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HISTORY

Relations with Korea and China
From the earliest days of reliable history, Japan has had close links with Korea . Though these were not always amicable - according to the chronicles, Empress Jingo led an invasion force to the peninsula in 200 AD - a significant number of Japan's ruling class are believed to have had Korean connections. It was thus Korean scholars who, in 405, first introduced the Chinese script to Japan, which until then had no written language of its own. Then, in 552, the king of Paekche sent an image of Buddha and some Buddhist scriptures to Japan, extolling the virtues of the new belief. By the mid-sixth century the first of Japan's non-imperial ruling dynasties, the Soga clan, had risen to power and taken Buddhism to heart. At the same time one of the most revered names of Japanese history appeared on the scene. This was Prince Shotoku , who was installed as heir apparent and regent to Empress Suiko around 592 AD. A zealous Buddhist and great patron of the arts and sciences, Shotoku also fostered an exchange of scholars with China and Korea, framed a legal code and was responsible for introducing the Chinese calendar.

As the Soga became increasingly arrogant and high-handed during the seventh century, so their power gradually waned. In 645 the Nakatomi clan staged a successful coup, and then, having changed their name to Fujiwara , rose to become the most influential and aristocratic family in Japan's history. In the late seventh century, Emperor Mommu chose a Fujiwara lady as his consort, starting a trend that continued until the reign of Emperor Taisho in 1921.

As early as 646, the Fujiwara introduced a series of reforms, the Taika , or Great Reforms, reorganizing the government on Chinese lines in order to strengthen the throne. The Chinese system of land tenure and taxation was adopted, and an attempt was made to decentralize the government, though this was hampered by Japan's difficult, mountainous terrain. In 702 further reforms saw the nationalization of land and the founding of a university to teach Chinese history and philosophy. Confucian principles, which espoused filial piety and the subordination of women, were encouraged. For a while it also became the custom to relocate the royal palace after the death of each emperor, until Japan's first would-be permanent capital, Nara , was founded in 710.

The Heian era 794-1185
Nara only survived as the capital until 784, when the Fujiwara decided they needed to escape from the monks and priests who were meddling too much in politics. After a short spell in nearby Nagaoka, the court eventually moved to Heian-kyo (Capital of Peace) in 794. Later known as Kyoto, the city remained the official, if not the de facto, capital of Japan until 1869. Thus commenced one of the most stable and long-lasting epochs in Japan's history, an era in which the political influence of the Fujiwara flourished, at least initially, and which saw a blossoming of religion, literature, and other artistic pursuits.

In 760 the Man'yoshu , the first great anthology of Japanese poetry , was written in a transliterated form of Chinese. Towards the end of the eighth century Dengyo Daishi, who had spent some years in China, founded the Tendai sect of Buddhism, and a few years later, Kobo Daishi established the Shingon sect . According to tradition, it was Kobo Daishi who developed the simplified hiragana syllabary, which Lady Murasaki later used to write the world's first novel, The Tale of Genji , some time around 1000 AD. Another work from this period which is still popular today is The Pillow Book , a diary of often acid observations on court life by a lady-in-waiting, Sei Shonagon.

For a while the Fujiwara steadily increased their grip on power. In 866 Fujiwara Yoshifusa was the first person of non-royal blood to be appointed regent, to rule on behalf of the emperor, and his successors held this position virtually continuously for the next three hundred years. The clan's power reached its zenith under Regent Fujiwara Michinaga , who held control for thirty years after 967 AD, partly by marrying his daughters to four successive emperors.


The Kamakura era 1185-1333
Yoritomo established his Bakufu , or "tent government", at Kamakura (near present-day Yokohama), in 1192. The term Tent Government was symbolic of the spartan, military character of the new regime. Yoritomo styled himself Sei-i Tai Shogun, the "Barbarian-subduing Great General", a title which had previously been used on appropriate occasions but which now became permanent.

To drive home the martial emphasis of the new government, military governors were appointed to work alongside the civil administrators, and taxes were levied to cover military expenditure. More generally, Japan settled in to a period of semi-feudalism , with the peasants being allowed tenure of land in return for service to their local lord.

The Kamakura Bakufu did not survive long after the death of Yoritomo in 1199, since his successors lacked his strong character and organizational skills. During the latter part of his administration he had been ably and loyally supported by Hojo Tokimasa who, in partnership with Yoritomo's widow Masa, now took the helm. Tokimasa quickly assumed the combined roles of military and civil governor, ushering in the century-long era of the Hojo regents . By the late thirteenth century, therefore, the government had evolved into a multi-layered entity. A cloistered retired emperor presided over his successor in Kyoto, who had ceded power to the shogun in Kamakura, who in turn had been rendered powerless by the Hojo regent, who by then had also handed over power to a new generation of front men.

The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries saw the rise of the merchant class . Trade and commerce were encouraged by monks travelling to China and Korea, and by a demand for military supplies. The ports of Hyogo (now Kobe) and Osaka developed to handle this trade, while towns and markets grew under the patronage of feudal lords and monasteries. On the political front, Regent Yasutoki formulated the Joei Code in 1232, which provided guidelines on behaviour for the samurai class as well as rules on land tenure and the maintenance of religious buildings. It was during this period that the class distinctions were demarcated: warriors at the top, then farmers, artisans and, finally, merchants.

This fairly stable state of affairs was shattered in 1268 when the great Mongol leader, Kublai Khan , sent six envoys to demand that Japan pay tribute to China. Japan's rejection provoked the Khan to invade in 1274, when the Mongol army landed at Hakata (north Kyushu) but had to withdraw when a storm threatened their fleet. After the Japanese executed further envoys, in 1281 the Khan dispatched a huge punitive expedition, believed to number about 100,000 men. The invaders gained a foothold and fought fiercely for seven weeks, but their fleet was again scattered by a typhoon. The grateful Japanese dubbed it the kamikaze , or "Divine Wind", a name which later reappeared during the Pacific War .

The Moromachi era 1333-1573
The demands of war, a generally deteriorating economy and an ineffectual government, eventually led to the collapse of the Hojo in 1333. This coincided with the accession to the throne of the emperor Go-Daigo , who, being older than earlier incumbents, was less easy to manipulate. After Go-Daigo's commander defeated the Hojo, the Kamakura Bakufu dispatched Ashikaga Takauji to bring Go-Daigo to heel. Seeing his chance to seize power, the wily Takauji switched allegiance to the emperor. When Go-Daigo uncovered Takauji's plot, the two sides clashed briefly before the emperor was forced to retreat to the mountains of Yoshino. Takauji set up a rival emperor in Kyoto and for sixty years Japan had two courts, until they were reconciled in 1392. By this time, the Ashikaga Shogunate had established its headquarters in Kyoto's Muromachi district, from where they ruled for more than two centuries.

Over the years, the Ashikaga, too, began to lose their grip on power due to a combination of mismanagement and circumstances. The shoguns and their retinues were inclined to lives of extravagance. It was during this period that Kinkaku-ji and Ginkaku-ji (Kyoto's Gold and Silver pavilions) were built, while the decorative arts reached new heights of perfection and No theatre was developed. The result of such profligacy was, predictably, increasing exactions on the peasants, and a spate of peasant revolts . At the same time, local power bases were re-consolidating, so that by the end of the fifteenth century virtually all central authority had disappeared. In the absence of a strong government, festering inter-clan enmities culminated in the Onin Wars (1467-78), which took place mainly in and around Kyoto. These marked the start of a period of civil wars which lasted until the early seventeenth century.

In 1549, towards the end of the Muromachi era, the Portuguese missionary Saint Francis Xavier arrived on the shores of Kyushu. Initially the Christian newcomers were treated with tolerance, partly out of curiosity but mainly because they carried valuable new technology. Not surprisingly in a country embroiled in civil war, the Europeans' firearms attracted much envious attention. Japan's warlords were quick to master the new weapons and eventually developed tactical use of massed musketry unsurpassed even in Europe.

At the same time, this eastward advancement of the Europeans was counteracted by explorations to the west by Japanese seafarers , many of whom were privateers, if not actually pirates. They reached as far as the Indian Ocean, and it is one of the interesting conundrums of history as to what would have happened if these adventurers had not been recalled by the somewhat paranoid Tokugawa regime.


Reunification
The civil wars ended with the reunification of Japan under a triumvirate of generals of outstanding ability. The first, Oda Nobunaga , had the initial advantage of hailing from Owari, one of Japan's strategically placed central districts. Having achieved dominance of the Kyoto region, however, he was promptly assassinated. His successor was Toyotomi Hideyoshi , who had risen from obscurity to be one of Nobunaga's most trusted generals. Hideyoshi avenged Nobunaga's death and managed to outmanoeuvre all rivals with a shrewd mix of force and diplomacy. Success went to his head, however, and he embarked on costly excursions into Korea, which eventually had to be abandoned.

Shortly before his death in 1598, Hideyoshi persuaded Tokugawa leyasu , now an ally after a period of circumspect confrontation, to support the succession of his son Hideyori . This trust was misplaced. After defeating the remaining western clans at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, the ambitious Ieyasu decided to seize power, and sacked Osaka castle, Hideyori's stronghold, in 1615. The western clans retreated to their fiefdoms to brood on their grievances for the next 250 years, when they emerged to exact a sort of revenge against the Tokugawa Shogunate .


The Tokugawa Shogunate 1600-1868
Ieyasu established his administrative capital at Edo , now Tokyo, and set about guaranteeing the security of the Tokugawa Shogunate . The three Tokugawa-related clans were given estates in the most strategically important areas, followed by the lords who had fought on the Tokugawa side. Last came the "outside lords", whose loyalty was questionable; they were allocated fiefdoms in the remotest regions. To keep all these daimyo in check they were required to reside part of the year in Edo, thus forcing them into expensive, time-consuming journeys, and to surrender family hostages who lived permanently under the eyes of the authorities in Edo Castle. A sophisticated network of inspectors and spies was set up, and any significant rebuilding of local castles had to be reported.

In its early years, the Tokugawa Shogunate exhibited a high degree of ambivalence towards the European arrivals. As Christianity increasingly appeared to threaten state security, more and more strictures were placed on all foreigners and harsh persecutions were conducted against the missionaries and Christian converts. By 1638, the year of final exclusion of foreigners, an estimated 250,000 Japanese Christians had been executed, imprisoned or forced to apostatize. The final stand took place in 1637 at Shimabara , near Nagasaki, when a Christian-led rebel army was annihilated . Thus began the period of sakoku , or the closed country , which lasted more-or-less continuously until 1853. The only legitimate exceptions to the edicts were Korean diplomats and a handful of Dutch and Chinese traders allowed to operate out of Nagasaki.

The long period of stability under the Tokugawa, interrupted only by a few peasant rebellions, brought steady economic development . Several towns grew to a considerable size, and by the late eighteenth century Edo had become the world's largest city, with a population of roughly one million. The arts also flourished, especially during the Genroku Period (1688-1703), which saw the first mention of ukiyo , the " floating world " of fleeting pleasures. Artists churned out woodblock prints ( ukiyo-e ) popularizing the puppet plays of Chikamatsu and novels of Saikaku; Hokusai alone is said to have produced 35,000 paintings and illustrated 437 volumes .


The rise and fall of the samurai
The origins of the samurai , Japan's warrior caste, go back to the ninth century, when the feudal lords began to maintain regular forces. Gradually, they evolved into an elite group of hereditary warriors, their lives governed by an unwritten code of behaviour which came to be known as bushido , the way of the warrior . Though practice was often far from the ideal, bushido encouraged rigorous self-discipline, the observance of strict laws of etiquette and, most importantly, unquestioning loyalty.

According to this code, the samurai , his wife and children were expected to die willingly to protect the life and honour of their feudal lord. If they failed in this duty, or were about to be taken prisoner on a battlefield, then suicide was the only fitting response. The traditional, and excruciatingly painful, method of ritual suicide was disembowelment with a sword or dagger ( seppuku ), though in later years an accomplice would stand by to cut off the victim's head. However, there were many variations on the theme; one particularly gruesome legend tells of a warrior who had himself buried alive, in full armour, astride his poor horse.

The samurai creed reached full bloom in the early Tokugawa era , when class distinctions were officially delineated. The samurai were deemed "the masters of the four classes" - above farmers, artisans and merchants - and they alone were permitted to carry swords. They even had the right to kill any member of the lower orders for disrespectful behaviour - real or imagined. This privilege was graphically known as kirisute-gomen , literally "cut, throw away, pardon".

During the more peaceful seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, many samurai found themselves out of work as their lords were dispossessed and fiefdoms redistributed. Many became ronin , or masterless samurai , whose lives were romanticized in such films as The Seven Samurai . Among the most celebrated were the 47 ronin and an individual called Musashi, who reputedly prevailed in 66 sword fights, several against heavy odds, and then went to live in a cave since there was no one else worthy of the challenge.

As their fighting skills were no longer required, the samurai grew increasingly impoverished and demoralized. Some found alternative ways to earn a living, while others were encouraged to study and later proved invaluable administrators in the post-1868 Meiji administration. At the same time the government formally abolished the samurai system, and only allowed members of the new imperial army to wear swords. All this was too much for some of the old guard, the most famous of which was Saigo Takamori. A larger-than-life hero, Saigo led a rebellion against the Meiji government in 1877 and died on the battlefield in true samurai spirit, fighting to the end against desperate odds.


The Meiji era 1868-1912
The reign of Emperor Meiji , as Mutsuhito was posthumously known, saw vast changes taking place in Japan. A policy of modernization , termed fukoku kyohei (enrich the country, strengthen the military), was adopted. Railways were built, compulsory education and military service introduced, the solar calendar adopted and the feudal fiefs and the class system abolished. Such rapid changes were bound to create resistance and in 1877, Saigo Takamori , a hero of the restoration, led an army of 40,000 in the Satsuma Rebellion (named after the area of Kyushu in which it erupted) .

In the 1880s, even more changes were rubber-stamped by the ruling oligarchy of Meiji Restoration leaders, who imported thousands of foreign advisers ( yatoi ) for assistance. As a craze for Japanese objets d'art swept Europe, Western architecture, fashions, food (such as beef, referred to as "mountain whale") and pastimes were de rigueur in Japan. But as Japan adopted a Western-style constitution in 1889, drawn up by the emperor's trusted adviser Ito Hirobumi , the seeds of the country's later troubles were being sown.

The Meiji Constitution , modelled after Germany's, created a weak parliament (the Diet), the lower house of which less than twenty percent of the population were entitled to vote for. In effect the oligarchy, and in particular the military, was still in charge, a situation enforced with the Imperial Rescript on Education in 1890, which enshrined almost as law loyalty to the emperor, family and state. Shinto, which emphasized emperor-worship became the state religion, while Buddhism, associated too closely with the previous order, was disestablished.

Having taken their lead from the West in terms of material change, Japan's rulers began to copy their territorial ambitions. The island of Hokkaido, previously left pretty much to the native Ainu , was actively colonized, partly to ward off a rival takeover by Russia. Territorial spats with the ailing empire of China developed into the Sino-Japanese War in 1894, over the Chinese tributary state of Korea. The fighting lasted less than a year, with a treaty being signed in Shimonoseki in 1895 which granted Korea independence, and indemnities, economic concessions and territory to Japan, including Taiwan, then called Formosa.

This unexpected victory brought Japan into conflict with the colony-hungry Western powers, and in particular Russia who had her eye on China's Liaodong peninsula for a naval base at Port Arthur. After cordial relations with Britain were cemented in the 1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance, Japan felt bold enough to launch her navy on a successful rout of the Russian fleet in February 1904. The land battles of the Russo-Japanese War were less decisive, but in a US-mediated treaty in September 1905, Russia was forced to make many territorial concessions to Japan.

In 1909, the assassination of Ito Hirobumi, the newly appointed "resident general" of Korea, gave Japan the excuse it was seeking to fully annex the country the following year. With the military in control, and a plot against the emperor's life uncovered in 1911, any domestic left-wing dissent was quashed. Meanwhile, the Western powers' admiration of plucky Japan, which less than half a century before had been a medieval country, tempered any qualms they might have had about its increasingly aggressive territorial behaviour


The Taisho era 1912-1926
The sudden death of Emperor Meiji in 1912 ushered in the relatively brief Taisho (Great Righteousness) era . Meiji's son Yoshihito, the only surviving male out of his fourteen children, suffered hereditary mental illness and by 1921 was so incapacitated that his own son Hirohito was declared regent.

Britain had sent 500 sailors from the Royal Navy to march in Emperor Meiji's funeral parade and when World War I broke out two years later, this was the country Japan chose to ally itself with. Despite gaining more territory in Asia after the war and being one of the "Big Five" at the Paris Peace Conference and a founder member of the League of Nations in 1920, Japan was frustrated by Australia, Britain and the US in its attempts to get a declaration of racial equality inserted as part of the Charter of the League.

This snub didn't stand in the way of continued friendly relations between Japan and the West, though. In 1921 Crown Prince Hirohito was a guest of King George V at Buckingham Palace, while the following year the Prince of Wales spent a month touring Japan.

In many ways, the Roaring Twenties were no different in Japan (at least in the cities) than anywhere else in the industrialized world. Jazz, Marxism, modern arts and café society all caught on. Levelling Yokohama and much of Tokyo, and leaving 140,000 dead or missing, the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake was a significant blow, but the country was quickly back on its feet and celebrating the inauguration of Emperor Hirohito , in 1926, who chose the name Showa (Enlightened Peace) for his reign.


The slide to War
Sadly, peace is the last thing that Hirohito's reign is remembered for. Economic and political turmoil in the early 1930s provided the military with the opportunity it needed to seize full control. Japan's politicians stood by helplessly during the Manchurian Incident of 1931, when army officers unilaterally cooked up an excuse for attacking and occupying the Manchurian region of northern China. Japan installed P'u Yi , the last emperor of China's Manchu dynasty, as the head of their puppet state, Manchukuo, and responded to Western condemnation of its actions by pulling out of the League of Nations.

At home, the military increased its grip on power in the wake of assassinations in 1932 of both the finance and prime ministers, and a confused, short-lived coup by 1400 dissident army officers in February 1936. At the same time, rapid industrialization was laying the foundations for some of the most famous Japanese firms of the twentieth century, including the automobile makers Mazda, Toyota and Nissan, the film company Fuji and the electronics giant Matsushita.

In 1936, Japan nailed its colours to the mast by joining with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in the Anti-Comintern Pact , and the following year launched a full-scale invasion of China. In December 1937, the infamous Rape of Nanking occurred when appalling atrocities and massacres were committed against hundreds of thousands of unarmed Chinese soldiers and civilians.

As World War II began in Europe, Japan initially held off attacking Allied colonies in the Far East, but when France and Holland fell to Germany their qualms disappeared. Sanctions were imposed by Britain and the US as Japan's army moved into Indo-China, threatening Malaya and the East Indies. War between the Allies and Japan was becoming inevitable.


The Pacific War
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the US naval base at Hawaii's Pearl Harbor , starting the Pacific War . In rapid succession, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaya and Burma fell to the seemingly unstoppable Japanese forces. However, the tide was stemmed in New Guinea and, in June 1942, the US Navy won a decisive victory at the Battle of Midway , by sinking four Japanese aircraft carriers.

Although Japan had launched her campaign to secure the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere", in which she would free her neighbours from colonization and help them develop like the West, the brutal, racist and exploitative reality of Japanese occupation meant there was no support from these potential Southeast Asian allies. Nor was there a likelihood of military co-operation between Japan and Germany, who both eyed each other suspiciously despite their pact.

By 1944, with the US capture of the Pacific island of Saipan, Japan was clearly heading for defeat . The country was now within range of US heavy bombers, but there was a determination to fight to the bitter end, as exemplified by suicidal kamikaze pilots and the defending forces on the islands of Iwo-jima and Okinawa who fought to the last man.

In March 1945, Tokyo was in ashes and 100,000 were dead following three days of fire bombings. The government insisted that the emperor system remain inviolate when they put down arms, but no such assurances were offered in July 1945 when the Allies called for Japan's unconditional surrender in the Potsdam Declaration. Japan failed to respond, providing the Allies with the excuse they needed to drop the Atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6 . Two days later, the USSR declared war on Japan, while the next day, the second A-bomb exploded over Nagasaki .

With millions homeless and starving, and the country brought to its knees, it was a breathtaking understatement for Emperor Hirohito to broadcast, on August 15, 1945, that the war had "developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage". For his subjects, gathered at wireless sets around the country, the realization of defeat was tempered by their amazement at hearing, for the first time, the voice of a living god

The American occupation 1945-1952
Having never lost a war, let alone been occupied, Japan little knew what to expect from the arrival of the "American Shogun" General Douglas MacArthur , designated the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces (SCAP). Some 500 soldiers committed suicide, but for the rest of the population the Occupation was a welcome relief from the privations of war and an opportunity to start again, under the guidance of the world's most successful nation.

MacArthur wasted no time in instituting political and social reform . The country was demilitarized, the bureaucracy purged of military supporters and war trials held, resulting in seven hangings, including that of the ex-prime minister, Tojo Hideki. The emperor, whose support for the new regime was seen as crucial, was spared although he had to publicly renounce his divinity to become a symbolic head of state.

In 1946, the Americans took a week to draft a new constitution , which, ironically, proclaimed that sovereignty resided in the Japanese people, and contained the unique provision renouncing war and "the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes". Land and educational reform followed.

The peace treaty signed in San Francisco on September 8, 1951, resolved all issues with the Allies, leaving only the USSR as a threatening communist force. The outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 gave a further boost to Japan's economy as the country became the main supplier of food and arms for the US forces.

The Occupation officially ended on April 28, 1952, but with the Korean War continuing and the Treaty of Mutual Co-operation and Security guaranteeing the US the right to maintain bases on Japanese soil, a strong American presence remained for many years to come. The island of Okinawa was, in fact, only returned to Japan in 1972.


The 1960s economic miracle
In 1955, in the face of rising left-wing antagonism to the continued security pact with the US, America's CIA provided funding for the right-wing Liberal and Democrat parties to join forces. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a tight coalition of power-hungry factions, governed Japan uninterrupted for close on the next forty years, creating the stable political conditions for an incredible economic recovery. The term Japan Inc was coined for the close co-operation that developed between government, bureaucracy and business, with the civil service bodies such as the Ministry for International Trade and Industry (MITI) calling many of the shots.

In 1959, Crown Prince Akihito married Shoda Michiko, a commoner he'd met on the tennis courts of the summer resort Karuizawa, a far cry from the marriage of his own father, arranged by the court without Hirohito even setting eyes on his prospective bride. As the decade closed, the economy had grown at twice the rate expected, and during the 1960s, under a ten-year plan drawn up by Prime Minister Ikeda Hayato , it continued to boom. A key year was 1964: Japan joined the rich nations "club", the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, inaugurated the high-speed bullet train and hosted the Summer Olympic Games.

As families across the country worked to buy a refrigerator, television and washing machine (the "three sacred treasures"), the growing consumer economy around the world provided the main outlet for Japan's highly desirable industrial and technical goods. Japanese exports grew twice as fast as world trade, an incredible reversal of events for a country whose products, only a couple of decades earlier, had been the last word in unreliability. At the same time, Japan protected its home markets by subjecting imports to quotas, a mass of regulations or outright bans.

Although Japan notably didn't suffer the kind of social breakdown (increased crime, use of drugs) associated with growing affluence in the West, it didn't escape entirely from paying for its economic miracle. Not only did rapid industrialization physically scar the country, pollution wrecked lives, particularly in the Kyushu fishing village of Minamata, where mercury poisoning caused the horrific Minamata disease . In 1971, Tokyo's metropolitan government officially declared that the capital's residents breathed polluted air, drank contaminated water and were "subjected to noise levels that strain the nerves".

By the 1970s, the ingrained corruption festering at the heart of Japanese politics was also becoming clear. The conservative LDP had continued to hold power partly by astutely hijacking its rivals' policies, but mainly by entering into cosy financial relationships with supporters in industry and commerce. Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei , a self-made politician from Niigata, had already attracted criticism for pushing through the needless construction of a Shinkansen line to his home town, when his abuse of party funds in the Upper House elections of July 1974 caused fellow LDP grandees to quit the Cabinet in protest. Takeda rode the scandal out, but couldn't survive the bribery charges, brought in February 1976, in connection with the purchase of aircraft from America's Lockheed Corporation.

The oil shock
Attention was swiftly diverted from other problems by the Middle East oil embargo of 1973. Three-quarters of Japan's energy needs were met by imported fuel, so the overnight quadrupling of oil prices was a severe shock to the country, which rapidly had to introduce measures to tackle inflation, reduce energy consumption and stem growth. The economy suffered, but, as ever, Japan learnt lessons, improved its processes and emerged in the next decade fitter and more vigorous than ever.

A buzzword of the booming 1980s was kokusaika (internationalization), even if nobody seemed to know quite what it meant. Yet, at the same time as the Japanese were being urged to take a global view, the world was increasingly complaining about Japan's insular ways. The country's huge balance of payments surplus and restrictive trade practices set it at odds with the international community and particularly the US. The tense situation wasn't eased as cash-rich Japanese companies snapped up American firms and assets, such as the Rockefeller Center in New York, and the trade surplus with the US totalled over $30 billion.

Despite the factional infighting and jockeying for power that continued within the LDP, the party clung on to power largely by providing voters with a continually rising standard of living. Opposition parties, such as the Japan Socialist Party, were too weak and espoused unrealistic policies. The country, however, ran through a succession of scandal-prone prime ministers , who slipped quickly in and out of office in the wake of bribery allegations and sexual shenanigans. Even the dapper Nakasone Yasuhiro, who became the first fluent English-speaking prime minister in 1982, was not immune, offending the US by saying that it lagged behind Japan because it was hampered by ethnic minorities.

In the meantime, Japan's booming economy and soaring rise in real estate values fed into a decade of unprecedented wealth and spending. Families now aspired to the "3 Vs" - video, villa and vacation abroad. Construction, long the bedrock of the economy, continued apace with skyscrapers shooting up across the country along with mammoth engineering projects, such as the Seto Ohashi, the bridge linking the main island of Honshu and Shikoku.

The decade wasn't all conspicuous domestic consumption, though. By the time of the death of Emperor Hirohito in January 1989, Japan was the world's second largest donor of overseas aid . But as the Showa era came to an end, ushering in the Heisei (Accomplished Peace) era , the omens for the country were far from auspicious as the overheated "bubble economy" reached bursting point.

The 1990s: A decade of uncertainty
The 1990s kicked off with the coronation of Emperor Akihito and a political crisis surrounding the Gulf War . Japan's command of its economy had long been sure-footed, but its management of defence issues, constrained by the antiwar constitution and security alliances with the US, was less certain. Now it was under pressure to send its Self Defence Forces (SDF) overseas, something expressly forbidden by the constitution.

As a member of the United Nations and an aspirant for a seat on the Security Council, Japan knew it had to respond to the international call to arms. The compromise of $17.3 billion in financial aid satisfied no one, not least the more hawkish factions of the splintering LDP. In 1992, after protracted debate and amid public demonstrations, the Diet passed a controversial bill allowing Japanese troops to join UN peacekeeping missions abroad.

The main reason for continued squeamishness about an overseas military role is the haunting presence of Japan's actions during World War II. The San Francisco treaty did little to satisfy those who had experienced first-hand brutal treatment by the Japanese army during the war, not least the former colonies in Southeast Asia. Old wounds were reopened as the covered-up issue of forced prostitution, or "comfort women" as it was euphemistically dubbed, was blasted across the media in the early 1990s.

Some light relief was supplied in 1993 when Crown Prince Naruhito married Owada Masako, a high-flying career diplomat. But even this happy occasion was marred for some by the fact that Owada, a shining symbol of improved opportunities for women in what remains a highly male-dominated country, appeared to have been pressured into the deeply conservative role of empress-in-waiting.

Despite a growing recognition that the boom years were well and truly over, the mass of the population continued to enjoy the affluent good life. Particularly noticeable were Princess Masako's less-fettered contemporaries, the army of office ladies (OLs), who with their spending power kick-started many a fashion fad, from a taste for the Italian sweet tiramisu to the G-string panties favoured by podium dancers at mega-discos, such as Tokyo's Julianna's .

As the recession gripped and fashions changed, it also seemed that the days of the ruling LDP were finally numbered. By the time the crusty power broker Kanemaru Shin locked himself away at home and played mah-jong rather than answer police questions about yet another bribery scandal, the public had had their fill of corrupt politicians. More importantly, rival factions within the LDP decided to make independent bids for power rather than brokering yet more deals in smoke-filled rooms.

Leading the most influential faction was Ozawa Ichiro , one of Japan's powerful politicians, as much loathed for his outspoken views as admired for his radical policies. A successful no-confidence motion in June 1993 forced Prime Minister Miyazawa Kiichi's shaky government into a hasty general election . Although the LDP actually gained one seat, the overall balance of power passed to a coalition of opposition parties, who formed the first non-LDP government in 38 years under leadership of the populist, reforming politician Hosokawa Morihiro .

However, hopes of a new beginning for Japanese politics faded as the charismatic Hosokawa, who'd stood on an anti-corruption ticket and had relied on Ozawa's support to become prime minister, lasted less than a year. A plan to double the hated consumption tax went down like a lead balloon and when a story broke about Hosokawa's chequered past with regard to election funding, it was clear he had to go. His successor Hata Tsutomu , another ally of Ozawa, saw the Socialists walk out on the coalition on his first day of office, and his premiership went down in history as the shortest since World War II, at just two months.

The Socialists, already decimated in numbers at the last election, did themselves no favours by siding with their old foes, the LDP, to form the next government. This cynical alliance put the LDP back in the control seat, just over a year since it had lost power and forced new premier Murayama Tomiichi , a Socialist elder statesman, to have his party drop long-held pacifist policies (much to the disgust of voters).

The political paralysis at the heart of the LDP/Socialist coalition became all too apparent in the sluggish response to the massive Great Hanshin Earthquake of January 1995 which devastated Kobe . Immediate offers of foreign help were rebuffed and the local yakuza further shamed the government by organizing food supplies to the thousands of homeless. The nation's self-confidence took a further battering less than a couple of months later when members of a religious cult, AUM Shinrikyo , killed 12 and poisoned 5500 when they released Sarin nerve gas on the Tokyo subway. Japan went into introspective shock.

In 1996, in the Diet, the Socialists crumbled and the LDP returned to full power, under the leadership of Hashimoto Ryparo who made a name for himself as a tough-talking, slick trade negotiator with the US. Hashimoto's premiership, however, was incapable of withstanding the continued onslaught of economic problems. In November 1997 the image of the sobbing president of the failed major brokerage firm, Yamaichi Securities Co, summed up the end of the era of Japan Inc. No longer were Japan's government and bureaucrats willing - or able - to support enterprises, especially those like Yamaichi with billions of yen of bad debts spawned by the dubious financial practices of the previous decade. The dead hand of the market had finally caught up with Japan, and the one-time wonder economy that had been the envy of the world appeared on the brink of collapse.

Into the millennium
The official announcement of recession in June 1998, coupled with the plummeting value of the yen and rising unemployment, saw the LDP take a drubbing in the August 1998 upper-house elections , when the party didn't win a single seat in the major metropolitan districts. Hashimoto resigned and was replaced by Obuchi Keizo , a genial but lacklustre politician, referred to as "cold pizza" by journalists. To Obuchi's credit, he turned this crack on its head, quipping that even cold pizza tasted good for breakfast and staying in office as the economy, and cabinet's approval ratings, started to improve.

In July 1999, the Buddhist-backed Komeito party joined the LDP right-wing coalition, somewhat undermining its aim to purify Japan's corrupt political system. A major nuclear accident in September in which several people died caused pause for thought, but no cancellation of Japan's increased reliance on this form of energy.

Women gained some ground. In June the contraceptive pill was finally legalized, after nearly forty years of consideration by the health ministry. Osaka Governor Knock Yokoyama was ordered to pay a record US$107,000 to a 21-year-old university student in Japan's most high-profile sexual harassment case. And, with Knock disgraced, Ota Fusae became the first female governor in Japan when she won the Osaka poll in February 2000. She was forced to back down, though, on her plan to present the prizes in the local sumo contest (an honour traditionally accorded to the governor, but problematic since women are not supposed to enter the sacred dohyo ), despite strong support from the public in a national newspaper poll.

Hopes for an imperial heir faded as it was announced in December 1999, after much speculation, that Princess Masako had suffered a miscarriage . Another sudden blow came in April 2000, when Prime Minister Obuchi suffered a major stroke, dying on May 14 without having recovered consciousness. His successor, Mori Yoshiro , was described by Time as a "scandal-tainted back-room dealer with no discernible ideology, little international experience and zero tact". In the June general election, Mori's LDP limped back into power, only staying in government because of the coalition with the New Komeito and the new Conservative party. Also in June, the Empress Dowager Nagako , wife of Hirohito, died aged 97.

In July, the historic department-store chain Sogo became Japan's second biggest corporate bankruptcy, with almost ¥2 trillion in debts. Little expense was spared, though, later in the month, for the G8 summit held in Okinawa - the locals protested about the continued heavy US military presence on the islands while Vladimir Putin, the new Russian president, showed off his judo skills in an orchestrated photo-op. Still, Putin couldn't get Japan to budge over the sovereignty of four of the Kuril Islands, off Hokkaido (known as the Northern Territories in Japan), when he met with Prime Minister Mori in September. Meanwhile, the product safety scares whipped up by the tainted milk scandal involving Snow Brand earlier in the year, went global when it was revealed that Mitsubishi had for years been covering up numerous customer complaints.

Eclipsing these man-made disasters were the litany of natural ones that hit Japan during 2000. Mount Usu in Hokkaido blew its top in spectacular fashion in March. Whole populations were evacuated from the Ogasawara Islands, 200km south of Tokyo, as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions struck. With thousands more tremors felt across Japan, Governor Ishihara in Tokyo made sure the capital was up to speed with disaster preparedness when the "Big Rescue 2000" dry-run saw 25,000 people dealing with the effects of a simulated 7.2 force earthquake in the capital.

A year and a day after being sworn in as PM, the gaff-prone and much disliked Mori Yoshiro resigned in April 2001, but not before announcing yet another emergency rescue package for an economy still struggling with practically zero growth and an unemployment rate that remains stubbornly around a previously unthinkable five percent. Still, as new-technology and Internet-based companies take off and deregulation of various industries continues, commentators are beginning to talk of a " third great opening " for Japan, following on from the economic impetuses provided by the Black Ships in 1853 and General MacArthur during the occupation after World War II.
 

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