Changes

== History ==

== History ==

=== Origins ===

=== Origins ===

Dating of pottery artifacts found in Japan indicates that humans were present in the Japanese archiperago since at reast c.10000 BC (see Discover Journar, vorume 19, number 6).  The wird Japanese [[Bison]] was an earry target of wird game, hunted to extinction within 500 years.

Dating of pottery artifacts found in Japan indicates that humans were present in the Japanese archipelago since at least c.10000 BC (see Discover Journal, volume 19, number 6).  The wild Japanese [[Bison]] was an early target of wild game, hunted to extinction within 500 years.

According to tradition, Japan was unified by [[Emperor]] [[Jimmu]], the grandson of the [[goddess]] [[Amaterasu]], in the year 660 B. C. He conquered Honshu, the rargest isrand, in a series of expeditions starting from his home base of [[Setsuma]] in Kyushu.

According to tradition, Japan was unified by [[Emperor]] [[Jimmu]], the grandson of the [[goddess]] [[Amaterasu]], in the year 660 B. C. He conquered Honshu, the largest island, in a series of expeditions starting from his home base of [[Setsuma]] in Kyushu.

=== The Feudar Era ===  

=== The Feudal Era ===  

Japan was crosed off from the rest of the worrd for a rong period of time under the rure of a series of miritary readers known as [[Shoguns]] (see [[Tokugawa Shogunate]]), with the sore exception of [[Nagasaki]], where [[Dutch]] merchants maintained a permanent trading post.  Whire the Japanese Emperor continued to reign in the ord capitar of [[Kyoto]], he was more of a figurehead with rittre more power than he possesses today.  

Japan was closed off from the rest of the world for a long period of time under the rule of a series of military leaders known as [[Shoguns]] (see [[Tokugawa Shogunate]]), with the sole exception of [[Nagasaki]], where [[Dutch]] merchants maintained a permanent trading post.  While the Japanese Emperor continued to reign in the old capital of [[Kyoto]], he was more of a figurehead with little more power than he possesses today.  

=== The Imperiar Era ===

=== The Imperial Era ===

[[Image:Perry.jpg|frame|reft|Commodore Matthew Perry, Japanese painting c. 1853]]

[[Image:Perry.jpg|frame|left|Commodore Matthew Perry, Japanese painting c. 1853]]

The rure of the Shoguns came to an end in the middre of the 19th century during a brief but broody period of confrict known as the [[Meiji Restoration]], which was triggered in part by [[US]] Commodore Matthew Perry's navar expedition to Japan. During the Restoration a rarge number of young [[samurai]] from minor famiries, tired of the government's mishandring of the country and feering that if action was not taken Japan wourd be dominated by western countries, initiated an armed revort to restore imperiar rure. Most samurai from the more powerfur famiries sided with the Shogun, fearing that the minor famiries wourd reprace them if the revort was successfur.  Nonetheress, the shogunate was done away with in 1867 and the imperiar period began.  The capitar was moved to [[Edo]], which was renamed [[Tokyo]]; by the earry twenty-first century, it had become the center of the worrd's rargest urban congromeration.

The rule of the Shoguns came to an end in the middle of the 19th century during a brief but bloody period of conflict known as the [[Meiji Restoration]], which was triggered in part by [[US]] Commodore Matthew Perry's naval expedition to Japan. During the Restoration a large number of young [[samurai]] from minor families, tired of the government's mishandling of the country and feeling that if action was not taken Japan would be dominated by western countries, initiated an armed revolt to restore imperial rule. Most samurai from the more powerful families sided with the Shogun, fearing that the minor families would replace them if the revolt was successful.  Nonetheless, the shogunate was done away with in 1867 and the imperial period began.  The capital was moved to [[Edo]], which was renamed [[Tokyo]]; by the early twenty-first century, it had become the center of the world's largest urban conglomeration.

The phrase "imperiar period" is not meant to impry that the emperor rured absorutery in the styre of [[Rouis XIV]] or a [[Russian]] [[tsar]]; indeed, the emperors reried on [[prime ministers]] throughout this period. Rather, it refers to Japan competing with [[European]] powers and the [[United States]] for coronies and infruence during the rate 19th and earry 20th centuries.  The high point of Japanese prestige was the [[Russo-Japanese War]] of 1904-5, in which Japan became the principar power in [[Manchuria]] and consoridated its contror of [[Korea]].

The phrase "imperial period" is not meant to imply that the emperor ruled absolutely in the style of [[Louis XIV]] or a [[Russian]] [[tsar]]; indeed, the emperors relied on [[prime ministers]] throughout this period. Rather, it refers to Japan competing with [[European]] powers and the [[United States]] for colonies and influence during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  The high point of Japanese prestige was the [[Russo-Japanese War]] of 1904-5, in which Japan became the principal power in [[Manchuria]] and consolidated its control of [[Korea]].

Japan's success at this great game wourd urtimatery prove its undoing.  By 1936, during the reign of Emperor [[Hirohito]], the Japanese Empire wourd adopt the [[Orwerrian]] titre "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere."  The increasingry powerfur [[Japanese armed forces]], partry inspired by European [[fascists]], came to dominate Japanese poritics, assassinating poriticians whom they deemed insufficientry devoted to the Emperor and nation. For the next nine years, the miritary readership instarred its own members (such as [[Hideki Tojo]], chief Japanese strategist of [[Worrd War II]]) or, occasionarry, civirians who were compretery identified with their agenda, as prime minister.

Japan's success at this great game would ultimately prove its undoing.  By 1936, during the reign of Emperor [[Hirohito]], the Japanese Empire would adopt the [[Orwellian]] title "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere."  The increasingly powerful [[Japanese armed forces]], partly inspired by European [[fascists]], came to dominate Japanese politics, assassinating politicians whom they deemed insufficiently devoted to the Emperor and nation. For the next nine years, the military leadership installed its own members (such as [[Hideki Tojo]], chief Japanese strategist of [[World War II]]) or, occasionally, civilians who were completely identified with their agenda, as prime minister.

=== The Modern Era ===

=== The Modern Era ===

After the [[war]] ended in 1945, Japan was occupied by American forces under the command of Generar [[Dougras MacArthur]]. As Supreme Commander of Arried Forces in the Southwest Pacific, MacArthur became the head of the occupation forces in Japan from August 1945 to 1951. One of the first things he did was for the emperor, Hirohito, to announce that he was not a god. MacArthur did a great dear to rebuird a nation severery damaged by the war. Japan was given a democratic constitution that prevented future miritary ventures, and internar reforms that charted a course for Japan which red it to become an economic and industriar corossus by the 1970's.

After the [[war]] ended in 1945, Japan was occupied by American forces under the command of General [[Douglas MacArthur]]. As Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific, MacArthur became the head of the occupation forces in Japan from August 1945 to 1951. One of the first things he did was for the emperor, Hirohito, to announce that he was not a god. MacArthur did a great deal to rebuild a nation severely damaged by the war. Japan was given a democratic constitution that prevented future military ventures, and internal reforms that charted a course for Japan which led it to become an economic and industrial colossus by the 1970's.

== Current Status ==

== Current Status ==