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| | | 10,000 BC Upper Paleolithic known as the Jomon Era | |
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| | 300 BC | The Yayoi period heralding new technologies and skills, many obtained from China | |
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| | 0 AD: | Shintoism becomes the national religion ( Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar in 1873 ) | |
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| | 250 | 250-260 Founding of the Great Shrine of Ise | |
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| | 500 | Japan adopts the Chinese alphabet | |
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| | 552 | Introduction of Buddhism into Japan | |
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| | 645 | Kotoku became the emperor of Japan | |
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| | 749 | Shomu's daughter Koken, becomes empress | |
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| | 794 | The Heian era - the Capital of Japan moved to Heian-kyo | |
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| | 838 | The Japanese emperor forbids contacts with China | |
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| | 1100s | The Taira and the Minamoto fought for control of Japan | |
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| | 1180s | The Minamoto clan obtained controlled of the country 1181: Great famine kills hundreds of thousands of people | |
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| | 1192 | Yoritomo was given the title Shogun and led the government which became known as a Shogunate | |
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| | 1274 | Kublai Khan and the Mongols try to invade Japan but are repelled by "kamikaze" | |
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| | 1330 | The Ashikaga clan seized power | |
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| | 1467 | Civil war erupts in Japan which is split among feudal lords (daimyo) | |
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| | 1549 | Saint Francis Xavier, a Portuguese missionary, arrived in Japan. The Portuguese were the most successful Europeans in initiating major trade agreements with the Japanese | |
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| | 1603 | Tokugawa leyasu was given the title of Shogun by the emperor. This title was held by the dynasty for 265 years | |
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| | 1614 | Ieyasu bans Christianity from Japan | |
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| | 1630s | The Japanese broke ties with all foreigners for the next two hundred years | |
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| | 1707 | Mount Fuji erupts | |
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| | 1854 | The Japanese agree to open two ports to the United States for trade | |
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| | 1868 | The Meiji Emperor announced the official return of the imperial power and was declared a divine ruler | |
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| | 1873 | 1873: Japan grants religious freedom and adopts the Gregorian calendar | |
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| | 1895 | The Japanese conquer Taiwan | |
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| | 1910 | Japan conquers Korea | |
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| | 1914 | 1914 - 1918 World War I - Japan declared war on Germany | |
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| | 1931 | Japanese conquer Manchuria | |
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| | 1936 | Japanese sign a anti-communist pact with Germany and Italy | |
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| | 1940 | Japan entered World War 2 by occupying the northern part of French Indochina | |
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| | 1941 | 7 December: Japanese attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii | |
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| | 1944 | 18 July: The government headed by Prime Minister Tojo collapsed | |
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| | 1945 | August: The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 2 September 1945 Japan officially surrendered and World War II ended. | |
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