Tuhia he haere tonu mo tenei waahanga - Kua nohoia a Japan mai i te waa o Upper Paleolithic (30,000 BC), ahakoa ko te korero tuatahi mo te moutere kei roto i te tuhinga Hainamana i mutu i te rautau 2 AD. I waenga i nga rautau 4 me te 9, i whakakotahihia nga kingitanga o Hapani i raro i te emepara me te marae o te emepara i Heian-kyō. I te tīmatanga o te rau tau 12, i puritia te mana tōrangapū e tētahi raupapa o ngā rangatira hōia ("shōgun") me ngā rangatira rangatira ("daimyō"), ā, i whakatinanahia e tētahi akomanga o ngā rangatira toa ("samurai"). I muri i te wā o te pakanga ā-iwi kotahi rau tau, i whakakotahihia te whenua i te tau 1603 i raro i te Tokugawa shogunate, i whakatinana i tētahi kaupapa here motuhake o waho. I te tau 1854, i akiaki te ope o te United States i a Japan ki te whakatuwhera i te tauhokohoko ki te Hauauru, na te mutunga o te shogunate me te whakaoranga o te mana o te rangatiratanga i te tau 1868. I te wā o Meiji, i whakaaetia e te Emepaea o Hapani he kaupapa ture i whakahaeretia e te Uru, a, i whai i tētahi hōtaka o te whakangao me te whakahoutanga. I te tau 1937, ka whakaekehia a Haina e Japan; i te tau 1941, ka uru atu ki te Pakanga Tuarua o te Ao hei mana Axis. I muri i te hinganga i te Pakanga o te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, me te rua o nga pupuhi ngota, ka tukua a Japan
i te 1945 ka noho i raro i te mahi a te Allied e whitu tau, i te wa i whakaaetia ai e ia he kaupapa ture hou. I raro i te kaupapa ture o te tau 1947, kua puritia e Japan he rangatiratanga ture ture ture me te whare ture e rua, te National Diet.