Page 67 - South Korea & Japan: Temples, Shrines & Seaside Treasures

craftsmen, and merchants. A rigid system dictated how each class dressed, lived, and worked.
The samurai were at the top of this class structure and were both feared and fearsome. The
merchants were at the bottom and soon resented their status.

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Japanese to open the country to trade. From that point, the country quickly developed into a
modern power with a large imperial army.
Modern History

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discarded the rest. The result has led to an interesting mix of modernity and tradition
in Japan. The modern Japanese Constitution is modeled after the American Constitution.
The emperor is a symbolic head of state only. Their education system is similar to many
European systems.

Throughout the latter part of the 19th century and into the early 20th century, Japan was
often at war with its neighbors China and Russia over territorial claims. A militaristic society
dominated Japanese life. In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria and followed this with an invasion
of China in 1936. On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a sneak attack on American forces at
Pearl Harbor and initiated a war with the United States. By 1942, Japanese military successes
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Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union declared war on Japan in 1945.

After a post-World War II occupation under United States General Douglas MacArthur, Japan
regained full sovereignty in 1952. In 1972, the United States returned the Ryuku Islands,
including Okinawa, to Japan thus restoring Japan to its original boundaries. Japan became
one of the world’s great economic powers in the 1970s, dominating worldwide banking and
industry, and having great success in the automotive business. Japan became the world’s
second-largest economy after the United States.
Japan was criticized in 1991 for its failure to join the international coalition that fought in
the Persian Gulf War. Its economy also took a downturn at this time. Throughout the 1990s
Japan was plagued by banking and industrial scandals and had a succession of governments,
explaining why some have nicknamed this the “lost decade”. Today, Japan remains a strong
country, but its economy has not regained the luster of past decades.

Recent History

If the 1990s were the “lost decade”, then the early 2000s may well prove to be the “decade of
scandals”. In 2002, North Korea’s President Kim Jong-Il shocked the world by admitting to
the kidnappings of at least 13 Japanese citizens by North Korean agents during the 1970s and
1980s. The admission was part of a move towards normalizing political relations between the
two countries. Eventually some of the victims were allowed to return to Japan, but not all.

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