Japan : an illustrated history

Summary: "How did the inhabitants of this island country slightly smaller than California become the world's first non-Western industrialized nation? The answer is found in the fascinating story of Japan's political and social history. This narrative chronicles Japanese history from earliest settlement to the present. It details the establishment of imperial rule under the Yamato clan, the transfer of power from emperor to shogun (supreme military leader), and the Edo period of Japanese isolation. It also relates the industrial development of the Meiji Restoration, the devastating results of World War II, and Japan's remarkable recovery to become a democracy as well as an economic superpower. The book is the perfect introduction to this nation for students, travelers, businesspeople, and all curious readers. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET.

Item details

ISBN: 0781809894
ISBN: 9780781809894
Physical Description: print
xv, 216 p. : ill., maps ; 18 cm.
Publisher: New York : Hippocrene Books, c2004.

Contents / Notes

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-206) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

The Shaping of Japan's World (4000 B.C.-A.D. 250) -- Geography -- Jimmu and Creation Myths of Japan -- Jomon Japan (2500-250 B.C.) -- Yayoi Japan (250 B.C.-A.D. 250) -- The Way of the Gods -- Shinto Thought -- Transition from Yayoi to Yamato Japan (250-600) -- Buddhism and Japan -- The Seventeen-Article Constitution of 604 -- Confucianism and Japan -- Buddhism and the Seventeen-Article Constitution -- Legalism and the Constitution -- The Soga Fall -- Heian Japan (794-1185) -- Emperor/Land/Taxes -- A Capital for an Emperor -- Japan on Its Own -- The Shoen (Estate) System -- The Rise of the Military Class -- Heian Culture -- Civil War and the Rise of the Shogunate -- Shogun Rule in Japan (1192-1868) -- The Kamakura Bakufu (1192-1333) -- Hojo Power -- Mongol Invasions -- Emperor Go-Daigo (1288-1339) -- Muromachi Japan (1338-1573) -- Medieval Culture in Japan -- The Warring States Period -- Japan's Three Unifiers -- Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) -- Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) -- Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616) -- Tokugawa Japan (1600-1868) -- Daimyo and Division of the Land (Sankin Kotai) -- The Role of the Peasants -- The Emergence of the Japanese City -- Foreign Relations -- Nineteenth-Century Crises -- Pressure from Outside -- America and Japan -- Perry and the Opening of Japan -- Japan's Response to the West -- Meiji Japan (1868-1912) -- Japan's Modernization -- Meiji Constitution -- Industrialization and Military Victories -- Japan at the End of the Meiji Era -- Taisho Japan (1912-1926) -- Taisho Democracy -- Tensions with the West -- Social Revolution -- Showa Japan (1926-1989) -- The Rise of Militarism (1927-1936) -- Japan at War (1937-1945) -- The MacArthur/Yoshida Years (1945-1951) -- Japan's Economic Marvel -- Japanese-U.S. Relations -- Japan and the Future.