Japan - A Tour Through Its History Quiz

While historical records do not date back as accurately to back then, the accepted date that the Japanese Empire was founded is 660 BCE. According to the legend, Kamu-yamato Iware-biko no Mikoto stylized himself as Emperor Jimmu and became the first emperor of a Japanese kingdom. He claimed to be the grandson of the sun goddess, Amaterasu.

The first emperor that there is evidence to is Emperor Sujin, the tenth Emperor of Japan. He ruled from 97 BCE for 67 years, as the tradition goes. Emperor Kinmei is the first Emperor of Japan where the dates of his reign are verifiable, from 539 CE.

In the late 12th century CE, Japan was organized as a feudal country. The enforcement was enacted by the shoguns of the Kamakura shogunate which were working closely with the imperial seat of power in Kyoto. However, the military held the real power in the relationship and the samurai, trained warriors, enforced the law of the shogun.

This system was in place up until 1868. The "way of the warrior", or bushido, was the codified ethical laws by which the samurai were governed.

Up to 1854, Japan had been declared closed to outside influences, especially Europeans and Americans. During the Edo period, from 1600-1868 CE, Japan enjoyed relative peace and prosperity and the population boomed to about 30 million people. Harsh laws and even harsher punishments kept the civilian population in check. Christianity was seen by the shogunate as the main threat to Japanese independence and culture, and by 1638 it had been outlawed entirely.

Japan was declared a sakoku around this time, a closed country. The only nations that were permitted to trade with Japan were China, Korea, and the Netherlands. The United States took issue with this and sent the "Black Fleet" commanded by Commodore Matthew C. Perry to end the closed borders. Under the threat of force, the Convention of Kanagawa was signed on March 31, 1854, in Yokohama, to open the borders to trade.

The Russians and the Japanese had long been at odds over northern Pacific dominance. The Russians wanted a warm-water port that would not ice over in the winter, unlike Vladivostok. The Japanese wanted to ensure that their influence over Korea would remain unchanged, as well as expansion into mainland Asia.

On February 9, 1904, the Japanese navy launched a surprise attack at the Russians when negotiations broke down. The Russians lost early and kept losing and Tsar Nicholas II stayed in the war to save face, more than anything. He refused to end the war through a treaty even though the Japanese offered him several. The war was ended about a year later after mediation by the Americans and the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth. While in Russia the loss helped fuel the upcoming Revolution of 1905, in Japan the win also created unrest. The local population felt that a much more decisive peace agreement should have been signed, one that would have given them land and money, something the United States managed to block.

On September 1, 1923, the ground shook in Japan. Shook hard. The island of Honshu was hit by a powerful earthquake that may have lasted even ten minutes, though it must have felt like a lifetime for the people living through it. The magnitude of the earthquake was estimated at 7.9 on the Richter scale. Japan is located on a subduction fault and is often hit by earthquakes, though one this large comes very rarely.

The earthquake destroyed large parts of Tokyo as well as the port of Yokohama. Chiba, Kanagawa, and Shizuoka were also hit hard. The Great Buddha Statue of Kamakura (Kotoku-in), located 60 km away from the epicenter of the earthquake and weighing about 121 tons, was moved about 60 cm from its spot. Several firestorms and even a fire whirl were seen. About 142,000 people lost their lives in the disaster and civil unrest was rampant.

The government had been operating under an interim leader, at that time - Uchida Kosai. Prime Minister Kato had passed away from a heart attack unexpectedly a few days prior and Uchida Kosai was filling in. However, the day after the earthquake, a new prime minister was appointed to show the strength of the nation. Yamamoto Gonnohyoe showed great leadership and level-headedness in the turbulent times following the earthquake and he did a good job of rebuilding Tokyo.

The Japanese and the Chinese had long been at odds. They first went to war in 1894 and the theaters of battle then had been Korea and Taiwan. Up to that point, the Chinese had the upper hand; however, the outcome of the Japan-Qing War was in Japan's favour.

In 1937, the two forces locked horns again. In 1931, the Japanese had invaded Manchuria and held onto the land there creating a puppet state called Manchukuo. The catalyst was the Marco Polo Bridge incident on July 7 when a Japanese soldier was absent from his post and the Chinese denied the Japanese the opportunity to look for him in the town. Gunfire between the two sides occurred later than night, and the two sides started mobilizing. Fighting continued to escalate throughout the month until an all-out war was started. The war only ended on September 2, 1945, with the Japanese surrender to the Americans ending World War II.

December 7, 1941, will forever be "a date which will live in infamy" in the hearts and minds of Americans. The naval base in Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, was attacked by the Japanese Navy in a surprise strike that took out several ships and killed thousands. The United States declared war on Japan on the day of the famous speech by FDR the following day and Japan was entered into a conflict it would lose. However, for the Japanese, the conflict had begun well before the bombing.

In 1937, the Japanese invaded China and began conquering large tracts of land there. The west did not like this posturing; however, they did not interfere, perhaps because they saw a larger threat in Hitler and Mussolini. Nevertheless, the United States responded with an oil embargo on Japan, severely hurting them in industry and the war effort. The Japanese also did not want the mighty US Navy interfering with their war and thought that a preemptive crippling action would keep the Americans out of the Pacific.

The Japanese blow, however, was not crippling enough, and no aircraft carriers were damaged during the attack. The Americans were able to regroup and would push back in full force against the Japanese gains. Despite the initial victories, the Japanese would be beaten back to their islands where they would be forced to surrender after two atomic bombs were dropped on their cities.

Following World War II, Japan was reeling from its loss. On May 3, 1947, the Japanese government adopted a new constitution. This document effectively stripped Emperor Hirohito of nearly all of his power and gave it to the parliamentary government, and established a bill of rights for its citizens including equal voting rights for women. Japan was outlawed from going to war and eliminated the aristocracy from having titles.

This constitution was largely the brainchild of the United States, led by General Douglas MacArthur. He had been left behind as the commander of the American forces who defeated the Japanese in order to establish a more democratic society in Japan. The Emperor supported this constitution; despite having his powers taken from him, he had actually been worried as being indicted for war crimes and he was getting away with his life and his title.

Japan became the 80th member of the United Nation on December 18, 1956. Since the UN's mandate was to stop any future wars, the inclusion of Japan was seen by some as controversial because of their involvement in World War II. However, Japan, since its inclusion, has been an active peacekeeper and a country which demonstrates good character.

On March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake occurred with its epicenter about 72 kilometers off the coast of Japan. At that point, it was the fourth-strongest verified earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0-9.1 on the Richter scale. Aside from the earthquake itself, it also triggered a tsunami that hit the coast of northeastern Japan.

The earthquake forced an automatic shutdown of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. However, when the electrical supply to the plant failed, the emergency generators kicked in. When the tsunami hit the plant, it swept over the seawall and flooded some of the generators. This caused the pumps supplying coolant to the reactor cores to fail and this caused three meltdowns, three hydrogen explosions, and radioactive material to be released into the atmosphere and the Pacific Ocean. The area around the plant had to be evacuated and, while the fallout was minimized, effects had been measured years after the disaster.