Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - An zauna Japan tun lokacin Upper Paleolithic (30,000 BC), kodayake farkon rubutaccen ambaton tsibirin ya bayyana a cikin tarihin kasar Sin da aka gama a karni na 2 AD. Tsakanin ƙarni na 4 da na 9, masarautun Japan sun haɗu a ƙarƙashin sarki da kotun masarauta da ke Heian-kyō. Tun daga farkon karni na 12, ikon siyasa ya kasance a hannun jerin masu mulkin soja ("shōgun") da masu mulkin mallaka ("daimyō"), kuma wani rukuni na mayaƙan mayaƙan ("samurai") ya tilasta su. Bayan yaƙin basasa na tsawon ƙarni, an sake haɗa ƙasar a shekara ta 1603 a ƙarƙashin mulkin Tokugawa, wanda ya kafa tsarin siyasa na keɓewa. A shekara ta 1854, rundunar jiragen ruwa ta Amurka ta tilasta wa Japan ta bude kasuwanci zuwa Yammacin Turai, wanda ya haifar da ƙarshen shogunate da maido da ikon mulkin mallaka a shekara ta 1868. A zamanin Meiji, Daular Japan ta ɗauki tsarin mulki na Yammacin Turai kuma ta bi shirin masana'antu da zamani. A shekara ta 1937, Japan ta mamaye China; a 1941, ta shiga Yaƙin Duniya na II a matsayin ikon Axis. Bayan an ci Japan a Yaƙin Pacific kuma an yi amfani da bama-bamai na nukiliya sau biyu, sai ta miƙa kai
a cikin 1945 kuma ya kasance a ƙarƙashin shekaru bakwai na Allied occupation, a lokacin da ya amince da sabon tsarin mulki. A karkashin kundin tsarin mulki na 1947, Japan ta ci gaba da kasancewa mai mulkin mallaka na majalisar dokoki tare da majalisar dokoki biyu, Majalisar Dokoki ta Kasa.