A Super Quick History of Japan

[Music] this is asia and here's japan shall we japan consists of four major islands hokkaido honshu and a volcanic quartet the archaeologists inform us was first inhabited back in paleolithic times the ancient population slowly waded into the long long epoch known as the jormun era an age of hunting and craftsmanship in clay life was rugged and hard skeletons from those yonder years reveal widespread malnutrition i guess it's one thing to have pots and another thing to have food to put in them big changes began in the first millennium bc with the arrival of the yayoi people who brought to numerous nifty tricks from mainland asia including metalwork and rice farming and japan began assuming the garb of a civilization receiving its earliest mention in first century china whose name for japan meant dwarf not very nice during the dichotomous yamato period japan started modeling its government and culture more and more after those of china and korea and in the 500s buddhism was introduced which was eventually embraced by the royal court of course japan already had a religion of its own which it still possesses called shinto an animistic faith where everything is believed to be indwelt by spirits who are worshipped at shrines and placated with offerings further cultural refinements arose in the nara period including the oldest collection of japanese poetry there's over 4 000 poems in it if you want some light reading china remained the principal source of inspiration for the arts and architecture as well as politics and in the 700s an outbreak of smallpox killed around a third of japan's populace the heiyan era started in 794 when emperor kanmu relocated the capital from nara to hayyankyo which we know as kyoto an efflorescence of artistry ensued as the japanese began to realize they had plenty of creativity themselves and didn't have to look to china for everything though i don't think blackened teeth is as attractive as it was apparently thought to be back then the two most skilled writers at this time were both court ladies seishon nagon and the novelist murasaki shikabu but they were not fond of each other at all this period also saw the beginning of people who were not the emperor having the actual power the first in this category were the hujiwara clan who cleverly married their daughters into the royal line to maintain their already potent influence fujiwara domination had its heyday with mitinaga here calling the shots the kamakura period saw the military generals or shoguns gaining power after minamoto no yoritomo crushed the rival clan in the genpay war in the 1180s thus we enter japan's feudal age the time of the samurai the military elite in the employ of the landowning lords the daimyo after the shoguns of the hojo clan took power japan was threatened by the mongols who invaded in 1274. it could have been disastrous but a fortuitous typhoon destroyed the mongol fleet and their invasion failed a few years later the mongols tried again it could have been disastrous that a fortress typhoon destroyed the mongol fleet and their invasion failed that's right it happened twice and it's no surprise why the japanese referred to these convenient storms as kamikaze divine winds shipwrecked and stranded survivors were subsequently slaughtered and japan was saved by the 1300s the emperors seemed to be sick of playing second fiddle to the shoguns and gordaygo here whipped up the genko war which ended in victory and saw the emperor back in control for three years he was overthrown by shogun aishikaga takaoji and so we entered japan's murimachi period now when this fellow here died without leaving an air there was a quarrel over who would succeed him as shogun in chief now what do you think followed some soothing zen style reasoning in a garden with green tea correct i mean not correct or of course always war lots of war over a century of blood-drenched conflict as rival clan leaders scuffled for dominance of the land 1543 saw the arrival of europeans portuguese first and spanish soon after who brought various curiosities but the one that caught the eye of the daimyo was the musket this firearm was quickly adopted and used in war one of the lords who made use of the new weapon was a brilliant general who unified much of japan under his rule but was betrayed by one of his generals and then committed the ritual suicide considered honourable for warriors seppuku in which the belly was sliced open nobunaga's mission passed over to toyotomi hideyoshi seen here looking very hexagonal and who continued the unification by crushing his enemies though his invasions of korea were costly and unsuccessful the third and final of japan's unifiers was tokugawa who rose to power after winning the pivotal battle of seiki kahara in 1600 he solidified his position by the ruthless extermination of his enemies and set up his seat of government in edo which is today called tokyo tokyo you might have heard of it the era of the tokugawa shogunate saw japan recover from the carnage of previous years and adopt a strict isolationist policy choosing to have almost no contact or relations with the outside world this span of time is also known as the edo period and saw a splendid outpouring of artistic excellence seen for instance in these delicate finely crafted paintings and further saw the appearance of kabuki theater and the geishas with their powdered faces and elegant kimonos on the whole japan was doing pretty well but then things didn't go pretty well the 19th century would see japan thrust into a time of change like never before and as if to speed the process along nature began assailing the land it once guarded from the mongol hordes a deadly famine was followed by fire and an earthquake up here followed by a popular revolt the shogunate was crumbling and western powers like britain and france were upping the pressure on japan to open itself up to trade japan was plucked out of its solitude in the 1850s when commodore matthew c perry of the us navy arrived with his black ships and their cannons and forced the country to open its commercial doors in a classic example of what's called gun boat diplomacy or as the godfather would say i'm going to make him an african refuse this humiliation made japan very upset and it was clear things had to change now there had been emperors all through the age of shogun rule they had just been defended but not anymore in 1867 the young emperor meiji ascended the throne and the following year saw the restoration bearing his name that signaled the end of the shogunate and the return of the emperor to power meiji enthusiastically encouraged the adoption of western ways in a remarkable modernization program that saw the nation hungrily absorb european technology science medicine pretty much everything from trains to top hats all of this newness angered the samurai who feared becoming obsolete they gave their last roar in the satsuma rebellion where they were defeated by the emperor's troops and their updated weaponry the bullet was mightier than the sword few epochs have seen so energetic and effective a transformation in just three decades industrialized japan could be numbered among the world powers and the japanese were eager that they would be numbered among them this naturally meant acquiring some colonies getting more land after grabbing the ryukyu islands including okinawa the japanese went after china whose qing dynasty remained rooted in the past and had stubbornly refused to modernize in the first sino-japanese war japan was triumphant and gained lands including taiwan and the liaodong peninsula while also amping up its presence in korea this general contiguity was also threatened by russian expansion which japan didn't want and after russia refused to compromise japan attacked the russian eastern fleet instigating the russo-japanese war in which japan startled the world by emerging victorious five years after this resounding win japan officially took control of korea during world war one japan sided with the allies with its eyes firmly fixed on gaining ground in china a huge earthquake struck in 1923 and the nation became increasingly militaristic and nationalistic and reeling from the great depression and desirous of resources set out and snatched manchuria from china in 1931 all-out war between china and japan erupted once more a brutal conflict that spilled into the second world war in which japan allied with hitler's germany the japanese seemed unstoppable in the first portion of the war conquering a formidable empire whose extent we see here pictured and while japan's bombing of the neutral united states's naval base at pearl harbor in late 1941 achieved short-term japanese goals it also awakened the us war machine that now entered the fray full war against japan and just six months later the americans won the battle of midway and japan's military might began to wane finally in 1945 with the russians hammering at manchuria's gates and the americans destroying the cities of hiroshima and nagasaki with their newly invented atomic bombs japan surrendered and the war was over and so soon after was the japanese empire during the american occupation that lasted till 1952 japan's government was altered to a parliamentary democracy and the emperor's powers were severely curtailed while proud japan had been humbled by defeat the japanese rolled up their sleeves and set about rebuilding and during what's called the japanese miracle japan maintaining close ties with the us soon became the second biggest economy in the world with a booming manufacturing industry and a keen interest in electronics and technological innovation the extraordinary growth stopped quite suddenly in the 1990s as the economy entered a recession that saw a time of stagnation termed the lost decade meanwhile japanese popular culture spread worldwide and young people everywhere were devouring japanese manga and binge watching japanese anime and blistering their thumbs playing japanese video games 2011 saw a massive magnitude 9 earthquake strike the coast of north east honshu hammering the fukushima nuclear power plant and causing a meltdown and radiation leak a cleanup and system reforms followed today japan remains one of the greatest and richest countries in the world with the biggest city in the world a very high level of human development very high life expectancy and quality of life in general and the japanese people have given so much to the world though they would likely be too polite to boast about it so i'll do it for them and showcase their marvelous contributions to literature to science to cinema to sport and to food that's right they don't just eat sushi anyway that's it for japan and that's all from me for now bye [Music]