- 40,000 BC: stone age in Aichi and Tochigi
- 14,500 BC: Jomon hunting and gathering society
- AD 239: Chinese kingdom of Wei records the visit of an envoy from Himiko,
queen of Yamatai
- AD 607: first Buddhist temples built in Nara
- AD 710: Nara becomes the capital of Japan
- AD 794: Kyoto becomes the capital of Japan
- circa AD 1000: Murasaki Shikibu writes Tale of Genji
- 1274: Mongol invasion
- 1281: Second Mongol invasion
- 1467-77: Onin civil war; Kyoto burned
- 1542: firewarms introduced by shipwrecked Portugese
- 1549: Father Xavier establishes Jesuit mission at Kagoshima
- 1591: Japan unified by Toyotomi Hideyoshi after 100 years of civil war
- 1603: Tokugawa Shogunate divides people into hereditary classes: lords
(daimyo), samurai, farmers, artisans, merchants
- 1614: Christianity banned
- 1635: interaction with foreigners restricted to Nagasaki
- 1641: all but Chinese and Dutch are banned
- circa 1700: Edo (Tokyo) has grown larger than Kyoto, which remains the
capital
- 1707: Mount Fuji erupts
- 1853: Commodore Matthew Perry steams into Edo (Tokyo) Bay and demands trade;
Kanagawa Treaty signed
- 1868: Restoration of imperial rule (Meiji Restoration); Tokyo becomes
capital
- 1874-76: hereditary samurai unsuccessfully resist the construction of a
modern military
- 1887: Torakusu Yamaha starts reed organ manufacturer, which becomes the
modern diversified Yamaha Corporation.
- 1894-5: war with China
- 1904-5: war with Russia
- 1910: annexation of Korea
- 1917: Nippon Kogaku K.K., which will eventually become Nikon, established in
Tokyo.
- 1931: Japanese invade Manchuria
- 1933: withdrawal from League of Nations
- 1937: 140,000 Chinese killed in "Rape of Nanjing"; Toyota Motor Co. Ltd.
founded
- 1941: Japan bombs US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor (US commanders were warned
of the attack by operators of an experimental RADAR system but took no
action)
- 1945: US drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Russia invades
northern Japan; Emperor Hirohito orders cabinet to surrender
- 1946: Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita found Sony Corporation. From the business
plan: "The first and primary motive for setting up this company was to create a
stable work environment where engineers who had a deep and profound appreciation
for technology could realize their societal mission and work to their heart's
content." Soichiro Honda founds Honda Technical Research Insitute, which will
eventually manufacture motorcycles and automobiles.
- 1952: American occupation of Japan ends
- 1952-1953: Japanese companies license transistor technology from the US
- 1964: Olympic games held in Tokyo; Shinkansen (bullet train) starts
operating
- 1989: Emperor Hirohito dies and is succeeded by Akihito; "bubble economy"
bursts
- 1995: Great Hanshin Earthquake, magnitude 6.9, kills more than 5000 people in
Kobe; Aum Shinrikyo cult kills 12 in the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack
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