The Japanese Century Trivia Quiz

Russia and Japan fought a war in 1904-05 over their rival imperial claims in Manchuria and the Korean peninsula. The Russians had negotiated the use of Port Arthur in China to give them year-round access to the Pacific Ocean. However, the Japanese saw the Russian presence there as a threat to their imperial ambitions and undertook a sneak attack on the port in February 1904 before Russia had received Japan's declaration of war. Russia responded with a declaration of war of its own but despite its confidence that it would easily defeat a non-European power, it found the Japanese forces too powerful and suffered numerous losses in battles on both land and sea.

After the Battle of Tsushima in April 1905, in which the Russian naval fleet was decimated, Russia decided to sue for peace. The cessation of hostilities was formalised in the Treaty of Portsmouth which recognised Japan's interests in Korea, ceded territories to Japan, and compelled the withdrawal of Russian troops from Manchuria, including Port Arthur.

The misnamed Spanish flu, as it probably originated in the USA, was a worldwide pandemic that is estimated to have killed up to 50 million people worldwide. The pandemic was particular devastating because of its timing and its pathology, which was unusually effective at defeating the immune system of healthy working age adults rather than the more common victims - the young and the elderly. Its timing, coming straight after the ravages of World War I, was brutal, but probably not coincidental as the worldwide movement of troops almost certainly aided its spread.

Initially, though, in Japan the arrival of the flu was blamed on three sumo wrestlers who were believed to have contracted the disease when on a tour of Taiwan and was given the name of the "sumo cold". However, by November when over a quarter of a million people had died and nearly 40% of the population had been affected, it was recognised that this was the same illness that had been affecting so many in Spain. A second wave came at the end of the decade and although it saw fewer people infected, the mortality rate was a staggering 20%. Overall nearly 400,000 died from the flu in Japan.

Hirohito inherited the Chrysanthemum Throne on Christmas Day 1926 at the age of 25. He was the 124th emperor of Japan. He had been acting as regent for his father Yoshihito since 1921, and the regency period saw him have to manage the aftermath of the Great Kanto earthquake, which had caused 100,000 deaths.

The capital city, Tokyo, and other cities in the region were utterly devastated by the earthquake and the fires that immediately followed.

Manchuria was a name given to the most north-eastern part of the Republic of China. Until the Japanese invaded the region in 1931, it had been under the control of the warlord Marshal Zhang Zuolin, and then his son, Zhang Xueliang, following the warlord's assassination in 1928. Marshal Zhang had established his hold on the region with the support of Japan, but his backers turned on him after he established himself as the President of the Republic of China. Japan, deciding that he was no longer looking after their interests, blew up a bridge just outside Shenyang, destroying the train that Zhang was traveling on, and mortally wounding him.

Three years later, another explosion on train tracks outside Shenyang was blamed on Chinese dissidents, but was later revealed to be a Japanese false flag event, used as a pretext to undertake a full-scale invasion of the region. In 1932, the region was renamed Manchuoko, and declared independence from China. A puppet government loyal to Japan was installed. Manchuoko was liberated following the Soviets' invasion in 1945, and was returned to Chinese control after the Communist Revolution of 1949.

Little Boy was the name given to a model of atomic bomb produced by the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. It was this model that was used for the very first offensive nuclear bomb drop at Hiroshima, Japan, in August 1945.

The bomb, containing more than 60 kilograms of uranium enriched with the uranium-235 isotope, was detonated at an altitude of approximately 600 metres above a point in the city of Hiroshima designated as ground zero. Hiroshima's flat topography meant that the effects of the explosion covered a very large area, and had a devastating effect. Everyone within half a mile of ground zero was killed and fires caused by the blast and the heat burned out almost the entire central district of the city with only a small number of brick and concrete buildings left standing. The total number of casualties cannot be known for certain, but estimates place the number at between 80,000 and 140,000 killed. A week after a second bombing at Nagasaki on August 9, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender.

When the Empire of Japan surrendered at the end of World War II in September 1945, the American military led an occupation of the country supported by the British and its Commonwealth. The Soviet Union had a supervisory role but refused to provide troops to serve under American rule. Despite the occupation, the only time in Japanese history that the country was occupied, the Japanese government remained in control of civilian administration, albeit with a cabinet that was approved by the Allies, and Hirohito was allowed to remain as emperor.

The aims of the occupation were to initially punish the country for its part in the war, reform Japanese society to prevent future militaristic aggression, and transition Japan to a democratic monarchy allied with the west. With much of this achieved by 1949, General MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, gave more power to the Japanese authorities and began to wind down the occupation. It was formally ended in 1951 by the Treaty of San Francisco, signed by 49 nations, but crucially not the Soviet Union, who disputed its bias towards the western nations, or China, who was not invited to the conference following the Chinese Revolution and the exile of the government of the Republic of China.

The 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were the first to take place in Asia. However, they were not the first to be awarded to the continent or even the city. Tokyo had been awarded the Games in 1940, but had them taken away and given to Helsinki when war broke out between Japan and China in 1937. Ultimately, the Games would be cancelled altogether with the outbreak of World War II.

As well as the excellent sporting endeavour on display, the Tokyo Olympics showcased the modern Japan to the world. Coming less than 20 years on from their surrender following the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, it showed the world a peaceful and technologically advanced nation with their new bullet train service and the first ever satellite transmission of televised pictures of the sporting events.

Though World War II ended in 1945, the consequences of it were very apparent in Japan for decades beyond. The 1970s saw some of the lasting effects of the conflict reach their conclusion. The decade started with unrest in the city of Koza, where there was rioting against the continued US military presence in the Okinawa Prefecture. A year later in 1971 an agreement was signed to return the prefecture to Japanese control.

But for some in Japan, the war hadn't ended. The soldiers and sailors of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy, known as holdouts, carried on fighting the war for years afterwards. The reasons for the continuation were varied. Some felt a sense of duty and honour of never surrendering, some felt disbelief that the surrender was genuine unless they were given specific orders by their superior officers, and some simply were stationed in remote jungle areas and communication of the end of the war never reached them.

Teruo Nakamura fell into the latter category. A native of Taiwan, then part of the Japanese Empire, he had enlisted in the Japanese Army and been sent to the Philippine island of Morotai in 1943. Shortly after his arrival, the Americans invaded to liberate the island, and Nakamura's unit was ordered to retreat into the jungle and conduct guerilla warfare. Until 1956, Nakamura was one of several soldiers remaining on the island, but he broke away from them to set up his own camp, so that when they were discovered and repatriated he was no longer with them. It would be another 18 years before a pilot flying over the island spotted his camp and he was persuaded to surrender.

Hirohito died in January 1989 after 62 years on the Imperial Throne. After his death he was given the honorific title of Emperor Shōwa, meaning "Bright Peace".

The early part of his reign was anything but peaceful with assassination attempts and a failed military coup against him, but he assumed control of the military and adopted aggressive expansionist policies, particularly in China, ostensibly to strengthen Japan's defence against the threat of the Soviet Union. The turning point in his reign was with Japan's defeat in World War II.

There were calls for Hirohito to be deposed or abdicate and charged with war crimes. However, General MacArthur, the leader of the occupying American forces, saw Hirohito as vital to maintaining order in Japan, and to achieving the aims of the occupation and the reform of Japanese society. With American protection in place, but stripped of direct power, Hirohito took on a diplomatic role helping to establish Japan's standing around the world and particularly with NATO nations. He was the first emperor ever to undertake visits to foreign nations, including the USA, UK, and Germany. He was well-received by political leaders but frequently encountered large protests from the public, particularly among war veterans.

The attack in March 1995 was carried out by Aum Shinrikyo, a doomsday religious cult based loosely around Indian and Tibetan Buddhist beliefs with influences from Hinduism and Christianity. Its founder and leader, Shoko Asahara, saw their role as one of protecting and transforming society, inspired by apocalyptic prophecies both in religious texts and in popular culture.

The cult took to acts of terrorism, which it justified by stating that those headed to hell could be saved if killed by the enlightened. It was also seen as necessary to hasten the apocalypse that Asahara had prophesied and from which he would re-build a better, more pure and enlightened world.

They chose sarin for their acts because of its effectiveness as a weapon of mass destruction. Sarin is a nerve agent that can kill large numbers of people with exposure to relatively small doses. It is effective because it stops the body from being able to control the muscles required for breathing, causing aphyxiation. Therefore, when it was released on five trains on the Tokyo subway system, it caused large casualties. More than 5000 people were hospitalised with a total of 14 people losing their lives. Asahara and 12 of his accomplices were sentenced to death, and, after exhausting all appeals, the sentences were carried out in 2016 and 2018.