperial court. He was authorized to appoint military governors (shugo) in the provinces and land stewards (jito) on many private estates. His administrative organization, called the bakufu (camp government), served as a model for a series of later regimes.
The Kamakura shogunate successfully repelled Mongol invasions in 1274 and in 1281. It was overthrown by a domestic revolt in 1333, and Takauji Ashikaga established a new regime. A dispute between rival families over the succession to the shogunate led to the Onin War (1467-77). Centralized control disappeared as the country was plunged into civil wars that lasted until the late 1500s.

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During this period, warrior leaders fought each other for land and vassals. The emperor and shogun became politically insignificant. Local lords known as daimyo divided the country into feudal domains. Their vassals served both as warriors and as government officials. The daimyo taxed the peasantry, who made up the bulk of the population.
Meanwhile, Japan was developing trade contacts with the outside world. Official trade missions to China began in 1404. Japanese traders were active along the coasts of Korea and China, especially during the 16th century. Japanese adventurers and pirates also operated in Eastern Asian waters, some reaching Siam (now Thailand) and the Philippines.
Later in the feudal period, the first Europeans arrived in Japan, known to them as Xipangu from the tales of Marco Polo. Portuguese traders came first, in 1543, followed by Spanish, English, and Dutch traders.
In the hope of attracting European trade, some daimyo in Kyushu encouraged conversions to Christianity. The first Christian missionary in Japan was the Jesuit priest Francis Xavier. He preached in Japan only two years (1549-51), but the Christian missionary movement enjoyed great success in Japan for the next three decades.
National Unification (1600-1853)
Feudal division and disorder in Japan ended in the late 16th century. The powerful daimyo leader Nobunaga Oda began to subdue the smaller daimyo. By 1590 Hideyoshi Toyotomi, one of his generals, succeeded in defeating the rival Hojo family. Although he never became shogun, Hideyoshi took control of the whole country. In 1592-93 and in 1597-98 he led invasions of Korea as part of an unsuccessful plan to conquer China. Upon withdrawing from Korea, Hideyoshi's armies carried out a scorched-earth policy.

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The political consolidation of Japan continued under Ieyasu Tokugawa, one of several men chosen to govern the country after Hideyoshi's death in Korea in 1598. After winning a battle against his rivals at Sekigahara in 1600, Ieyasu organized the daimyo into a federation under a new bakufu at Edo, the present city of Tokyo. He was named shogun in 1603.
For the next two centuries, under the Tokugawa shogunate, Japan enjoyed extraordinary peace and stability. Ieyasu and his successors built an elaborate system of controls over the daimyo, including limits on their military strength. Fearing that Japan was being prepared for foreign conquest, the government expelled the Christian missionaries, prohibited the Christian religion, and persecuted many Japanese converts to Christianity. By 1638 Christianity was exterminated in Japan. The Tokugawa leaders cut back foreign trade until by 1641 only Dutch and Chinese merchants were permitted to trade--limited to one ship a year at the single port of Nagasaki. Japanese were forbidden to leave the country. The country entered a period of seclusion that lasted for more than 200 years.
As a result of internal peace, a national market developed and the economy flourished. New rice lands were cultivated, and advances were made in farming techniques. Osaka and Edo became great commercial centers. By the 18th century Edo, with a population of more than 500,000, was larger than any city in Europe. A new urban culture, reflecting the tastes of merchants, shopkeepers, and artisans, emerged in both Osaka and Edo. The cultural standards of the peasantry rose as well, and by the middle of the 19th century almost half of the entire male population of Japan could read and write. (See also Tokugawa Family.)
The Modernization of Japan (1853-1905)
The seclusion of Japan ended in 1853 with the arrival of a United States naval fleet commanded by Commodore Matthew C. Perry. He had been instructed to open Japan to foreign trade and diplomatic contact. The Edo bakufu, recognizing United States military superiority, signed a treaty of friendship during a second visit by Perry in 1854.

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The Netherlands, Russia, Great Britain, and France followed the lead of the United States. By 1859 the bakufu had been pressured into signing a series of "unequal treaties" opening several Japanese ports to foreign trade. Western nationals were given the right of extraterritoriality, or exemption from local law. Tariff rates were established that the Japanese government could not alter.
Many Japanese regarded the surrender to the West as a national humiliation, and the bakufu's authority declined rapidly. There were growing demands for the expulsion of the foreigners and for the restoration of political power to the emperor. These demands were supported by the court and two powerful daimyo domains in western Japan--Satsuma (in southern Kyushu) and Choshu (in extreme western Honshu). In 1868 the Tokugawa shogun was forced to abdicate. A new government was established under the young emperor Mutsuhito, who took the reign name of Meiji ("enlightened government"). This transfer of power from the Tokugawa shogunate to the Meiji emperor is known as the Meiji Restoration. It is regarded as the beginning of Japan's modern era.
Leaders of the new government were former samurai of Satsuma and Choshu, such as Toshimichi Okubo, Koin Kido, and Takamori Saigo. They wished to end the "unequal treaties" and to catch up militarily with the Western nations. Their first task, however, was to create internal order. A centralized administration replaced the daimyo system; many class distinctions were abolished; and a conscript army was built up, replacing the samurai, or warrior class. In 1868 Edo was renamed Tokyo, meaning "eastern capital," and designated the new imperial capital.
During the 1870s the army quelled a number of rebellions by former samurai who objected to rapid modernization. The ill-fated Satsuma rebellion of 1877 was led by Saigo, who had resigned from the government in 1873. It was the last major challenge to the new regime. The imperial government also laid the foundations for an industrial economy. Modern money and banking systems were introduced. Railroads, telegraph and telephone lines, and factories were built, using the newest technology. Private enterprises were subsidized, and laws permitting the private ownership of land were enacted.

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Leaders like Arinori Mori helped create a modern educational system. Compulsory universal education was instituted in 1872. By 1905 nearly 95 percent of Japanese school-age children were in school, and Japan soon achieved one of the highest literacy rates in the world.
A constitution was drafted in the 1880s under the direction of the political leader Hirobumi Ito, who took as his model the institutions of the German empire. The constitution, finally promulgated in 1889, gave strong executive powers to the emperor and a privy council. A prime minister headed a cabinet whose members were individually responsible to the emperor. Legislative powers were exercised by a two-house parliament, or Diet. The upper house, the House of Peers, consisted mainly of a new nobility created in 1884. The lower house, the House of Representatives, was elected by male taxpayers over 25 years of age.
By the 1890s Japan's rapid modernization had made it the most powerful nation in Asia. Extraterritoriality was relinquished by Great Britain, the United States, and the other Western powers by 1899. But Meiji leaders like Ito and Aritomo Yamagata remained suspicious of Western imperialism. Using its growing economic and military power, Japan sought to build an empire of its own.
To achieve this objective Japan fought two major wars. After its victory in the first, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95, Japan forced the enormous but weak Chinese empire to cede Taiwan, formerly called Formosa, and the Penghu Islands, or Pescadores. Japan was also supposed to get the Liaotung Peninsula in Manchuria, but Russia forced Japan not to accept it. Instead, in 1898, Russia took the peninsula itself.

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The second war was fought in 1904-05 against Russia, which had become Japan's chief rival in eastern Asia. It was this war that woke Europe and the United States to the extent of Japanese military power, because Russia was also a major player in European politics. Japan won from Russia the southern half of Sakhalin Island and a leasehold in Liaotung, together with the South Manchurian Railway (see Russo-Japanese War). In 1910 Japan annexed Korea and held onto it until 1945, the end of World War II. In 1915 Japan expanded its influence in Manchuria after presenting "Twenty-one Demands" to the Chinese government. The empire of Japan had become a recognized world power.

Imperial Japan (1905-45)
After 1905 Japan faced a change in national leadership. The Meiji emperor died on July 30, 1912, and was succeeded by his son Yoshihito, who became known as the Taisho emperor. Yoshihito soon showed signs of mental illness, and Crown Prince Hirohito served as regent from November 1921 until he became the Showa emperor on Dec. 25, 1926.
More important, the original Meiji leaders had all died by the early 1920s. At first they were replaced by younger proteges, such as Taro Katsura and Kimmochi Saionji. Gradually, however, under the leadership of men like Kei Hara and Komei Kato, political parties in the Diet gained increasing control over the government. Between 1918 and 1932 most Japanese prime ministers were leaders of political parties in the lower house of the Diet.
The emergence of party government was accompanied by a flourishing of democratic ideas. Intellectuals like Sakuzo Yoshino advocated greater attention to the needs of the common man. Some social-welfare legislation was approved, and in 1925 universal male suffrage was instituted.

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By the 1920s Japan had begun to encounter severe economic problems. Contributing to these economic problems was the fact that the rate of economic development was beginning to slow down. Agricultural production had reached a plateau, and domestic food supplies were no longer adequate. Imports of rice had to be increased greatly. By the late 1920s and early 1930s the countryside faced hard times.
The cities remained relatively prosperous, however, and industry continued to grow. Employees of the zaibatsu (large urban business combines, similar to cartels) enjoyed secure jobs and rising wages. The growth of labor unions led to the rise of a left-wing political movement in the 1920s, but the Peace Preservation Law was passed in 1925 to curb pro-Communist activities. (Nearby Russia had become a Communist state in 1917, and China had acquired a new and vigorous Communist party.)
The party governments of the 1920s tried to follow a peaceful foreign policy. Government officials such as Foreign Minister Kijuro Shidehara advocated cooperation with Great Britain and the United States and nonintervention in Chinese affairs. Japan had benefited from these relationships during World War I, getting control of former German territories in the Pacific--and most significantly, the German base on China's Shantung Peninsula. But during the 1920s Japan's attention was diverted elsewhere: its economic interests in southern Manchuria were threatened by China and the new Soviet Union.

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In September 1931 the Japanese army engineered a complete takeover of Manchuria. In 1932 a puppet state, renamed Manchukuo, was established there. In Japan, ultranationalist military officers and civilians began to attack leading government officials. Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai was assassinated in 1932. A rebellion by military extremists in February 1936 was defeated, but the political parties were losing control of the government. Cabinets were increasingly dominated by militarists, and Japanese military involvement on the Asian mainland grew.
Undeclared war with China broke out in July 1937. (Some historians regard this date as the real start of World War II.) Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe refused to negotiate with the Chinese government. The Japanese armies penetrated deep into China, but they failed to force a Chinese surrender. In 1940 Japan moved troops into French Indochina and signed the Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
The United States attempted unsuccessfully to curtail Japan's aggressive policy through economic sanctions. In October 1941 Gen. Hideki Tojo became prime minister. Fearing that its plans to dominate East and Southeast Asia were in danger, the Japanese government reluctantly decided to go to war against the United States. On Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft attacked the United States fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
By mid-1942 Japanese forces had occupied the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Malaya, and Burma; had captured virtually all islands in the central Pacific; and had reached into the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. Japan hoped to achieve a favorable negotiated peace with the United States with a series of quick victories while American allies in Europe were preoccupied with the war against Germany and Italy.

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By mid-1942 Japan's fortunes were at high tide. The dream of a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere seemed within reach. But the United States was a determined foe and a much greater industrial power. It was only a few months after Pearl Harbor that the tide began to roll the other way against Japan. First, there was the alarming raid by Gen. Jimmy Doolittle's B-25 bombers over Tokyo on April 18, 1942. This had more shock value for Japanese civilians than military significance. Then, beginning with the defeat in naval battles in the Coral Sea and off the Midway Islands in May and June 1942, Japan's fortunes went into a slow decline.
Although the United States had lost battleships at Pearl Harbor, no aircraft carriers were destroyed: they were not in Hawaii at the time of the attack. The war in the Pacific became a war of aircraft carriers, and the United States could build and replace carriers at a much greater rate than Japan. In its land-based operations the United States initiated an island-hopping strategy instead of trying to attack every Japanese-held island. Gradually, Japan's defense perimeter in the Pacific was pushed back. In July 1944 the Tojo government fell, and later in the year massive air raids began to destroy Japan's cities and industries. (See also World War II.)
Postwar Japan
Japan surrendered in 1945 after United States atomic bombs had destroyed the cities of Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9. Under the terms of surrender, all territory acquired by Japan since 1895 was given up and Japan was restricted to its home islands. United States forces under the command of Gen. Douglas MacArthur began a military occupation of Japan.
The United States demobilized Japan's military forces. Many civilian and military leaders were tried as war criminals. Seven of them, including Tojo, were convicted and executed in December 1948. Thousands of lesser officials, military officers, and business executives were removed from their jobs because they had supported Japan's war policies.
To encourage the growth of democracy in Japan, the United States occupation authorities pressured the new Japanese government into accepting a series of political, social, and educational reforms. A new constitution became effective in 1947, and the educational system was reorganized.

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On Sept. 8, 1951, Japan signed a peace treaty with the United States and 47 other nations--but not the Soviet Union. The occupation formally ended when the treaty went into effect on April 28, 1952. Only Okinawa and several smaller Japanese islands remained under United States control. (Okinawa was returned to Japan in 1972, but the United States kept its military installations on the island. The Soviet Union had taken control of Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands near the end of the war and kept control of them--a fact which became an issue of contention between Japan and post-Communist Russia in the 1990s.) In 1956 Japan joined the United Nations.
When Japan regained full sovereignty in 1952, the political reforms of the occupation had taken effect. Conservative political parties combined in 1955 to form the Liberal-Democratic party. The occupation reforms also strengthened the labor unions and the Socialists, whose popular vote and strength in the Diet increased from the 1950s.
A bilateral security treaty signed on Sept. 8, 1951, permitted the United States to retain military bases and troops in Japan. The treaty enabled Japan to rely on the so-called "atomic umbrella" of the United States for effective defense, despite groups who objected to the treaty and demanded that Japan adopt a policy of neutrality. The United States refused to allow a neutrality policy, however. By 1951 the Cold War with the Soviet Union was well under way. The United States was militarily engaged in Korea and needed Japan as a base for its Korean operations.

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[b]Excerpted from Infopedia: The Complete Reference Collection
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