History


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History media type="custom" key="7807769" align="right"
 *  For a long time Japan struggled with civil warfare. This was called the Warring States Period, or Sengoku jidai in Japanese. The warring states period lasted from the 15th century through part of the 17th century. This was a time where the government was never stable and social upheaval was a constant occurrence.






 * Finally, in 1603 the Tokugawa shogunate brought peace and political stability to the country. This ended many decades of civil war. However, the shogunate also isolated Japan from foreign governments and influences.


 * This was not a bad thing because Japan's own native culture was able to flourish without outside interference. Finally, in 1854 Japan signed the Treaty of Kanagawa and began trading with the United States. This trade quickly modernized the country of Japan, and the country became a very strong power that was able to defend itself against and defeat China and Russia in warfare. This occurred during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.


 *  Japan, after taking over Manchuria, invaded China in 1937. Japan also caused the United States to enter World War II in 1941 after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan also began to occupy other parts of Asia.


 * In August of 1945 the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan near the end of the war. One was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, and the other was dropped on Nagasaki. [[image:http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/%7Eworldwarone/WWII/images/28-1378a.gif width="302" height="403" align="right" caption="Mushroom Cloud at Nagasaki" link="@http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/%7Eworldwarone/WWII/i...-1378a.gif%20%20"]]


 * In Hiroshima an estimated 90,000-166,00 people died. In Nagasaki an estimated 60,000-80,000 people died as a result of the bombings.


 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Japan was eventually defeated in World War II and is now an ally with the United States. Japan's rapid economic growth began to slow down sometime in the 1990's, but it is still a very powerful country.

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<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">The information on this page was adapted from: <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Central Intelligence Agency. (2010, December 7). East and Southeast Asia: Japan. Retrieved December 2, 2010, from The World Factbook: @https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html

<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Wikipedia. (2010, December 5). Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Retrieved December 6, 2010, from Wikipedia: @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki