1. Japan Lectures
By Dr. A.

2. Ancient Period
The Japanese people arrived via the Korean Peninsula, perhaps in waves, in the centuries before or after the common era.
At the time the island was inhabited by various ethnic groups.
The sole surviving distinct group is the Ainu
Ainu share some language and culture with others from the Ural mountain region.

3. TimeLine: Nara Period 710-1185 The first capital was
established in Nara,
a small city in the
hills of the southern
part of the main
island.

4. TimeLine: Nara Period
Nara was modeled after the Chinese capital (Tang Dynasty period)
Todaiji,the world’s largest wooden building, was built to house a huge Buddha image.

5. TimeLine: Heian Period
794 The capital was relocated to Kyoto, or Heian. Partly to avoid the influence over court that Buddhist orders had gained.
The building below was built as a cottage for a royal person. (now the ‘Golden Temple’.

6. TimeLine: Shogunate Period - Kamakura 1
- Kamakura Bakufu ( )
Kamakura is a mountainside town overlooking the sea, near Tokyo.
It was a beautiful setting for the capital.

7. Shogunate Period - Kamakura 1
- Rule by Shogun(s),
- hereditary rulers of regions.
-Some Shogun families brought the other regional shoguns under their control.
The Emperor remained the nominal ruler
The real power was in the hands of the Shogunate and its armies of samurai.
Link to Kamakura Shogunate video

8. Shogunate Period -- Samurai
Samurai rise to power
A warrior class
Dedicated to the service of their shogun lords, as ‘retainers’ (
Top samurai came to wield great power, second only to the Shogun.
See the video on the Samurai on Youtube

9. Shogunate Period -- Samurai
Required Class ‘readings’:
See the Youtube videos in the six part series called
‘Japanese History of the Edo Period to Meiji Restoration’
Go to Youtube.com and search under the above title. Watch all six parts.

10. Shogunate Period -- Samurai
- Bushido is the name of the warrior code followed by the samurai.
It called for total obedience to one’s Lord
This warrior code of obedience combined with the Confucian duty of obedience to one’s superiours underlies the Japanese business culture of today.

11. Shogunate Period -- Samurai
Many samurai turned to Zen Buddhism to nurture their spiritual side and sharpen their instincts.
They Practiced Zen Meditation (zazen ‘sitting meditation’) to train their minds
The tea ceremony, flower arranging, and other parts of high culture grew from this period.

12. Shogunate Period -- Samurai
The Samurai turned to Zen practice for reasons such as these:
Training in ‘reacting without thinking’
-called the state of ‘no-mind’
-speeds up one’s reaction time
Provided a culture of social rituals for one’s leisure
Drinking tea, zazen (sitting meditation)

13. Tokugawa Shogunate
- Capital moved to Edo ( now called Tokyo)
Emperor remained in Kyoto castle
While a shogun ruled from Edo
Period of peace and stagnation
While Europe underwent rapid changes in science, technology and social order, Japan was kept as a feudal state by its feudal lords, the Shoguns and their ‘knights’ the samurai.

14. Tokugawa Shogunate - 1600-1868 - Strict control over the Daimyo
-- Daimyo are hereditary, regional lords
-- Shonguns restricted their travel, etc.
- They had to live in Tokyo
-- leave family there while returning home
-- Daimyo women needed permission to travel
- not allowed to visit other regions without permission

15. Tokugawa Shogunate - 1600-1868 - Many samurai were without Lords
- Too proud to be workers or merchants
Some became Ronin, unattached samurai
(a fun thing to do, but not as a requirement, is to watch the classic file ‘Seven Samurai’, which was remade in the USA as ‘The Magnificent Seven’ movie.)

16. Meiji Period
A military coup of sorts was led by a movement called the Shishi, ‘men of high purpose’. The main ‘purpose’ was to have Japan resist foreign control. Perry and the ‘black ships’ were the main threat.
The Shishi used everything from scholarship to terrorism to promote independence.

17. Meiji Period
The Shishi military coup wrested power from the shogun and ‘restored the young Emperor Meiji (posthumos name) to power.
This is called the ‘Meiji Restoration’
started to stand up to the West
Led to modernize and Westernize
Building railroads, factories, military hardware, etc.

18. Meiji Period
Note the contrast between China and Japan in the mid 1860s.
Japan overthrew the feudal minded Daimyo and Shogunate and restored power to a young emperor.
The new government, backed by the young Emperor was eager to catch Japan up to the West.

19. Meiji Period
Note the contrast between China and Japan in the mid 1860s.
China’s ruling Qing dynasty took the exact opposite position, opting to stick with a traditional approach.
It held that China had the best of everything. No need to imitate the Western or any other barbarians!
So from 1860’s to 1912, Japan modernized while China stagnated.

20. Meiji Period
Youtube video re Meiji Restoraton’s encouter with Western (Portugese) traders.

21. War with Russia
By 1904 Japan had made so much progress in modernizing its industry and army that it defeated the Russians in the
-Russo-Japanese War ( )
The fight was for control of Manchuria
-Russians wanted a warm water port
-Japan wanted to control the region
[Note: China was shocked to see Japan defeat a European power]

22. Modern Period
After defeating the Russians, the Japanese began an imperialist policy,
The Japanese Empire reached its height in the early 1940s
SE Asia reaching
to Burma
including Manchuria,
parts of China, and
the islands of the
South Pacific

23. Modern Period 1912 - September 2, 1945 WW2 ends as Japan surrenders
Potsdam Conference sets the terms of surrender
- Gen. MacArthur made the Emperor deny the claim that he was a "kami“ (god)
Before and During WW2, "State Shinto" had stressed the divinity of the Emperor and the absolute loyalty all Japanese owned to him.
In a tremendous loss of face, Emperor Hirohito had to go on radio and state that he was not a kami. He did avoid the word ‘surrender’, which was thought to be unthinkable in Japanese culture.

24. Modern Period 1912 - Constitution
Constitution of
- Sovereign power resides with the people
- emperor as "symbol of the state" only

25. Modern Period 1912 - Constitution
Constitution of
- Sovereign power resides with the people
- emperor as "symbol of the state" only
Article 1 "The Emperor shall be the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people, driving his position from the will of the people with whom resides the sovereign power."

26. Modern Period 1912 - New Constitution
Constitution of
- Sovereign power resides with the people
- emperor cannot act independent of the Diet (parliament)
Article 1 "The Emperor shall be the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people, driving his position from the will of the people with whom resides the sovereign power."
Article 4 "The Emperor shall perform only such acts in matters of state as are provided for in this Constitution and he shall not have powers related to government."
(James C. F. Wang, Comparative Asian Politics, p 52)

27. Modern Period 1912 - New Constitution
Constitution of
- Provides for equality for women
- universal suffrage
-no discrimination in law based on sex, family background, et al

28. The Diet
The Parliament of Japan is called the National Diet, because it was modeled after the German system.
House of Representatives (lower house, 480 members)
- 300 elected by single seat constituences
180 elected by proportional system from party lists.
Selects the Prime Minister

29. The Diet
House of Councillors (Upper, 242 members, some elected by prefectures, others from a national list.)

30. The Prime Minister The Prime Minister is elected by the Diet
The PM selects the cabinet.

31. Modern Period -- 55 System
- rule by the Liberal Democratic party (Jiminto)
in power from 1955 to 1993 ("55 System")
and still the biggest party
Suggested reading: the section on the System of 55 in the Hoye book on reserve.

32.
Despite the setback in 1993, the LDP continued to form the government in much of the period up to 2009.
The LDP is current in power again
The LDP approach typically made the chair of the party the PM, and every time there was a setback, they chose a new PM.

33. Role of Bureaucrats
Partly due to the frequent changes in PMs, and partly due to the fact that LDP governments had chosen most of the bureaucrats,
The civil servant bureaucracy of Japan typical drafts the legislation and
Runs the nation, with less oversight by cabinet ministers than in many nations.

34. 2009 Elections
The LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) lost its longstanding hold on power in the August 2009 elections.
The DPJ won 308 seats in the House of Representatives, plus some from allied parties
The LDP won on 119, plus some from allied parties

35. 2009 Elections
The LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) lost its longstanding hold on power in the August 2009 elections.
The DPJ (see next screen) won 308 seats in the House of Representatives, plus some from allied parties
The LDP won on 119, plus some from allied parties

36. DPJ The DPJ (Democratic Party of Japan) Founded in 1998
A socially liberal party, less conservative than the LDP
Has formed the government since 2009
Its slogan is ‘Restoring Vitality to Japan’
It aims to ‘walk together with the people’
see DPJ home page

37. 2012 Elections The LDP won the 2012 elections
It won 294 seats, and with its coalition partners controls 325 seats.
The DPJ won only 57 seats

38. Modern Period -- leaders
Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe
(Dec )
Leader of the
LDP party