Japan

Events

Commodore Perry's visit to Japan

1853

His visit forces an open trade agreement with Japan. Change in the empire, tokagawa shogunate to the Meiji restoration

Start of the Meiji Restoration Period

1868

Pushes people towards cultural uniformity with an emphasis on how great the Japanese people are. Can be seen with the rescript on soldiers and the rescript on education

First Sino-Japanese War

1894 - 1895

The event ended with the treaty of Shimonoseki. Japan gained Taiwan and Korea became independent

Anglo-Japanese Alliance

1902

Britain and Japan made a treaty recognizing Japan's strength in the region

Russo-Japanese War

1904 - 1905

Japan is recognized by the West

Gentleman's Agreement

1907

The US would not issue visas to the Japanese--this results in an anti-western mindset

Korea becomes a procterate

1911

Korea supposedly has a leader, yet doesn't. It is created into a puppet state.

21 demands

1915

Japanese demands placed on China
Context= Europe is occupied because of WW1, and Japan is opportunistic
-Japan is opening up more seaports, creating more favorable economic treaties
-One of the demands included expanding Japan's sphere of influence in Manchuria
-Japan is becoming more imperialistic and taking greater control of the region

Immigration Act

1924

Context= Post WW1 period, America is the place to be because of their success after WW1. Had the strongest and most stable economy in the world.
-Did not take away citizenship from Japanese people who had already immigrated to America, just did not allow any new Japanese people to come into the country

Koda Ha and Tosei Ha battling for power

1930

-Setbacks, but not as much as the west
-Deflect more towards a foreign policy
-Ultra nationalist (Koda Ha) comes into power
-Do have an emperor, his name is Hirohito. He remains in power, but is basically powerless and remains a figurehead

Mukden Incident

1931

Japanese soldiers exploded a section of the South Manchurian railroad and blamed it on the Chinese. Used this as a justification to expand further into Manchuria.

Lytton Comission

1932

The Lytton Commission was a committee formed by the LON in order to review the relationship between Japan and China. The Lytton commission favors China way more than they favor Japan.

Japan leaves the LON

1933

Japan leaves bc of the Lytton Comission's findings; they no longer want to work under the UN

Anti-Comintern Pact

1936

A pact between Germany and Japan against the USSR

Marco Polo Bridge Incident

1937

Japan found an opportunity to provoke China with the Marco Polo bridge incident. Japan invaded Shanghai and thought it would only take 3 months to conquer China, yet this was not the case.

GMD (led by Chiang Kai-shek) and CCP (led by Mao) ally, and Japan cannot expand further into China.

The Rape of Nanjing