1. Post-Meiji Period Japan

2. Japan as an Imperial Power
Citizens asked for more voice in government
Had more money to spend
Politics and society were more open than ever
1925: Universal suffrage granted

3. Zaibatsu Economy
Zaibatsu: manufacturing processes concentrated within single enterprise
Mitsui
Mitsubishi
Sumitomo
Yasuda

4. Zaibatsu Economy Led to growing economic inequalities
Great Depression added to crisis
Return to “traditional” values
Militarist group gained control of Japanese political system

5. Militarist Japan Japanese society was put on wartime status:
Economic resources under gov’t control
Political parties merged into Imperial Rule Assistance Association
Called for Japanese expansion
Education and culture purged of Western ideas

6. Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 Japan was desperate for raw materials
2400 Americans were killed
5/8 battleships were sunk or sinking

8. Attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
August 6, 1945: First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
60% of buildings destroyed
140,000 were killed
August 9, 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki

10. Outcome The bombs left the Japanese no choice but to surrender
Soviets declared war too