Chrysanthemum and Knife —— A Brief History of Japan in the Rise of Great Powers

500,000 years ago, humans arrived in Japan.

The glaciers melted 13,000 years ago, and Japan's environment became warm and humid, with rich products. The first decisive change in Japanese history, the invention of pottery, has since entered the "rope culture period".

In 400 BC, the second decisive change began. Korean immigrants entered Japan with advanced technologies such as rice and iron and became the ancestors of modern Japanese. Japan entered the "Yayoi Culture Period" and the aborigines were driven to Hokkaido. They are hairy Ainu people.

Second, the emperor and the shogunate

In the 4th century A.D., the first unified regime-Yamato State appeared in Japan. This is the origin of the Yamato nation. The leader claimed to be a descendant of the gods and called himself "the emperor".

In 645 AD, Japan changed from slavery to feudalism. Japan sent envoys from the Tang Dynasty to learn from the Tang Dynasty, and then established Nara in the style of Chang 'an. At this stage (6th century ~12nd century), the Japanese dynasty was called Bird, Nara and Peace, and was named after the capitals of these three dynasties.

At the end of Heian, the emperor's power declined, the samurai class rose, and the shogunate began to control state affairs.

In the samurai group, Shi Ping competed with Genji. 1 192, Genji won and established the kamakura shogunate, and Japan entered the Tokugawa era.

Japan also had the Warring States Period. From 1467 to 16 15, Nobutaka Oda, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu took office in turn. Finally, Tokugawa Ieyasu established the last Japanese shogunate, Tokugawa shogunate, located in Edo (Tokyo)? Therefore, the Tokugawa shogunate period is also called the Edo period.

Third, the Meiji Restoration.

Like the Qing government, the Tokugawa shogunate closed its doors to the outside world. 1853, the us navy came to Japan to coerce trade by force, and Japan was forced to switch on and off.

1868, Emperor Meiji defeated the shogunate, unified the whole country, carried out the Meiji Restoration, learned from the West, and made foreign things serve China. Japan has changed from a feudal society to a capitalist society.

The Meiji Restoration carried out three policies: enriching Qiang Bing, prospering the country through industry and civilizing, which started the historical process of Japan's modernization, implemented the policy of leaving Asia and entering Europe, defined the political system of constitutional monarchy, vigorously promoted industrialization economically, and pursued the expansion of European capitalist powers to Zhang Zhilu diplomatically, making Japan the only capitalist power in Asia.

Fourth, strive for hegemony in East Asia.

/kloc-In the late 20th century, Japan gradually took control of Korea.

1879, Japan sent troops to Ryukyu Island and forcibly changed the Ryukyu Kingdom to Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Although the Qing government did not recognize it, it was helpless.

1894, Japan defeated the Qing government in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 and signed the treaty of shimonoseki, which benefited a lot from China.

1904, Russia was defeated in the Russo-Japanese War. Since then, Japan has completely controlled North Korea and gained a lot of benefits from Northeast China. Japan became the overlord of the Far East and joined the ranks of imperialist powers.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) the collapse of Japanese imperialism

19 14. In World War I, Japan joined the Allied Forces, and the battle of Qingdao defeated Germany and occupied Jiaozhou Bay, which further expanded the ambitions of the Japanese military department.

193 1 year, the Japanese brazenly launched the "September 18th Incident" and occupied northeast China.

1937, lugouqiao incident, Japanese imperialism invaded China in an all-round way. After eight years of hard war, China defeated the Japanese.

194 1 year, Japan attacked the American naval base Pearl Harbor, and the United States declared war on Japan. The following year, defeating Japan in the naval battle of midway became a turning point in the Pacific War.

1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered unconditionally, and World War II ended.

The economic rise after the Second World War.

After World War II, Japan was greatly backward, but Japan created an economic miracle by using favorable domestic and international environment. From 1956 to 1973, the annual growth rate of Japanese industry was 13.6%, and the gross national product jumped from the sixth place in the world to the second place, making it the second largest economy after the United States.

The reasons for Japan's economic rise: after the war, the United States supported Japan and provided a lot of aid and loans; During the Korean War and Vietnam War, Japan became the logistics base of the United States, which greatly stimulated economic development. American military protection makes Japanese military expenditure less than1%of GNP; Japan attaches great importance to education, 1948 popularized junior high school education, and later popularized senior high school education. Education accounts for more than 20% of the Japanese government's administrative expenditure, which is the highest proportion among capitalist countries.

1985, the finance ministers of the United States, Japan, Germany, France and Britain signed the Plaza Agreement in new york, the core of which was the appreciation of major currencies against the US dollar to reduce the huge trade deficit of the United States. A large amount of funds entered the housing market and the stock market, and speculation prevailed. Finally, the bubble burst and Japan's economy fell into recession, which was called "the lost twenty years". 20 10, China.

Seven, chrysanthemums and knives

American anthropologist Rune? Benedict made a profound analysis of Japanese national character in Chrysanthemum and Knife.

First, based on the "Shinto thought", the Japanese respect the hierarchy. Shinto believes that human life is endowed by God, and the mission of human life is to create a hierarchical order. Order is obedience to authority, and the emperor is the supreme authority.

The second is the ruthless "Bushido spirit". Bushido spirit is a combination of traditional Japanese martial spirit, Confucianism and Zen thought. Bushido thought embodies a typical Japanese shame culture. In order to save face, you can be desperate and even ignore the objective facts, believing that the spirit is eternal and the soul is immortal. The characteristics of Japanese national character, such as brutality and martial spirit, not afraid of death and not giving up, are closely related to this samurai culture.

The third is pragmatism with Japanese characteristics. The Japanese are good at adapting to the environment and are flexible.

The book points out that the Japanese are "aggressive and kind, that is, they practice martial arts and love beauty, that is, they are arrogant and elegant, that is, they are rigid and adaptable, that is, they are obedient and unwilling to be pushed around, that is, they are loyal and treacherous, brave and timid, conservative and good at accepting new things. All these contradictory temperament are manifested at the highest level."