A brief history of Japan in five distinct historical periods. The summary hopefully provides a basic insight into the country’s tumultuous past and provides some foundations from which the unique culture and customs of today’s Japan can be understood.

The Emergence of Japan

The first humans to inhabit Japan walked over from the mainland around 35,000 BCE at a time when…

Samurai Rule & Civil War

The ebb and flow of power between various factions dictated domestic history for much of the following centuries.…

The Edo Period & Tokugawa Rule

Tokugawa Ieyasu installing himself as shogun did not wash away the grievances felt by those daimyo with ambitions…

The Meiji Restoration & Imperial Japan

The relative ease with which power shifted back to the emperor stood in contrast to the huge task…

The Post-War Era & Modern Japan

General Douglas MacArthur, who had been commander of the United States Army Forces in the Far East, landed…