Japan A Country Study Guide

Japan has the world’s third-largest economy, having achieved remarkable growth in the second half of the 20th Century after the devastation of the Second World War. Its role in the international community is considerable. It is a major aid donor, and a source of global capital and credit. From the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a long period of isolation in the early 17th century, which was ended in 1853 when a United States fleet pressured Japan to open to the West. After nearly two decades of internal conflict and insurrection, the Imperial Court regainedits political power in 1868 through the help of several clans from Chôshû andSatsuma—and the Empire of Japan was established. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victories in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese surrender. Since adopting its revised constitution on May 3, 1947, during theoccupation by the SCAP, Japan has maintained a unitary parliamentaryconstitutional monarchy with an Emperor and an elected legislature called the National Diet. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8 and the G20—and is considered a great power. The country has the world’s third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the world’s fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the world’s fourth-largest exporter andfourth-largest importer.