Chronology
EARLY MODERN JAPAN
1549 Francis Xavier becomes the first known Christian missionary to enter Japan.
1550s–1590s The steady unification once more of Japan, under the ‘Three Unifiers’: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and finally Tokugawa Ieyasu.
1587 Toyotomi Hideyoshi orders the expulsion from Japan of foreign missionaries.
1597 Persecution of Christians in Japan reaches a high pitch with the execution by crucifixion of the ‘twenty-six martyrs’ at Nagasaki.
1600 Victory at the Battle of Sekigahara for Tokugawa Ieyasu, the last of early modern Japan’s three great unifying figures.
1603 The Emperor appoints Tokugawa Ieyasu as Shogun.
1610s Renewal of persecutions against Japanese Christians.
1640s The Dutch become the only Europeans with whom the shogunate will do business.
1690s Coffee makes its way into Japan for the first time, via the Dutch presence at Nagasaki.
1720 The shogunate relaxes the rules on imported Western books; rangaku (‘Dutch learning’) begins to flourish.
1774 Sugita Genpaku’s translation of a Dutch anatomy text appears, as Kaitai Shinsho (‘New Text on Anatomy’).
1787 Hayashi Shihei’s Kaikoku Heidan (‘Military Defence of a Maritime Nation’) published.
1804 A Russian envoy, Nikolai Rezanov, arrives in Nagasaki seeking trade with Japan.
1808 The Phaeton Incident.
July 1853 Commodore Matthew C. Perry arrives in Edo Bay; hands over President Millard Fillmore’s letter.
February–March 1854 Perry returns, and a Treaty of Peace and Amity is signed between Japan and the United States (the Treaty of Kanagawa).
1858 The first of Japan’s ‘Unequal Treaties’ is signed in July: the United States–Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce. The Commission for Foreign Countries is established.
1866 Under punitive pressure from authorities in Edo, Chōshū secretly signs a mutual aid agreement with Satsuma domain.
MODERN JAPAN
January 1868 Rebel forces, largely from Satsuma and Chōshū domains, take the imperial palace in Kyoto. The teenage Emperor Mutsuhito declares the restoration of imperial rule.
April 1868 Japan’s new leaders issue the Charter Oath, as a statement of aims; the separation of Shinto and Buddhism begins.
May–October 1868 Edo falls to the rebel armies, and is renamed ‘Tokyo’. The Emperor’s reign name is decided: ‘Meiji’.
1869 Tokyo becomes the capital city, home to the Dajōkan, the ruling Council of State. The abolition of the old domain system begins, with the return of regional registers to the Emperor. Old status groups abolished. The last of the Tokugawa forces surrender in the far north of Japan: the Boshin War is at an end. The Hokkaidō Colonization Office is set up, and the country’s first Press Law enacted, encouraging the creation of newspapers and journals.
1870–71 Ministries of Public Works, Industry and Education are created. Telegraph and postal services are established. The yen becomes the national currency. Prefectures replace the old domains. A much-satirized ‘Great Promulgation’ campaign represents an early attempt to politicize Shinto.
1872 Ginza gutted by fire, a new-style rebuild in brick begins. Shinbashi Station is opened, to musical fanfare. A banking system is established, and Japan transfers from a lunar to the Gregorian calendar. Sunday becomes a day of rest. Christmas is a national holiday. A ‘Fundamental Code of Education’ creates a national education system, up to university level.
1873 Japan’s warrior class is replaced by commoner conscription (via the ‘Blood Tax’). A uniform land tax, payable in cash, represents the basis for Japan’s future revenue. Saigō Takamori and Itagaki Taisuke resign from the government after a dispute over Korea. Proposal for the establishment of the Meirokusha: the ‘Meiji 6 Society’.
1874 Demands are made for greater public participation in government. A People’s Rights Movement is touched off. The Taiwan Expedition.
1875 A new Press Law gives the government limited powers over print publications.
1876 Samurai lose stipends. Gunboat diplomacy with Korea yields an accord similar to the unequal treaties under which Japan is labouring. Mitsui Bank – Japan’s first private bank – and Mitsui Trading Company are launched.
1877 Satsuma Rebellion. Tokyo University established, becoming Japan’s first ‘Imperial University’ in 1886. Tokyo Shōkonsha, established in 1869 to honour those who died fighting for the Emperor in the Boshin War, is renamed Yasukuni Shrine.
1878 Japan acquires elected prefectural and city assemblies.
1879 The last Ryūkyūan king is forced to abdicate, and ‘Okinawa prefecture’ is established.
1881 Under pressure from the People’s Rights Movement, the government promises a constitution by 1890. Political parties begin to form: Jiyūtō in 1881; Rikken Kaishintō the next year.
1882 The Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors underscores their loyalty to the Emperor and the requirement for them to stay out of politics.
1883 Press regulations are tightened. The completion of the Rokumeikan.
1884 The Chichibu rebellion. The Gunma Incident.
1885 A Cabinet system replaces the Dajōkan, linking leaders to the bureaucracy – with which the district of Kasumigaseki becomes synonymous across the twentieth century. Itō Hirobumi becomes Japan’s first Prime Minister; Inoue Kaoru becomes the first Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Osaka Incident takes place. Inoue Enryō turns his back on a priestly career.
1886 The Normanton Incident.
1887 A masquerade ball at the home of Itō Hirobumi becomes notorious in the press, for the foreign affectations of the ‘dancing cabinet’. Publication of Meiji Onna Daigaku (‘The Meiji Greater Learning for Women’).
1889 The Constitution of the Empire of Japan is promulgated.
1890 First general election in Japanese history. Imperial Rescript on Education helps to entrench a conservative vision of Japanese values. Women are prohibited from attending political meetings or joining political organizations. Yamagata Aritomo tells the new Diet of Japan’s foreign policy aims, based around a line of sovereignty and a line of advantage.
1894–5 War with China ends in a Japanese victory. The Triple Intervention (Russia, France and Germany) forces the return of some of the gains, including the Liaotung Peninsula.
1897 Kyoto University established.
1898 The Meiji Civil Code becomes law, reinforcing Japan’s ie-based family arrangements. Russia gains the lease to the Liaotung Peninsula.
1899 Formation of the Association of Japanese Motion Pictures, and the first public showings of movies – featuring geisha dances and recordings of kabuki performances. Hokkaidō Former Aborigines Protection Law.
1900 A new Public Order and Police Law is designed to combat industrial activism; Nitobe Inazō publishes Bushidō: The Soul of Japan. School fees abolished, and attendance rises above 90 per cent of girls and boys.
1901 Publication of Katei no Kairaku (‘The Pleasures of the Home’).
1902 The Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
1903–4 Publication of Kuwabara Toshirō’s bestselling book Seishin Reidō, on spititual healing.
1904–5 A surprise attack by Japanese forces opens the Russo-Japanese War, which ends with an epoch-making victory for Japan. Despite key concessions in southern Manchuria, anger at the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth contributes to rioting in parts of Japan.
1906 Itō Hirobumi becomes Japan’s Resident General in Korea. Formation of the South Manchuria Railway Company. Sermons of a Buddhist Abbot, by Shaku Sōen, becomes the first book about Zen to be published in English.
1909 Itō Hirobumi assassinated in Harbin, by a Korean nationalist. Korea is fully annexed by Japan the following year.
1910 A socialist-anarchist plot to assassinate the Emperor is discovered, known later as the High Treason Incident. Publication of Yanagita Kunio’s Tōno no Monogatari (The Legends of Tōno).
1911 Kanno Suga and Kōtoku Shūsui are executed for their involvement in the High Treason Incident. The Tokkō (Special Higher Police) is established, partly in response to the Treason incident. First issue of Hiratsuka Raichō’s magazine Seitō (‘Bluestocking’). A new Factory Law sets rules on safety at work and on the employment of young people, with a minimum working age established of twelve years old.
1912 The Meiji era comes to a close with the death of the Emperor. The Taishō era begins when his son Yoshihito ascends the throne.
1914 Japan declares war on Germany. Anglo-Japanese attack on German base at Tsingtao.
1915 Japan’s ‘Twenty-One Demands’ on China.
1918 Japan participates in the anti-Bolshevik Siberian Expedition. Rice riots contribute to the rise of Hara Kei at the head of Japan’s first ever party Cabinet. Kure Shūzō’s damning report on the treatment of the mentally ill in Japan is published.
1920 Foundation of the New Woman’s Association, by Hiratsuka Raichō, Ichikawa Fusae and others. Japan joins the League of Nations.
1921 Yamakawa Kikue and others found the Red Wave Society, focusing on women workers (in trade unions dominated by men). Large-scale strikes in Kobe, in which Kagawa Toyohiko takes a leadership role.
1922 Public Order and Police Law (1900) amended so that women can join political organizations. Establishment of the Japanese Communist Party.
1923 The Great Kantō Earthquake. Ratification of the Washington Naval Treaty, signed the previous year.
1924 Dissolution of the Japanese Communist Party. Foundation of the Women’s Suffrage League by Ichikawa Fusae and others. Immigration Act passed in the United States, undermining US–Japan relations and Japanese trust in the international order more generally.
1925 Universal manhood suffrage. Peace Preservation Law.
1925–6 Japan’s first radio broadcasts, and the emergence of Japan’s national broadcaster, NHK.
1926 New parties emerge: a reformed Japanese Communist Party, a Socialist People’s Party and the Japan Labour-Farmer Party. The Taishō era comes to a close with the death of the Emperor. The Shōwa era begins when his son Hirohito ascends the throne.
1927 Akutagawa Ryūnosuke’s short story Haguruma (‘Spinning Gears’) is published. Akutagawa dies in July.
1928 Mass arrests of leftists.
1929 New York stock market crash, develops into the Great Depression.
1930 Sarariman: Kyōfu no jidai (‘Salaryman: Age of Anxiety’) is published. The London Naval Treaty, its terms heavily criticized in Japan.
September 1931 Manchurian Incident.
March 1932 Establishment of ‘Manchukuo’.
May 1932 Murder of Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi.
1933 Japan withdraws from the League of Nations. Psychoanalyst Kosawa Heisaku begins private practice in Tokyo.
February 1936 Military coup attempted in Tokyo.
1937 Publication of Kokutai no Hongi (‘Fundamentals of Our National Polity’).
July 1937 Sino-Japanese skirmishes at the Marco Polo Bridge not far from Beijing, spreading to Shanghai the next month. The Second Sino-Japanese War begins.
December 1937 Japanese troops begin a rampage in Nanjing, lasting into January 1938.
1938 National General Mobilization Law. Konoe Fumimaro announces the aim of a ‘New Order in East Asia’.
1940 Japan’s Foreign Minister announces the government’s plan to create a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. American embargoes on key exports to Japan. Japan’s political parties dissolve themselves. Tripartite Pact with Italy and Germany. An ‘Imperial Rule Assistance Association’ is created, intended to unite civil and military arms of government. The Japan Federation of Labour disbands itself.
1941 Non-aggression pact signed with the Soviet Union. Japanese occupation of French Indochina is complete. Tōjō Hideki becomes Prime Minister.
7 December 1941 (local time) Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
1942 Kindai no Chōkoku (‘Overcoming Modernity’) symposium. Battle of Midway hints at a turning point in the war with the United States.
July 1944 Tōjō Hideki resigns as Prime Minister.
October 1944 First kamikaze attacks on American vessels.
February 1945 The Konoe Memorial to the Emperor, counselling an early end to the war.
March 1945 Firebombing of Tokyo.
April–June 1945 The Battle of Okinawa.
26 July 1945 The Potsdam Declaration.
August 1945 6 August: atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. 8 August: Soviet Union declares war on Japan. 9 August: atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. 15 August: Emperor Hirohito announces Japan’s surrender. 30 August: General Douglas MacArthur arrives in Japan; the Allied Occupation begins.
October 1945 The film Soyokaze (‘Soft Breeze’) is released, becoming a nationwide hit.
December 1945 Women receive the vote.
1946 Japan’s first post-war elections take place. Proceedings open at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Founding of Tokyo Tsūshin Kōgyō (TTEC) by Morita Akio and Ibuka Masaru. A radical Land Reform Bill is passed. Publication of Ruth Benedict’s The Chrysanthemum and the Sword.
1947 MacArthur bans a planned general strike. The Fundamental Law on Education is passed, along with a Law for the Elimination of Excessive Concentrations of Economic Power. Japan’s new Constitution comes into effect.
1948 A new Civil Code comes into effect. Verdicts handed down by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Former Prime Minister Tōjō Hideki and six others are hanged. The Summer Olympics are held in London – Japanese athletes are not invited.
1949 The Dodge Line and the creation of MITI. Morita Akio and his friends creating home-made reel tape.
June 1950 Outbreak of war in Korea, leading to calls the next month for the establishment of a National Police Reserve in Japan.
1951 General MacArthur fired by President Truman from his command in Korea and his position as SCAP in Japan.
1952 The San Francisco Treaty and US–Japan Security Treaty come into effect. The Occupation is over. Japan’s return to the international stage continues with membership of the IMF and the World Bank, along with a welcome back to international sport at the Helsinki Olympics.
1953 Release in cinemas of Ozu Yasujirō’s Tokyo Story.
1954 Lucky Dragon 5 incident. Release of Gojira (Godzilla).
1955 Political parties realign: a Japan Socialist Party is formed, along with a Liberal Democratic Party. TTEC brings the ‘world’s smallest transistor radio’ to market. The ‘Sunagawa Struggle’ begins. Ishihara Shintarō’s Taiyō no Kisetsu (‘Season of the Sun’) wins the prestigious Akutagawa Prize for literature, helping to start a panic amongst parents about declining standards amongst the nation’s youth.
1956 A Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration ends the state of war between Japan and the USSR. Japan joins the United Nations. Minamata disease comes to public attention.
1958 Gekkō Kamen premieres on Japanese television.
1959 Crown Prince Akihito marries the commoner Shōda Michiko. The host city for the 1964 Olympics is announced – Tokyo.
1960 Anpo protests fail to prevent the ratification of a renewed US–Japan Security Treaty. Prime Minister Ikeda announces an ‘income-doubling plan’. Release in cinemas (for three days) of Ōshima Nagisa’s Night and Fog in Japan. Assassination of the Japan Socialist Party politician Asanuma Inejirō.
1961 Publication of Ōe Kenzaburō’s novella Sevuntin (‘Seventeen’).
1962 Sony opens a showroom on New York’s Fifth Avenue.
1964 The Tokyo Olympics and Japan’s inaugural shinkansen journey. Hi-Red Center’s ‘Be Clean!’ and ‘Shelter Plan’ events.
1965 Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea is signed, after many years of talks. Takechi Tetsuji’s controversial film Kuroi yuki (‘Black Snow’) is released.
1968 Kawabata Yasunari receives the Nobel Prize for Literature. Hijik
ata Tatsumi’s performance, ‘Hijikata Tatsumi and the Japanese – Revolt of the Flesh’.
1970 Kara Jūrō’s play John Silver: The Beggar of Love. Japan’s ‘Pollution Diet’: fourteen environmental measures are passed. The Osaka Expo and the launch of the ‘Discover Japan’ rail campaign.
1971 President Richard Nixon delivers two shocks to Japan, announcing his intention to visit the People’s Republic of China and for the United States to leave the gold standard.
1972 Okinawa reverts from American to Japanese control. Normalization of relations between the US and China. Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei makes a visit to Beijing, signing a normalization agreement with the People’s Republic of China.
1973 The ‘oil shock’. Minamata disease court ruling.
1974 Kentucky Fried Chicken’s ‘Kentucky for Christmas campaign’ is launched, while 7-Eleven opens its doors: Japan’s love-affair with Christmas chicken and the convenience store begins.
1976 The Lockheed scandal.
1978 China–Japan Peace and Friendship Treaty. Narita International Airport opens, after delays caused by protests. Deng Xiaoping visits Japan.
1982 The first instalment of Miyazaki Hayao’s manga, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, is published.
1985 Equal Employment Opportunity Law. Japan Airlines Flight 123 crash. The Plaza Accord.
1989 Death of the Shōwa Emperor; the Heisei Era begins. The Recruit Scandal.
1990 Dramatic fall in Japan’s stock exchange. The (first) ‘lost decade’ is about to begin.
1992 Emperor Akihito becomes the first Japanese emperor to visit China.
1993 The LDP loses its government majority.
1994 Ōe Kenzaburō receives the Nobel Prize for Literature. The final instalment of Miyazaki Hayao’s manga, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, is published.
1995 The Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake. Attack on the Tokyo Subway by Aum Shinrikyō. Arrest of Asahara Shōkō. Abduction and rape of an Okinawan schoolgirl by US soldiers. Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi apologizes for Japanese ‘colonial rule’ and ‘aggression’ of a few decades before.
1996 Release of the first Pokémon game and the first Tamagotchi. Distribution deal signed between Disney and Miyazaki Hayao’s Studio Ghibli.
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