Japan in transformation - dates

• 1853 - Perry Mission opens Japan to the West
• 1854 - Treaty of Kanagawa with the US leads to similar trade concessions for France, Britain, the Netherlands and Russia (ansei treaties)
• 1858 -  ‘Unequal’ treaties open the door to Western trade concessions. Japan loses control of tariffs and customs in eight ports
• 1860 - Assassination of chief minister Ii Kamon-no-Kami during antiforeign backlash 1864 Samurai revolt is put down by government loyalists
• 1867 - Meiji Restoration begins 1868 Tokugawa shōgunate is exiled and Meiji emperors’ rule begins
• 1871 - Feudal system abolished
• 1872 - Education Law establishes public education. Christian church recognised
• 1873 - First Meiji coalition breaks up over the question of Korea
• 1889 - Meiji Constitution completed
• 1890 - Wide-ranging ban on women’s political activity
• 1894-95 - First Sino-Japanese War ends with victory over China
• 1902 -  Anglo-Japanese Alliance
• 1905 - Russo-Japanese War ends in Japanese victory but also the Hibiya riot against the soft terms imposed on Russia
• 1912 - Meiji period gives way to the Taisho Democracy accompanied by the Taisho Political Crisis
• 1914-18 - First World War. Japan makes 21 Demands in China
• 1919 - Treaty of Versailles confirms Japanese concessions in China. Greater Japan Federation of Labour is formed
• 1923 - Great Kanto Earthquake
• 1926 - Taisho Emperor succeeded by Showa Emperor
• 1927 - Banking crisis 1928 Government crackdown on trade unions begins period of tenko against communism
• 1929-31 -   Development of worldwide economic depression
• 1931 - The Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere begins with the Manchurian incident, leading to Japanese takeover
• 1936 - Young Officers’ Coup against civilian government fails
• 1937 -  Treaties with Italy and Germany lead to the Tripartite Axis or Anti-Comintern Pact against the Soviet Union. Japan invades China beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War, and effectively the Second World War, and leads to the Nanjing Massacre
• 1941 -  US declaration of war on Japan following the raid on Pearl Harbor. Japan occupies Vietnam
• 1942 - Government Food Control Law
• 1945 -  A-bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki lead to Japanese surrender
• 1925 - Peace Preservation Law
• 1927-33: Tenko
• • 1941 Japan occupied Vietnam