Japan - Political developments

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Its success in steering Japan through the difficult years of the OPEC oil crisis and the economic transition that substituted high-technology enterprises for smokestack industries in the 1970s and ’80s, thereby restoring Japan’s international economic confidence, was not lost on the Japanese public. The emerging prosperity that accompanied this transition and the declining influence of the opposition parties, particularly the socialists and communists, served as further popular endorsements of the government-business alliance that the LDP represented. 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Its success in steering Japan through the difficult years of the OPEC oil crisis and the economic transition that substituted high-technology enterprises for smokestack industries in the 1970s and ’80s, thereby restoring Japan’s international economic confidence, was not lost on the Japanese public. The emerging prosperity that accompanied this transition and the declining influence of the opposition parties, particularly the socialists and communists, served as further popular endorsements of the government-business alliance that the LDP represented. By the late 1980s and early ’90s, however, as economic growth slowed and income"/> <meta property="og:type" content="ARTICLE"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Japan - Political developments | Britannica"/> <meta property="og:description" content="Japan - Political developments: The LDP continued its dominance of Japanese politics until 1993. Its success in steering Japan through the difficult years of the OPEC oil crisis and the economic transition that substituted high-technology enterprises for smokestack industries in the 1970s and ’80s, thereby restoring Japan’s international economic confidence, was not lost on the Japanese public. The emerging prosperity that accompanied this transition and the declining influence of the opposition parties, particularly the socialists and communists, served as further popular endorsements of the government-business alliance that the LDP represented. 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class="next-button js-next-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-blue " aria-label="Next"> <span class="material-icons md-24" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></span> </button> </div> </div> </div> <main> <div class="md-page-wrapper"> <div id="content" class="md-content"> <div class="md-article-container template-desktop infinite-pagination"> <div class="infinite-scroll-container article last"> <article class="article-content container-lg qa-content px-0 pt-0 pb-40 py-lg-20 content md-expanded" data-topic-id="300531"> <div class="grid gx-0"> <div class="col-auto"> <div class="topic-left-rail md-article-drawer position-relative d-flex border-right-sm border-left-sm open"> <div class="drawer d-flex flex-column open"> <div class="left-rail-section-content"> <div class="topic-left-rail-header text-truncate bg-gray-50 position-relative text-right d-flex align-items-center"> <div class="tlr-title px-20 py-15 text-left"> <em class="material-icons text-gray-400 d-lg-none" data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Japan">Japan</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/place/Japan">Introduction & Quick Facts</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref23230"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan#ref23230">Land</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23231"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan#ref23231">Relief</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23232"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Geologic-framework">Geologic framework</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23233"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Geologic-framework#ref23233">The major physiographic regions</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23234"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Geologic-framework#ref23234">Drainage and soils</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23235"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Geologic-framework#ref23235">Drainage</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23236"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Soils">Soils</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23237"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Soils#ref23237">Climate</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23238"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Soils#ref23238">Temperature</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23239"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Soils#ref23239">Precipitation</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23240"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Soils#ref23240">Plant and animal life</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23241"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Soils#ref23241">Flora</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23242"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Soils#ref23242">Fauna</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23243"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Soils#ref23243">The environment</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref23248"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/People">People</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23249"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/People#ref23249">Ethnic groups</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23251"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/People#ref23251">Languages</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23252"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Religion">Religion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref282061"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Religion#ref282061">Settlement patterns</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref282062"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Religion#ref282062">Traditional regions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref282063"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Religion#ref282063">Rural settlement</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref282064"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Religion#ref282064">Urban settlement</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23253"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Demographic-trends">Demographic trends</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref23254"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Demographic-trends#ref23254">Economy</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23255"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Demographic-trends#ref23255">General considerations</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref282051"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Demographic-trends#ref282051">Background</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23256"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-role-of-government">The role of government</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23263"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-role-of-government#ref23263">Agriculture, forestry, and fishing</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23264"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-role-of-government#ref23264">Agriculture</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref282052"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-role-of-government#ref282052">Forestry and fishing</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23259"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Resources-and-power">Resources and power</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23260"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Resources-and-power#ref23260">Minerals</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23267"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Resources-and-power#ref23267">Mining and quarrying</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23268"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Resources-and-power#ref23268">Power</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23269"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Resources-and-power#ref23269">Manufacturing</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23270"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Finance">Finance</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23271"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Finance#ref23271">Banking</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23272"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Finance#ref23272">Securities</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23273"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Trade">Trade</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23274" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Trade#ref23274">External trade</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23275"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Trade#ref23275">Exports</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23276"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Trade#ref23276">Imports</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23277"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Trade#ref23277">Internal trade</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref282053"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Trade#ref282053">Labor and taxation</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23258"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Trade#ref23258">Trade unions and employers’ associations</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23257"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Trade#ref23257">Taxation</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23278"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Trade#ref23278">Transportation and telecommunications</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23279"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Trade#ref23279">Roads</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23280"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Railways">Railways</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23281"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Railways#ref23281">Port facilities</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23282"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Railways#ref23282">Air transport</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23283"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Railways#ref23283">Telecommunications</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref23284"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Government-and-society">Government and society</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23286"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Government-and-society#ref23286">Constitutional framework</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23287"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Government-and-society#ref23287">Local government</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23291"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Government-and-society#ref23291">Justice</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23288"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Government-and-society#ref23288">Political process</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23289"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Government-and-society#ref23289">Elections</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23290"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Political-parties">Political parties</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23292"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Political-parties#ref23292">Security</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23293"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Political-parties#ref23293">Armed forces</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23294"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Political-parties#ref23294">Police</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23301"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Political-parties#ref23301">Health and welfare</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23302"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Political-parties#ref23302">Health</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23303"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Political-parties#ref23303">Welfare</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23304"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Political-parties#ref23304">Housing</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23295"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Political-parties#ref23295">Education</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23296"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Development-of-the-modern-system">Development of the modern system</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23297" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Development-of-the-modern-system#ref23297">System organization</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23298"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Development-of-the-modern-system#ref23298">Primary and secondary education</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23299"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Development-of-the-modern-system#ref23299">Higher education</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23300"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Development-of-the-modern-system#ref23300">Continuing education</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref23305"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Cultural-life">Cultural life</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23306"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Cultural-life#ref23306">Cultural milieu</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23307"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Cultural-life#ref23307">Influences</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23308"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Cultural-life#ref23308">Aesthetics</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23309"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-arts">The arts</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23310"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-arts#ref23310">Traditional forms</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23311"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-arts#ref23311">Western forms</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23312"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-arts#ref23312">Cultural institutions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23316"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Daily-life-and-social-customs">Daily life and social customs</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23317"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Daily-life-and-social-customs#ref23317">Popular culture</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref282059"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Daily-life-and-social-customs#ref282059">Cuisine</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23318"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Daily-life-and-social-customs#ref23318">Social customs</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23319"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Daily-life-and-social-customs#ref23319">Sports and recreation</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23313"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Media-and-publishing">Media and publishing</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref282060"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Media-and-publishing#ref282060">Books and magazines</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23314"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Media-and-publishing#ref23314">The press</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23315"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Media-and-publishing#ref23315">Radio and television</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref214442"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/History">History</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23117"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/History#ref23117">Ancient Japan to 1185</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23118" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/History#ref23118">Prehistoric Japan</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23119"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/History#ref23119">Pre-Ceramic culture</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23120"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/History#ref23120">Jōmon culture (c. 10,500 to c. 300 <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23121"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Yayoi-period-c-300-bce-c-250-ce">The Yayoi period (c. 300 <span class="text-smallcaps">bce</span>–c. 250 <span class="text-smallcaps">ce</span>)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23122"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Yayoi-period-c-300-bce-c-250-ce#ref23122">Chinese chronicles</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23123" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Yayoi-period-c-300-bce-c-250-ce#ref23123">The Tumulus (Tomb) period (c. 250–552)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23124"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Yayoi-period-c-300-bce-c-250-ce#ref23124">The unification of the nation</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23125"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Yayoi-period-c-300-bce-c-250-ce#ref23125">The Yamato court</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23126"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Rise-and-expansion-of-Yamato">Rise and expansion of Yamato</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23127"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Rise-and-expansion-of-Yamato#ref23127">The Yamato polity</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23128"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Rise-and-expansion-of-Yamato#ref23128">Yamato relations with Korean states</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23129"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Yamato-decline-and-the-introduction-of-Buddhism">Yamato decline and the introduction of Buddhism</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23130" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Yamato-decline-and-the-introduction-of-Buddhism#ref23130">The age of reform (552–710)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23131"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Yamato-decline-and-the-introduction-of-Buddhism#ref23131">The idealized government of Prince Shōtoku</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23132"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Taika-reforms">The Taika reforms</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23133"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Taika-reforms#ref23133">The <em><strong>ritsuryō</strong></em> system</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23134" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Nara-period-710-784">The Nara period (710–784)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23135"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Nara-period-710-784#ref23135">Beginning of the imperial state</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23136"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Nara-period-710-784#ref23136">Culture in the Nara period</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23137" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Heian-period-794-1185">The Heian period (794–1185)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23138"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Heian-period-794-1185#ref23138">Changes in ritsuryō government</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23139"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Heian-period-794-1185#ref23139">Aristocratic government at its peak</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23140"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Government-by-cloistered-emperors">Government by cloistered emperors</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23141"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Government-by-cloistered-emperors#ref23141">The rise of the warrior class</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23142"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Medieval-Japan">Medieval Japan</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23143" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Medieval-Japan#ref23143">The Kamakura period (1192–1333)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23144"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Medieval-Japan#ref23144">The establishment of warrior government</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23145"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Medieval-Japan#ref23145">The Hōjō regency</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23146"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Medieval-Japan#ref23146">The Mongol invasions</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23147"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Samurai-groups-and-farming-villages">Samurai groups and farming villages</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23148"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Samurai-groups-and-farming-villages#ref23148">Kamakura culture: the new Buddhism and its influence</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23149"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Samurai-groups-and-farming-villages#ref23149">Decline of Kamakura society</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23150" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Muromachi-or-Ashikaga-period-1338-1573">The Muromachi (or Ashikaga) period (1338–1573)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23151"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Muromachi-or-Ashikaga-period-1338-1573#ref23151">The Kemmu Restoration and the dual dynasties</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23152"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Muromachi-or-Ashikaga-period-1338-1573#ref23152">The establishment of the Muromachi <em>bakufu</em></a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23153"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Muromachi-or-Ashikaga-period-1338-1573#ref23153">Muromachi government structure</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23154"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Muromachi-or-Ashikaga-period-1338-1573#ref23154">The growth of local autonomy</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23155"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Muromachi-or-Ashikaga-period-1338-1573#ref23155">Trade between China and Japan</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23156"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Onin-War-1467-77">The Ōnin War (1467–77)</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23157"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Onin-War-1467-77#ref23157">The Sengoku (“Warring States”) period</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23158"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Onin-War-1467-77#ref23158">The emergence of new forces.</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23159"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Onin-War-1467-77#ref23159">The arrival of the Europeans</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23160"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-establishment-of-warrior-culture">The establishment of warrior culture</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23161"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Early-modern-Japan-1550-1850">Early modern Japan (1550–1850)</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23162" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Early-modern-Japan-1550-1850#ref23162">Unification</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23163"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Early-modern-Japan-1550-1850#ref23163">The Oda regime</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23164"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Early-modern-Japan-1550-1850#ref23164">The Hideyoshi regime</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23165"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Early-modern-Japan-1550-1850#ref23165">Azuchi-Momoyama culture</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23166" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-bakuhan-system">The bakuhan system</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23167"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-bakuhan-system#ref23167">The establishment of the system</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23168"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-bakuhan-system#ref23168">The enforcement of national seclusion</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23169"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Tokugawa-status-system">The Tokugawa status system</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23170"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Tokugawa-status-system#ref23170">Commerce, cities, and culture</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23171" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-Tokugawa-status-system#ref23171">The weakening of the <em>bakuhan</em> system</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23172"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Political-reform-in-the-bakufu-and-the-han">Political reform in the <em>bakufu</em> and the <em>han</em></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23173"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Political-reform-in-the-bakufu-and-the-han#ref23173">The growth of the northern problem</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23174"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Political-reform-in-the-bakufu-and-the-han#ref23174">New learning and thought</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23175"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Political-reform-in-the-bakufu-and-the-han#ref23175">Heterodox Confucian schools</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23176"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Shinto-and-kokugaku">Shintō and <em>kokugaku</em></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23177"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Shinto-and-kokugaku#ref23177">Western studies</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23178"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Shinto-and-kokugaku#ref23178">Growth of popular knowledge</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23179"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Religious-attitudes">Religious attitudes</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23180"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Religious-attitudes#ref23180">The maturity of Edo culture</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23181" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Religious-attitudes#ref23181">The last years of the <em>bakuhan</em></a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23182"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Religious-attitudes#ref23182">The Tempō reforms</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23183"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-opening-of-Japan">The opening of Japan</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref23184"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-opening-of-Japan#ref23184">Japan from 1850 to 1945</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23185" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-opening-of-Japan#ref23185">The Meiji restoration</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23186"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-fall-of-the-Tokugawa">The fall of the Tokugawa</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23187"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-fall-of-the-Tokugawa#ref23187">From feudal to modern state</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23188"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-fall-of-the-Tokugawa#ref23188">Abolition of feudalism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23189"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-fall-of-the-Tokugawa#ref23189">Constitutional movement</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23190" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-emergence-of-imperial-Japan">The emergence of imperial Japan</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23191"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-emergence-of-imperial-Japan#ref23191">Foreign affairs</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23192"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-emergence-of-imperial-Japan#ref23192">The Sino-Japanese War</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23193"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-emergence-of-imperial-Japan#ref23193">The Russo-Japanese War</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23194"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Japanese-expansionism">Japanese expansionism</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23195"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Japanese-expansionism#ref23195">Constitutional government</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23196"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Japanese-expansionism#ref23196">Social change</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23197" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-rise-of-the-militarists">The rise of the militarists</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23198"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-rise-of-the-militarists#ref23198">The weakening of party government</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23199"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-rise-of-the-militarists#ref23199">Aggression in Manchuria</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23200"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-road-to-World-War-II">The road to World War II</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23201"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-road-to-World-War-II#ref23201">Events in China</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23202"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/The-road-to-World-War-II#ref23202">Foreign relations</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23203" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/World-War-II-and-defeat">World War II and defeat</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23204"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/World-War-II-and-defeat#ref23204">Prologue to war</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23205"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/World-War-II-and-defeat#ref23205">Early successes</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23206"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/World-War-II-and-defeat#ref23206">Japan on the defensive</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23207"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/World-War-II-and-defeat#ref23207">The end of the war</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref236922"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Japan-since-1945">Japan since 1945</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23208" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Japan-since-1945#ref23208">The early postwar decades</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23209"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Japan-since-1945#ref23209">Occupation</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23210"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Japan-since-1945#ref23210">Political reform</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23211"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Japan-since-1945#ref23211">Economic and social changes</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23212"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Japan-since-1945#ref23212">Educational reforms</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23213"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Japan-since-1945#ref23213">Political trends</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23214"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Japan-since-1945#ref23214">The era of rapid growth</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23215"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Economic-transformation">Economic transformation</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23216"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Economic-transformation#ref23216">Social change</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23217"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Economic-transformation#ref23217">Political developments</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h5"><li data-target="#ref23218"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/International-relations">International relations</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref23219" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/International-relations#ref23219">The late 20th and early 21st centuries</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23220"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/International-relations#ref23220">Economic change</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23221"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Political-developments">Political developments</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23222"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Political-developments#ref23222">Social change</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref23223"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Political-developments#ref23223">International relations</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref276895"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Emperors-and-empresses-regnant-of-Japan">Emperors and empresses regnant of Japan</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref276896"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/place/Japan/Emperors-and-empresses-regnant-of-Japan#ref276896">Prime ministers of Japan</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Japan/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/Japan">Facts & Stats</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a class="section-header link-gray-900 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mb-10 mx-10" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Japan/images-videos">Images, Videos & Interactives</a> <div class="slider js-slider position-relative d-inline-flex align-items-center mw-100 "> <div 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Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). </div> <div class="type-menu"> <label for="feedback-type" class="label mb-10">Feedback Type</label> <select id="feedback-type" class="form-select mb-30" name="feedbackTypeId" required> <option value="" selected="selected">Select a type (Required)</option> <option value="1">Factual Correction</option> <option value="2">Spelling/Grammar Correction</option> <option value="3">Link Correction</option> <option value="4">Additional Information</option> <option value="5">Other</option> </select> </div> <label for="feedback" class="label mb-10">Your Feedback</label> <textarea id="feedback" class="form-control mb-30" name="feedback" maxlength="3000" rows="7" required></textarea> <button class="btn btn-blue" type="submit">Submit Feedback</button> </form> <div class="success-messaging d-none mt-30"> <div class="title">Thank you for your feedback</div> <p>Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="md-websites-modal size-lg d-none"> <div class="md-modal-body"> <div class="h2 font-serif pb-15 border-bottom font-weight-bold"> External Websites </div> <div class="pb-20"> <ul class="list-unstyled mt-20 lh-lg"> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/jp.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">CRW Flags - Flag of Japan</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="http://www.dk.emb-japan.go.jp/itprtop_en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Official Site of the Embassy of Japan in Denmark</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/japan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Central Intelligence Agency - The World Factbook - Japan</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="md-websites-ebk-title">Britannica Websites</div> <div class="md-websites-ebk-subtitle">Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.</div> <ul class="list-unstyled bps-topic-web-sites lh-lg"> <li><a class="external" href="https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Japan/345715" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Japan - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Japan/275136" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Japan - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="toc-header-marker"></div> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 js-header-ai-ask-button d-none btn-sm btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 mr-0 mr-lg-10 ml-5 ml-sm-10 ml-lg-0 p-10"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> <div class="caption alternate-titles">Also known as: Nihon, Nippon</div> <div class="md-byline module-spacing "> <div class="font-serif font-12"> <span class="written-by text-gray-700"> Written by </span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/contributor/Fred-G-Notehelfer/4207" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">Fred G. Notehelfer</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Professor of History, University of California, Los Angeles. Author of <i>American Samurai: Captain L.L. Janes and Japan.</i></div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Fred G. Notehelfer</span>, <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/contributor/Yasuo-Masai/1925" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">Yasuo Masai</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Professor of Geography, Rissho University, Tokyo. Editor of <em>Atlas Tokyo.</em></div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Yasuo Masai</span><span class="text-gray-700 mx-5">•</span><a class="see-all border-gray-700 gtm-byline" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Japan/additional-info#contributors">All</a> </div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2024-11-26T00:00:00CST" >Nov 26, 2024</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Japan/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="bg-gray-50 p-15 rounded module-spacing recent-news d-flex flex-column float-false"> <div> <h2 class="font-weight-bold font-14 m-0 d-inline"> News <span class="text-gray-600">•</span> </h2> <div class="recent-news-item first-recent-news-item d-inline"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/300531/932f970544b216da249e33d8c0491ac8" rel="nofollow">Stock market today: Wall Street hits records despite tariff talk</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 26, 2024, 5:34 PM ET (AP) <button class="btn btn-link d-inline p-0 font-12 js-toggle-recent-news"> <span class="text-gray-500">...</span><span>(Show more)</span> </button> </span> </div> </div> <div class="rest-of-recent-news-items"> <div class="recent-news-item mt-5"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/300531/c58b6bd86941f916bb5fb873c645c519" rel="nofollow">The engine of Japan's flagship new small rocket explodes during a test for a second time</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 26, 2024, 8:28 AM ET (AP) </span> </div> <div class="recent-news-item mt-5"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/300531/fdbe52e496877317718e0bc5deaff858" rel="nofollow">South Korea holds memorial for forced laborers in Japan after boycotting Japanese event</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 26, 2024, 12:00 AM ET (AP) </span> </div> <div class="recent-news-item mt-5"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/300531/0218064869fb4a1270dad471432b9c46" rel="nofollow">Japan holds first memorial for 'all workers' at Sado gold mines but blurs WWII atrocity. Why?</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 25, 2024, 9:01 PM ET (AP) </span> </div> <div class="recent-news-item mt-5"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/300531/c87df6f1a69f73675e302b09d014b09b" rel="nofollow">Stolen shoe mystery solved at Japanese kindergarten when security camera catches weasel in the act</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 25, 2024, 12:38 AM ET (AP) </span> </div> <button class="js-toggle-recent-news d-flex btn btn-unstyled font-14 pr-10 rounded-sm mt-10" aria-label="Toggle additional news items"> Show less <em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_less"></em> </button> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1"><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="2"><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="3"><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="4" id="ref23221">  <span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The <span id="ref319790"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Liberal-Democratic-Party-of-Japan" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">LDP</a> continued its dominance of Japanese politics until 1993. Its success in steering Japan through the difficult years of the OPEC <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/oil-crisis" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">oil crisis</a> and the economic <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="transition" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/transition" data-type="EB">transition</a> that substituted high-technology enterprises for smokestack industries in the 1970s and ’80s, thereby restoring Japan’s international economic confidence, was not lost on the Japanese public. The emerging prosperity that accompanied this transition and the declining influence of the opposition parties, particularly the socialists and communists, served as further popular endorsements of the government-business alliance that the LDP represented. By the late 1980s and early ’90s, however, as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/economic-growth" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">economic growth</a> slowed and income disparities heightened public sensitivity to political corruption, this bargain between the people and their government changed.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Yet, there were also earlier signs of a political transition. While LDP rule appeared to be strengthening, the party’s share of the popular vote was declining—from three-fifths in 1969 to barely half in 1983 and to less than a third in the House of Councillors election of 1989. And, while the premiership remained firmly under LDP control, all governments but that of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nakasone-Yasuhiro" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Nakasone Yasuhiro</a> (1982–87) were short-lived. In 1989 the LDP lost control of the House of Councillors to a coalition of opposition parties headed by the socialists, who proposed <span id="ref839552"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Doi-Takako" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Doi Takako</a>, the first woman to head a major party in Japan, to be prime minister—a nomination rejected by the lower house.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The era had begun in 1972 with considerable hope for political change, as <span id="ref319791"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tanaka-Kakuei" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Tanaka Kakuei</a>, a self-made politician who defied the usual LDP <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="bureaucratic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bureaucratic" data-type="MW">bureaucratic</a> model, sought to address the problems of pollution and urban crowding by calling for a redistribution of industry throughout the Japanese islands. Tanaka’s grand plans soon encountered the reality of the OPEC oil crisis. His era ended in 1974 with little change and with him mired in a major influence-peddling scandal. Indeed, Tanaka came to symbolize the rise of “money politics,” as election campaigns became increasingly expensive and faction leaders—expected to provide campaign funds to their followers—became heavily entangled in questionable financial relationships. At the same time, aggressive businesses needed the cooperation of politicians and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="bureaucrats" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bureaucrats" data-type="MW">bureaucrats</a> to expand within Japan’s highly regulated <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/economic-system" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">economic system</a>. As the bubble economy inflated in the 1980s, money flowed freely into political coffers. Although there were early calls for reform, few in the LDP were prepared to make changes. To some degree Tanaka, who was arrested in 1976 and convicted of bribery charges in 1983, underscored this reluctance on the part of the LDP to undertake serious reforms. Despite the guilty verdict, he served no jail time and remained a political force into the late 1980s. By that time, political corruption had become almost <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="endemic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/endemic" data-type="MW">endemic</a>, and the LDP was racked by a succession of scandals.</p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Political turmoil was muted for some months during Emperor <span id="ref319792"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hirohito" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hirohito</a>’s illness in 1988. His death, in January 1989, ended the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Showa-period" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Shōwa</a> era, the longest recorded reign in Japanese history—some 62 years. He was succeeded by his son, <span id="ref319793"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Akihito" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Akihito</a>, who took the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/nianhao" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">reign name</a> Heisei (“Achieving Peace”).</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">But “peace” was difficult to preserve on both the domestic and foreign fronts. Later in 1989 Prime Minister <span id="ref319794"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Takeshita-Noboru" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Takeshita Noboru</a> was forced out of office for involvement in a scandal involving manipulation of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/stock-exchange-finance" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">stock market</a>. Takeshita’s successor <span id="ref319795"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Uno-Sosuke" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Uno Sōsuke</a> almost instantly found himself embroiled in a sex scandal, and he resigned after only 68 days in office. Uno was replaced by the “clean” <span id="ref319796"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kaifu-Toshiki" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Kaifu Toshiki</a>, who lacked firm support in the party. This became apparent in the lead-up to the <span id="ref319797"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Persian-Gulf-War" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Persian Gulf War</a> (1990–91), when Kaifu found himself labeled “reluctant” and “indecisive” in handling Japan’s response to U.S. requests for assistance. Kaifu was forced from office in late 1991 when his efforts to secure legislation for Japanese noncombat participation in UN peacekeeping efforts—which was passed in 1992—and anticorruption measures failed to gain <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Diet-Japanese-government" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Diet</a> support.</p><div class="module-spacing"> </div><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><span id="ref319798"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Miyazawa-Kiichi" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Miyazawa Kiichi</a>, who succeeded Kaifu in 1991, had been a powerful figure within the LDP for several decades. Another damaging political scandal emerged, and Miyazawa, sensing the public outcry, tried to introduce reform legislation in the Diet. This cost him the support of key LDP members, and a no-confidence motion in June 1993, supported by many LDP members, toppled his government. In elections held the following month, the LDP lost its Diet majority to a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="coalition" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/coalition" data-type="EB">coalition</a> of opposition parties, ending its 38-year rule.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The July 1993 election ushered in a period of political transition. Several new parties emerged that were essentially splinter groups off the LDP, including the <span id="ref319799"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Japan-New-Party" class="md-crosslink ">Japan New Party</a> (JNP) and the <span id="ref839553"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Japan-Renewal-Party" class="md-crosslink ">Japan Renewal Party</a>. These joined several former opposition parties to form a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/coalition-government" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">coalition government</a> with <span id="ref319800"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hosokawa-Morihiro" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hosokawa Morihiro</a>, leader of the JNP, as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/prime-minister" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">prime minister</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD8 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Hosokawa initiated political reform, including limitations on campaign contributions and a change in the Japanese <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/electoral-system" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">electoral system</a>. He achieved some success in limiting contributions and managed to pass a modified elections package that included the creation of 300 single-member <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="constituencies" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constituencies" data-type="MW">constituencies</a> (the remainder of the House of Representatives was to be elected by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/proportional-representation" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">proportional representation</a> in 11 regional blocs). Opposition within his coalition to tax reform and accusations of his own involvement in the Miyazawa-era scandal forced his resignation in April 1994. Hosokawa’s successor, <span id="ref1104837"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hata-Tsutomu" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hata Tsutomu</a>, lasted a mere two months. In the ensuing power vacuum, socialists and remaining LDP members formed an unlikely coalition, and <span id="ref319801"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Murayama-Tomiichi" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Murayama Tomiichi</a> became Japan’s first socialist premier since 1948.</p><span class="marker MOD8 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD9 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">During Murayama’s short <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="tenure" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tenure" data-type="MW">tenure</a> (1994–96), Japan experienced a devastating earthquake in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Kobe" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Kōbe</a> that killed more than 5,000 people and a terrorist attack on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Tokyo-metropolis" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Tokyo</a> subway system by <span id="ref1104838"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Aleph" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">AUM Shinrikyo</a>, a small religious sect, that killed 12 people and injured thousands of others. In 1995 the House of Representatives passed a resolution expressing “deep remorse” for past “acts of aggression,” particularly in Asia, and pledging <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="adherence" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adherence" data-type="MW">adherence</a> to the no-war clause in the postwar constitution. Murayama followed the resolution by becoming the first Japanese prime minister to use the word <em>owabi</em> (unambiguously, “apology”). That year, however, Murayama’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Social-Democratic-Party-of-Japan" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Social Democratic Party of Japan</a> (the former Japan Socialist Party) suffered a string of election defeats, and in early 1996 Murayama resigned as prime minister.</p><span class="marker MOD9 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD10 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Murayama was succeeded by LDP president <span id="ref839554"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hashimoto-Ryutaro" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hashimoto Ryūtarō</a>, who retained the support of the socialists and the smaller New <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="Harbinger" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Harbinger" data-type="MW">Harbinger</a> Party (Sakigake). In October the LDP won 239 of 500 seats in the House of Representatives, but with no party willing to join a coalition with the LDP, Hashimoto oversaw a minority administration. By the following year, however, the LDP was able to recruit enough independents to command a majority in the House. Nevertheless, the economic recession reduced the government’s popularity and led in 1998 to legislative losses for the LDP and Hashimoto’s resignation. <span id="ref839556"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Obuchi-Keizo" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Obuchi Keizo</a>, who led the largest of the LDP’s factions, was elected LDP president and prime minister. In April 2000 Obuchi suffered a stroke that left him comatose (he died six weeks later), and the LDP secretary-general, <span id="ref839557"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mori-Yoshiro" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Mori Yoshiro</a>, was quickly confirmed as prime minister. In elections that June, the LDP lost its majority and was forced into an awkward alliance with two smaller parties. Mori’s many missteps—for example, he referred to Japan as a “divine country,” a phrase that evoked Japan’s militaristic past—reduced his approval rating to an all-time low for a Japanese prime minister. In April 2001 Mori announced his intention to resign.</p><span class="marker MOD10 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD11 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><span id="ref839558"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Koizumi-Junichiro" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Koizumi Jun’ichirō</a>, who urged economic reform and fiscal restraint and criticized the party’s factions, defeated several rivals to win the presidency of the LDP and was confirmed as prime minister. Koizumi enjoyed widespread popularity, but some of his reforms were resisted by the LDP’s <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conservative" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conservative" data-type="MW">conservative</a> factions. In addition, his support for allowing Japan’s military forces to exercise a full-fledged (rather than only defensive) security policy and his visits to the <span id="ref839559"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Yasukuni-Shrine" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Yasukuni Shrine</a> elicited outrage from some segments of the Japanese population and protests from Japan’s neighbors in Asia, particularly South Korea and China. Despite the controversies, the LDP’s resurgence continued, and in 2003 the party won a clear majority in the House of Representatives, securing Koizumi a second term as prime minister.</p><span class="marker MOD11 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD12 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Koizumi, after serving his full term, stepped down in September 2006 and was succeeded over the next two years by a string of three prime ministers—all from politically well-connected families. <span id="ref1304336"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abe-Shinzo" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Abe Shinzo</a>, the grandson of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kishi-Nobusuke" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Kishi Nobusuke</a> and great nephew of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sato-Eisaku" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Satō Eisaku</a> (both former prime ministers), served in 2006–07 but resigned amid party scandals and concerns about his health and after the LDP had lost its majority in the upper house of the Diet. His replacement, <span id="ref1003647"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fukuda-Yasuo" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Fukuda Yasuo</a>—whose father, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fukuda-Takeo" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Fukuda Takeo</a>, was prime minister in 1976–78—also stepped down after a year in office (2007–08), following a nonbinding <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="censure" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/censure" data-type="MW">censure</a> vote by the upper house (the first under the 1947 constitution) and continued frustration over his political agenda. Succeeding Fukuda in September 2008 was <span id="ref1003645"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Taro-Aso" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Asō Tarō</a>, grandson of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yoshida-Shigeru" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Yoshida Shigeru</a> and son-in-law of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Suzuki-Zenko" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Suzuki Zenkō</a>, both also former prime ministers. However, Asō could not stem the downward spiral of the LDP’s popularity with voters, who were increasingly dissatisfied with what they saw as the party’s ineffectiveness, mismanagement, and corruption. A particular focus of voter anger was the apparent bureaucratic mishandling of some 50 million pension records that was revealed in 2007. Voters were also unhappy that the LDP had changed prime ministers three times in three years without an electoral <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="mandate" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mandate" data-type="MW">mandate</a>. In the August 2009 lower-house elections, scores of LDP candidates were soundly defeated, and the party was swept out of office.</p><span class="marker MOD12 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD13 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Replacing the LDP was the centrist <span id="ref1052961"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Democratic-Party-of-Japan" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Democratic Party of Japan</a> (DPJ), which had been founded in 1996 to challenge the LDP. Soon after its formation, the DPJ emerged as the main opposition party. However, it endured several years of mixed electoral results before its first major success in the 2007 House of Councillors elections, when with its allies it became the dominant force in that chamber. The DPJ’s victory was a landslide in the August 2009 elections, winning 308 seats in the lower house. The party subsequently formed a ruling coalition with the Social Democratic Party of Japan and the People’s New Party, and on September 16 DPJ leader <span id="ref1052967"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hatoyama-Yukio" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hatoyama Yukio</a> was elected prime minister. However, Hatoyama’s tenure was ineffectual and brief, cut short after he <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="reneged" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reneged" data-type="MW">reneged</a> on a campaign promise to close an unpopular U.S. military base on <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Okinawa-prefecture-Japan" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Okinawa</a> (it was to be moved to a different part of the island instead). He stepped down as prime minister and as head of the party on June 4, 2010, and was succeeded in both offices by <span id="ref1081457"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kan-Naoto" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Kan Naoto</a>, another high-ranking member of the DPJ.</p><span class="marker MOD13 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD14 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Kan’s government faced its greatest crisis in early 2011, when on March 11 a <span id="ref1118702"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-of-2011" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">massive underwater earthquake</a> in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Pacific-Ocean" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pacific Ocean</a> east of the northern <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Honshu" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Honshu</a> city of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Sendai-Kagoshima-prefecture-Japan" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Sendai</a> triggered a series of devastating <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/tsunami" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">tsunami</a> waves that <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="inundated" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/inundated" data-type="EB">inundated</a> and largely destroyed low-lying areas along the Pacific coast. The quake—magnitude 9.0, the strongest ever recorded in Japan—also was highly destructive, spawning fires in a number of cities, leveling thousands of buildings in the region, and causing damage as far away as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Chiba-prefecture-Japan" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Chiba</a> prefecture near Tokyo. In addition, the tsunami precipitated a serious <span id="ref1118711"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Fukushima-accident" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">nuclear accident</a> at the <span id="ref1118713"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Fukushima-prefecture-Japan" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Fukushima</a> Daiichi power station along the coast of Fukushima prefecture that forced the evacuation of residents in a wide area around the plant.</p><span class="marker MOD14 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD15 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In all, some 20,000 people were either killed by or listed as missing after the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/earthquake-geology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">earthquake</a> and tsunami, and tens of thousands more were left homeless. The national government quickly organized a massive relief effort, aided by a number of foreign countries. Tens of thousands of people sought refuge in schools and other hastily set-up shelters in the hardest-hit areas, and over the next several months some 50,000 temporary housing units were built in Sendai and other cities in the region to accommodate many of these people. However, Kan’s government was criticized for its handling of the disaster, especially the nuclear emergency in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Fukushima-accident" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Fukushima</a>. Kan survived a no-confidence vote in June but, with his popularity plummeting, he resigned as prime minister and as president of the DPJ in late August. He was replaced in both capacities by <span id="ref1118716"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Noda-Yoshihiko" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Noda Yoshihiko</a>, who had served as finance minister in Kan’s cabinet.</p><span class="marker MOD15 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD16 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Noda" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Noda</a> lasted little more than 15 months in office as his government became increasingly unpopular, especially after it had engineered the passage of a rise in the national <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="consumption" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/consumption" data-type="MW">consumption</a> (sales) tax in the summer of 2012. Noda also faced opposition for his decision to restart <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/nuclear-power" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">nuclear power</a> plants shut down after the Fukushima disaster and for his willingness to consider negotiating a pan-Pacific trade pact. By mid-November 2012, LDP pressure in the lower house had forced him to dissolve that body and call for parliamentary elections. The polls, on December 16, resulted in a landslide victory for the LDP, while the DPJ’s number of seats fell to 57. Noda immediately resigned as head of the party. On December 26 <span id="ref1173766"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abe-Shinzo" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Abe Shinzo</a>—who had become head of the LDP in September 2012—was selected to be the next prime minister by the LDP-dominated lower house.</p><span class="marker MOD16 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD17 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Another development was the rise to national political prominence of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ishihara-Shintaro" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ishihara Shintarō</a>, who was governor of Tokyo from 1999 until he resigned in October 2012 to run for the lower house. In the December 16 election he and his newly formed <span id="ref1208428"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Japan-Restoration-Party" class="md-crosslink ">Japan Restoration Party</a> (Nippon Ishin no Kai) won a total of 54 seats in the chamber.</p><span class="marker MOD17 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD18 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Abe and the LDP had partnered with the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/New-Komeito" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">New Kōmeitō</a> (New Clean Government Party) for the 2012 election, and that coalition produced a supermajority of more than two-thirds of the seats in the lower house. The two parties continued their success in the 2013 upper-house elections, where they won a simple majority of seats. The Abe government had early success in improving Japan’s economy, but the implementation of the second of three rises in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/consumption-tax" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">consumption tax</a> in April 2014 was a major factor in a sharp economic downturn that led to recession by that autumn. Abe decided to dissolve parliament and call snap elections, which were held on December 14. The coalition was able to retain its supermajority in the chamber, but voter <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="apathy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apathy" data-type="MW">apathy</a> was high and the turnout was at a record low.</p><span class="marker MOD18 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="4" id="ref23222"> <h2 class="h4">Social change</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD19 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Japan has continued its transformation into a high-technology, urban, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/industrialization" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">industrial society</a>. The migration from countryside to city largely has been completed; some four-fifths of Japan’s people now live in urban areas, and few families live on farms. <span id="ref319803"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/urbanization" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Urbanization</a> has resulted in further <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="demographic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/demographic" data-type="MW">demographic</a> change, including an accelerating decline in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/birth-rate" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">birth rate</a> that by the mid-1980s was less than the level needed to replace the population. Urban congestion, confined housing space, the cost of raising children, a trend toward delaying marriage, a growing reluctance by women to get married, and effective birth-control measures have all contributed to this phenomenon. By 2000 the proportion of Japanese age 65 or older had surpassed those 15 or younger. Thus, Japanese society faces serious demographic challenges, the most urgent being a rapidly aging population and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="concomitant" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/concomitant" data-type="MW">concomitant</a> declining active workforce.</p><span class="marker MOD19 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD20 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Living standards have risen dramatically since the early 1970s, supporting a strong consumer <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/market" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">market</a>. But the excessive crowding and congestion in major cities has been <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="exacerbated" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exacerbated" data-type="MW">exacerbated</a> by the high cost of real estate, making home ownership difficult for many Japanese families. Hours spent commuting also increased as people moved ever farther from city centers. By the 1990s many Japanese citizens felt confined to an urban <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="environment" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/environment" data-type="MW">environment</a> designed to serve the needs of corporate Japan and not its people and were less willing to support the entrenched government-business alliance that assured majorities for the LDP.</p><span class="marker MOD20 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD21 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Japanese values also have been changing as generations born and raised in the city mature and replace those brought up in the villages. While Japanese society remains formally hierarchical and social distinctions based on education and family background persist, the degree of conformity and the acceptance of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="consensus" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/consensus" data-type="MW">consensus</a> appear to be lessening. As the agriculture-induced submission of the individual to the group fades and as corporations, which previously served as pseudo-villages in the urban environment, lose their paternalistic overtones, greater individuation is apparent. In marketing, for example, it has been found that the former consumer habit of buying the same, familiar brand-name items is not being continued by Japanese who reached adult age from the mid-1980s. Many of those individuals have become disenchanted with the shops and goods their parents favored and have opted for <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="diversity" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diversity" data-type="MW">diversity</a> and competitive pricing. Such phrases as “my car,” “my home,” and “my leisure” further underscore the growing emphasis on the individual and individual choice and on the more <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="assertive" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assertive" data-type="MW">assertive</a> attitude of the ordinary Japanese.</p><span class="marker MOD21 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD22 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Gender relations also have undergone a gradual transition—though not at the speed hoped for by many <span id="ref319804"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/women" class="md-crosslink ">women</a>. Important role models, such as the socialist leader Doi Takako, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tanaka-Makiko" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Tanaka Makiko</a> (who was chosen in 2001 as Japan’s first woman foreign minister), and Princess Masako (the Harvard-educated diplomat who married Crown Prince <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Naruhito" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Naruhito</a> in 1993), have helped make the place of professional women more acceptable. Women now account for about two-fifths of the workforce, but many occupy temporary or part-time positions, and full-time women employees often find it difficult to advance to management positions. Despite growing dissatisfaction with traditional gender roles, Japanese perceptions of the family and the position of the wife and mother in it have been slow to change. Women, particularly those married to white-collar workers, are still expected to carry much of the responsibility of household management and child rearing, while the males devote themselves to their office <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="culture" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture" data-type="MW">culture</a>. Japanese divorce rates, though rising, remain low by Western standards, and the stability of the Japanese family continues to undergird the social system.</p><span class="marker MOD22 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD23 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="150528" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/53/145153-050-FA1FAFD6/female-style-area-Harajuku-Girl-Gothic-Lolita.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/300531/150528"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/53/145153-050-FA1FAFD6/female-style-area-Harajuku-Girl-Gothic-Lolita.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/53/145153-050-FA1FAFD6/female-style-area-Harajuku-Girl-Gothic-Lolita.jpg?w=300" alt="Harajuku Girl" data-width="1071" data-height="1600" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/53/145153-050-FA1FAFD6/female-style-area-Harajuku-Girl-Gothic-Lolita.jpg" data-href="/media/1/300531/150528">Harajuku Girl</a><span>A female dressed in the “Gothic Lolita” or “Harajuku Girl” style of fashion in the Harajuku area of Tokyo.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/cultural-globalization" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Globalization</a> has been another important theme since the early 1970s, as large numbers of Japanese have traveled abroad and an increasing number of foreign students and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/foreign-worker" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">foreign workers</a> have come to Japan. In the last two decades of the 20th century, the number of foreign residents in Japan roughly doubled to more than 1.3 million. A majority of the foreign residents were Chinese or Korean, but foreign laborers from the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Middle-East" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Middle East</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Southeast-Asia" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Southeast Asia</a>, drawn by higher wages, also relocated to Japan to perform many of the less desirable jobs. The absorption of such residents has not always been easy for a society that sees itself as ethnically distinct and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="homogeneous" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homogeneous" data-type="MW">homogeneous</a>. <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="Discrimination" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Discrimination" data-type="MW">Discrimination</a> against minorities, however—including Koreans, the former outcast group now called <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/burakumin" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>burakumin</em></a>, and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ainu" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ainu</a>—which has persisted for centuries, appears less acceptable today in a society that is not only more educated but also increasingly subject to international scrutiny and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="criticism" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/criticism" data-type="MW">criticism</a>. The internationalization of Japan also has resulted in a reassertion of Japanese <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="nationalism" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nationalism" data-type="MW">nationalism</a>, particularly among the older members of society who see Japan losing its identity amid the influx of foreign culture. And yet, as even a brief visit to Tokyo confirms, American cultural symbols—from fast-food restaurants to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/jeans" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">blue jeans</a> and motorcycles—are now as much at home in the Harajuku district as on Venice Beach in Los Angeles.</p><span class="marker MOD23 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="4" id="ref23223"> <h2 class="h4">International relations</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD24 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Japan has continued its close cooperation with the <span id="ref1173747"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">United States</a>, but it also has sought to rebuild relations with its Asian neighbors. Despite the rapid political transformation of the world after the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/the-collapse-of-the-Soviet-Union" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">collapse of the Soviet Union</a> and the end of the Cold War, ties between the United States and Japan have been little altered in their fundamental <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="tenets" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/tenets" data-type="EB">tenets</a>. Both countries officially remained committed to the <span id="ref319805"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-States-Japan-Security-Treaty" class="md-crosslink ">Mutual Security Treaty</a>, which keeps Japan under the U.S. nuclear weapons “umbrella” and permits thousands of U.S. troops to be stationed there, particularly on Okinawa; however, many Japanese favor redefining the relationship between the two countries and reducing the number of U.S. troops.</p><span class="marker MOD24 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD25 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Economic issues have often strained U.S.-Japanese relations, as Japan’s resurgence in the early postwar decades transformed the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/nation-state" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">country</a> from a client to a competitor of the United States. Such a change has not been easy. Trade issues sometimes have been particularly <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="acrimonious" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acrimonious" data-type="MW">acrimonious</a>, intensified by essential misunderstandings on solutions proposed by each side. While friction on economic issues has removed some of the harmony that once typified the relationship between the two countries, there nevertheless remains substantial goodwill, both countries realizing that, as the dominant economic and military powers of the Asian Pacific region, their bilateral relationship is the most important in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Asia" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">East Asia</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD25 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD26 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The end of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Cold-War" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Cold War</a> provided Japan with the opportunity to pursue an independent <span id="ref1173757"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/China" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">China</a> policy. Following Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei’s trip to China in 1972, which began the process of normalizing relations between the two countries, Japan vigorously pursued trade opportunities with China, and in 1978 a peace treaty and the first of a series of economic pacts were concluded. Both trade and cultural contacts between Japan and China expanded dramatically, and by the early 1990s China was Japan’s second largest trading partner, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="surpassed" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/surpassed" data-type="EB">surpassed</a> only by the United States. Tensions occasionally have arisen between the two countries over issues such as Chinese objections to the Japanese attitude toward its wartime conduct and its colonial rule of China and to visits by Japanese officials to the Yasukuni Shrine or to Japanese protests of the Chinese repression of demonstrators in 1989. The visit to China by Emperor <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Akihito" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Akihito</a> in 1992, however, which included a tacit apology for the “severe suffering” that the Japanese had inflicted on the Chinese during the war, demonstrated that Japan was determined not just to build economic ties with China but also to <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="transcend" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transcend" data-type="MW">transcend</a> the gap that stemmed from the war and to restore cultural ties. Nevertheless, the political relationship between the two countries remained uneasy into the 21st century.</p><span class="marker MOD26 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD27 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Although Japan’s formal relationship with <span id="ref319809"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Taiwan" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Taiwan</a> was discontinued after 1978, Taiwan continued to play an important role for Japan, particularly since the late 1980s, when Japan sought to strengthen its ties with the so-called newly industrialized countries of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Asia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Asia</a> (<span id="ref319810"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/South-Korea" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">South Korea</a>, Taiwan, and <span id="ref319811"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Singapore" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Singapore</a>, as well as <span id="ref319812"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Hong-Kong" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hong Kong</a> when it was a British colony). These were all seen as areas capable of providing high-quality goods for the Japanese market and consequently as sites for direct investment by Japanese firms. Earlier Japanese concerns that these countries would become competitors with Japan for the U.S. market faded as economic interaction between them created a highly <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="dynamic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dynamic" data-type="MW">dynamic</a> economic region.</p><span class="marker MOD27 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD28 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Efforts to solidify relations with Southeast Asia advanced in the late 20th century. Lingering resentment over the war and the insensitive attitudes of Japanese businessmen toward local populations in the 1960s produced anti-Japanese riots when Prime Minister Tanaka toured the region in 1974. Anger against Japan and feelings of Japanese exploitation in the region continued into the 1980s, when efforts were made to improve the situation. Southeast Asian nations—particularly <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Indonesia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Indonesia</a>—became recipients of extensive Japanese development aid. Japan also made efforts to work with <span id="ref319813"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Vietnam" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Vietnam</a> and <span id="ref319814"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Cambodia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Cambodia</a>. Japan’s interests in Vietnam have been largely economic, but in Cambodia Japan played an important role in working out the 1991 UN Security Council “peace plan” and helped with its implementation the following year; through passage of the International Peace Cooperation Law by the Diet, unarmed troops from Japan’s Self-Defense Forces participated in a UN peacekeeping operation, the first time since the World War II that Japanese forces had ventured overseas.</p><span class="marker MOD28 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD29 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The Japanese government also sought to address lingering <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="animosities" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/animosities" data-type="MW">animosities</a> that existed toward Japan on the Korean peninsula. Formal statements of apology to Korea for Japan’s colonial rule were issued (most notably by Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi in 1995), visits were made by the leaders of Japan and South Korea to each other’s countries, and bilateral trade agreements were negotiated. However, such positive steps tended to be offset by events that often angered South Korea: occasional statements by Japanese government officials that seemed to defend Japan’s colonial and wartime actions (including the forced prostitution of Korean women during the war), continued periodic prime ministerial visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, and revelations that Japan’s colonial rule was positively depicted in Japanese textbooks. A further issue for South Korea was the status of Koreans living in Japan, many of whom were third- or fourth-generation Japanese-born. Despite these differences, in 2002 Japan and South Korea cohosted the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/football-soccer" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">association football</a> (soccer) <span id="ref839565"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/World-Cup-football" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">World Cup</a> finals, the first time the event was held in Asia or staged jointly by two countries.</p><span class="marker MOD29 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD30 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Relations with <span id="ref319815"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Russia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Russia</a> have remained decidedly cool. A formal peace treaty was never concluded with the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Soviet-Union" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Soviet Union</a> before its dissolution. The major sticking point for the Japanese has been the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="disposition" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disposition" data-type="MW">disposition</a> of the “northern territories,” the four small islands in the southern <span id="ref319816"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Kuril-Islands" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Kuril</a> chain that the Russians seized following World War II. The Japanese have sought the return of these islands and have been reluctant to grant Russia development aid without an agreement. Negotiations with Russia to resolve the issue continued throughout the 1990s and into the early 21st century.</p><span class="marker MOD30 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD31 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Japan’s larger role in the world has changed dramatically since the 1970s. As its economy matured, Japan became a leading advanced industrial country. The macroeconomic changes of the 1980s—slower growth, financial deregulation, technological success, tighter labor markets, and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="currency" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/currency" data-type="EB">currency</a> appreciation—all helped to transform Japan into an important creditor nation, swelling the country’s direct foreign investments. While Japan long has been concerned with the outside world as a source of raw materials and a market for its goods, the Japanese ownership of extensive manufacturing plants, financial institutions, and real estate overseas has required Japan to be more directly involved in world affairs. Accordingly, economic bodies, such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Organisation-for-Economic-Co-operation-and-Development" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">OECD</a>, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/International-Monetary-Fund" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">International Monetary Fund</a>, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/World-Bank" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">World Bank</a>, and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/World-Trade-Organization" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">World Trade Organization</a>, have received increasing Japanese attention and participation. Japan has also sought to wield more influence within the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-Nations" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">United Nations</a>, launching a bid in the 1990s for a permanent seat on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-Nations-Security-Council" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Security Council</a>. However, a more “activist” <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/foreign-policy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">foreign policy</a> role—particularly one hinting at military participation—is not <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="coveted" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/coveted" data-type="EB">coveted</a> by all Japanese, which is why the dispatch of troops by Prime Minister <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Koizumi-Junichiro" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Koizumi Junichiro</a> in 2003 to support the U.S.-led <span id="ref839568"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Iraq-War" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">occupation of Iraq</a> was such a watershed in Japan’s postwar history. Representing the first deployment of Japanese military units into a war zone since the end of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">World War II</a>, the decision elicited opposition by Japanese who believed that it violated the no-war clause of the Japanese <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/constitution-politics-and-law" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">constitution</a>, but it also garnered support from those who believed that Japan needed to take a more active role in its defense and to break free from the constraints imposed on the country after 1945.</p><span class="marker MOD31 mod-inline"></span> <span class="md-signature"><a href="/contributor/Fred-G-Notehelfer/4207">Fred G. Notehelfer</a></span> <span class="md-signature"><a href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</a></span> </section> </section> </section> </section> <span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":48,"pagesTotal":49,"pageId":300531,"pageLength":4411,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"C","adLeg":"C","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"COUNTRY_PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":48,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Japan - Political developments | Britannica