JapanBrett, Erin, Kiera, Regina

Hirohito

• emperor of Japan from 1926-1989

• brought Japan through remarkable successes and appalling tragedies

World War 1 Growth

• Japan was able to soar on ample exports to Allied nations• industrial production increased, making Japan an industrial

power• expanded influence into and throughout East Asia while the

Western powers battled in Europe• annexed Korea as a colony in 1910• sought further rights in China with the Twenty-One

Demands• Japan took over German possessions in East Asia. For

example Shandong province

Democracy• Democracy spread

throughout Japan in the 1920's.

• Japanese parliament exercised their power as the political powers grew stronger.

• Like most other countries in this time period, women were below men. All adult men could vote, and women could not until 1945.

Zaibatsu

• Zaibatsu: Japan's powerful business leaders.

• They manipulated and influenced other political parties that supported democracy by using donations to give to the government.

• They favored international trade and really pushed for those policies along with other interests that the Zaibatsus had.

Western Interference

• Japan began to rapidly expand their territory.• This affected the relationship economically with the western

powers such as France, Spain, the United States, Italy, etc.• Because of this, they signed an agreement stating they

would limit the size of the Navy with the US, Britain and France.

• Japan decided to spend less money on military affairs and slow down on foreign expansion.

• They also left Shandong.

Appeal of Marx

• Poverty drew people to the socialist ideas of Marx and Lenin• Plus the younger generations wanted to rebel against

tradition, Marx gave them the opportunity to do so. • In the 1920's tensions grew between the government and

the military; conservatives revealed the corruption of the government, and condemned Western influences for undermining Japanese values.

• The economy in the 1920's; although basically growing suffered many highs and lows. One low being the destructive Tokyo earthquake.

Tokyo Earthquake

• In 1923 one of the most destructive earthquakes in history struck the Tokyo area.

• Fires caused by the quake killed over 100,000 people and damaged over 650,000 buildings

• Over 45% of the remaining working population were left jobless because so many buildings were destroyed in the earthquake

• Tokyo eventually recovered with the help of government, recovering just as Japan faced a worldwide economic crisis.

                                    Tokyo                                      Earthquake

Ultranationalism

• Extreme nationalists were called ultranationalists, economic disaster(Great Depression) fed the discontent of the ultranationalists and military officials.

• They disagreed with politicians that agreed with Western demands, stopping overseas expansion, they argued that Western powers had huge empires while Japans empire was very small.

• Nationalists were further angered by the racial issues in the U.S., Canada, and Australia who treated the Japanese like second-class citizens.

• As the economy worsened nationalists wanted to renew expansion, they wanted Manchuria a Chinese          province, rich in natural resources.

The manchuria Incident

• In 1931 Japanese army officers provoked an event in Manchuria

• The Japanese army officers set up explosives on a railroad owned by the japanese in china

• The Japanese army officers Then blamed the Bombing on the chinese 

• The Japanese then attacked the Chinese and claimed it was self defense because of the bombing of the railroad

• Japanese then took over Manchuria

Traditional Values

• Civilian Government Survived the Ultranationalists• By 1937 japans Government was under Military domination• During this time they ended any kind of Socialism and

democratic Freedoms• To spread these changes around the people japan started

making schools to teach children obedience to the emperor 

More Expansion in China

• In the 1930s Japan took advantage of Chinas civil war to increase there influence there

• Japan planed on conquring China shortly after that

• But in 1939 as world war II quickly spread to Asia as the two nations where fighting.

•  In 1936, Japan allied with the axis powers Germany and Italy