History of Japan

The history of Japan, the large island nation off the coast of China and Korea comes in three stages: the period of interaction with China and East Asia, isolation, and opening to the world.

The Tokugawa Era, 1600-1868

In 1603, the Tokugawa shogunate (military dictatorship) ushered in a long period of isolation from foreign influence in order to secure its power. For 250 years this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture.

The Meiji Era: 1868-1912

Following the Treaty of Kanagawa with the United States of America in 1854, Japan opened its ports and began to intensively modernise and industrialise. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Japan became a regional power that was able to defeat the forces of both China and Russia. It occupied Korea, Formosa (Taiwan), and southern Sakhalin Island. ==Economy and empire; war and defeat: 1912-1950 In 1931-1932. Japan occupied Manchuria (Dongbei), and in 1937 it launched a full-scale invasion of China. Japan attacked U.S. forces in 1941 - triggering America's entry into World War II - and soon occupied much of East and Southeast Asia. After its defeat in World War II, Japan was occupied by the U.S. until 1952, and recovered from the effects of the war to become an economic power, staunch American ally and a democracy. While the emperor retains his throne as a symbol of national unity, actual power rests in networks of powerful politicians, bureaucrats, and business executives.

Economic stagnation: 1990-2007

The economy experienced a major slowdown starting in the 1990s following three decades of unprecedented growth, but Japan still remains a major economic power, both in Asia and globally.

Bibliography

Surveys and reference

• Allinson, Gary D. The Columbia Guide to Modern Japanese History. Columbia U. Press, 1999. 259 pp. excerpt and text search
• Allinson, Gary D. Japan's Postwar History. Cornell U. Press, (2nd ed 2004). 208 pp. excerpt and text search
• Beasley, W. G. The Modern History of Japan Praeger, 1963 online edition
• Clement, Ernest Wilson. A Short History of Japan (1915), 190pp online edition
• Cullen, L. M. A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds Cambridge University Press, 2003 online edition
• Duus, Peter, ed. The Cambridge History of Japan: Vol. 6: The Twentieth Century. Cambridge U. Press, 1989. 866 pp.
• Goedertier Joseph M. A. Dictionary of Japanese History. 1968.
• Gordon, Andrew. A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present Oxford University Press, 2003 online edition; also excerpt and text search
• Hall, John W. ed. Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. IV, Early Modern Japan. Cambridge University Press, 1991. 831pp
• Hall John W. Japan: From Prehistory to Modern Times. 1970.
• Hane, Mikiso. Modern Japan: A Historical Survey 2nd ed Westview Press, 1992, 474pp online edition
• Huffman, James L., ed. Modern Japan: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism. Garland, 1998. 316 pp.
• Hunter Janet. Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History. 1984.
• Jansen, Marius B. The Making of Modern Japan (2002) excerpts and search online
• Jansen, Marius B., ed. The Cambridge History of Japan. Vol. 5: The Nineteenth Century. Cambridge U. Press, 1989. 828 pp. excerpt and text search
• McClain, James L. Japan: A Modern History. W. W. Norton, 2001. 512 pp. excerpt and text search
• Perez, Louis G. The History of Japan Greenwood Press, 1998 online edition
• Perkins, Dorothy. Encyclopedia of Japan: Japanese History and Culture, from Abacus to Zori. Facts on File, 1991. 410 pp.
• Reischauer, Edwin O. Japan: The Story of a Nation. 1990.
• Reischauer, Edwin O., and Albert M. Craig. Japan, Tradition and Transformation 1978.
• Sansom, Sir George B. A History of Japan, 3 vols. 1963. excerpts and search vol 1 to 1334, excerpts and search vol 2 to 1615 excerpts and search vol 3 to 1867
• Totman, Conrad. A History of Japan. Blackwell 2nd ed. 2000. 620 pp.; stress on environment online excerpts and search
• Yamamura Kozo, ed. Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. III. Medieval Japan. Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Specialized studies

• Beasley W. G., and E. G. Pulleyblank, eds. Historians of China and Japan. 1961. online edition
• Cohen, Jerome B. Japan's Economy in War and Reconstruction (1949) 545 pp. online edition
• Dower, John W. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. W. W. Norton, 1999. 688 pp. excerpt and text search
• Dower, John W. War without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War. Pantheon, 1986. 398 pp. excerpt and text search
• Edgerton, Robert B. Warriors of the Rising Sun: A History of the Japanese Military. W. W. Norton, 1999. 384 pp. excerpt and text search
• Ericson, Steven J. The Sound of the Whistle: Railroads and the State in Meiji Japan. Harvard U. Press, 1996. 506 pp.
• Hane, Mikiso. Eastern Phoenix: Japan since 1945 Westview Press, 1996 online edition
• Hayami, Akira; Saito, Osamu; and Toby, Ronald P., eds. The Economic History of Japan, 1600-1990. Vol. 1: Emergence of Economic Society in Japan, 1600-1859. Oxford U. Press, 2004. 420 pp.
• Iriye, Akira. Power and Culture: The Japanese-American War, 1941-1945 (1981),
• LaFeber, Walter. The Clash: A History of U.S.-Japan Relations. W. W. Norton, 1997. 544 pp.
• Mosk, Carl. Japanese Industrial History: Technology, Urbanization, and Economic Growth. M. E. Sharpe, 2001. 293 pp.
• Najita, Tetsuo. Japan: The Intellectual Foundations of Modern Japanese Politics (1980), 200 year interpretation excerpt and text search
• Ohtsu, Makoto. Inside Japanese Business: A Narrative History, 1960-2000. East Gate, 2002. 459 pp.
• Schonberger, Howard B. Aftermath of War: Americans and the Remaking of Japan, 1945-1952 Kent State University Press, 1989 online edition
• Sims, Richard. Japanese Political History since the Meiji Renovation, 1868-2000. Palgrave, 2001. 395 pp.
• Sugihara, Kaoru. Japan, China, and the Growth of the Asian International Economy, 1850-1949 - Vol. 1 Oxford University Press, 2005 online edition
• Sumiya, Mikio, ed. A History of Japanese Trade and Industry Policy. Oxford U. Press, 2000. 662 pp.
• Umesao, Tadao. An Ecological View of History: Japanese Civilization in the World Context. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press, 2003. 208 pp.

Cultural history

• Dumoulin, Heinrich. Zen Buddhism: A History. Vol. 2. Japan. Macmillan, 1989. 509 pp.
• Duus, Peter, ed. The Japanese Discovery of America: A Brief History with Documents. Bedford Books, 1997. 226 pp.
• Guttmann, Allen and Thompson, Lee. Japanese Sports: A History. U. of Hawai`i Press, 2001. 368 pp.
• Harootunian, Harry. History's Disquiet: Modernity, Cultural Practice, and the Question of Everyday Life. Columbia U. Press, 2000. 182 pp.
• Kitagawa Joseph M. Religion in Japanese History. 1966.
• Kuitert, Wybe. Themes in the History of Japanese Garden Art U. of Hawai`i Pr., 2002. 283 pp.
• Leiter, Samuel L. A Kabuki Reader: History and Performance. M. E. Sharpe, 2002. 430 pp.
• Mason, Penelope. History of Japanese Art. Abrams, 1993. 431 pp.
• Morris-Suzuki, Tessa. A History of Japanese Economic Thought Routledge, 1991 online edition
• Roberts, Laurance P. A. Dictionary of Japanese Artists. Tokyo: 1976.
• Sansom, Sir George B. Japan, A Short Cultural History. 1978. online edition
• Standish, Isolde. A New History of Japanese Cinema: A Century of Narrative Film. New York: Continuum, 2005. 452 pp.
• Wakabayashi, Bob Tadashi. Modern Japanese Thought. Cambridge U. Press, 1998. 403 pp.

Primary sources

• Cook, Haruko Taya and Cook, Theodore F. eds. Japan at War: An Oral History. W. W. Norton, 1992. 504 pp., World War II homefront
• Huffman, James L. ed. Modern Japan: A History in Documents (2004)
• Tsunoda, Ryusaku, W. T. de Bary, and Donald Keene, eds. Sources of Japanese Tradition. 1958.
• Yoshida, Shigeru. The Yoshida Memoirs: The Story of Japan in Crisis 1961, on Occupayion, 1945-51 online edition

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